Pedro Rodríguez (racing driver)

Pedro Rodríguez

Born	18 January 1940(1940-01-18)
Died	11 July 1971(1971-07-11) (aged 31)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Mexican
Active years	1963 - 1971
Teams	Ferrari, Lotus, Cooper, BRM
Races	54
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podiums	7
Career points	71
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First race	1963 United States Grand Prix
First win	1967 South African Grand Prix
Last win	1970 Belgian Grand Prix
Last race	1971 French Grand Prix

Pedro Rodriguez 1968 with BRM

Pedro Rodríguez (born Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega, 18 January 1940 – 11 July 1971) was a Mexican Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was born in Mexico City and was the older brother of Ricardo Rodríguez.

Career

Both Rodríguez brothers raced bicycles and motorcycles to become Mexican champions. Pedro was national motorcycle champion in 1953 and 1954. He made his international debut in cars at Nassau in 1957 in a Ferrari, along with Ricardo in a Porsche.

At the age of eighteen he raced a Ferrari 500 TR Testa Rossa at Le Mans for US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti with José Behra, brother of Jean Behra, as his co-driver. He came back every year to Le Mans, fourteen times in total, where he won in 1968 with Belgian driver Lucien Bianchi in a Ford GT40 of the Wyer–Gulf team.

In 1962, Ricardo died in a horrific accident while practicing for the Mexican Grand Prix, and Pedro considered retiring from racing. However, in 1963 he won at Daytona International Speedway and took part in his first Grand Prix for Lotus in the USA and Mexico. He competed in F1 sporadically through 1966 with Ferrari and Lotus. Rodriguez won in only his ninth GP, in South Africa in 1967, and became a permanent fixture in F1, racing for Cooper-Maserati in 1967, BRM in 1968, the private Parnell BRM team and Ferrari in 1969, and BRM in 1970 and 1971, achieving his second victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in 1970.

Rodríguez was considered the best driver of his era in the wet, and after many years racing for Ferrari in the World Championship of Makes (Sports Cars), he signed for the Wyer-Gulf-Porsche team in 1970. He became the two-time world champion driver in the fearsome Porsche 917 together with his co-driver Leo Kinnunen (the sportscars series was run by teams in shifts). He developed into one of the sport's greatest all-rounders, racing CanAm, NASCAR, rallies and even becoming North American Ice Racing champion in 1970. In his NASCAR career, Rodríguez earned two top tens, including a 5th in the 1965 World 600. Along with Jo Siffert, he was considered to be the bravest driver in motorsport, such as the two touching panels going through the then-very narrow and very dangerous Eau Rouge corner in the rain at the start of the 1970 1000 km Spa in their Gulf Porsche 917's. Spa-Francorchamps was reportedly Rodriguez's favorite race track.

Rodríguez was killed in an Interserie sports car race at Norisring in Nuremberg, Germany, on 11 July 1971, at the wheel of a Ferrari 512M of Herbert Müller Racing, his Swiss friend and partner at the Targa Florio in 1971. Leo Kinnunen (on AAW Racing 917) seeing his previous co-driver's fatal accident withdrew shocked from the race.

Personal

He always carried Tabasco sauce with him in order to enliven his food. Rodríguez liked to wear a deerstalker, in which he became recognizable at racing events. He was married to Angelina in Mexico, although he had a girlfriend in England, Glenda, with whom he lived in Bray, Berkshire in his latter years. He left no children.

Commemoration

The first hairpin at Daytona International Speedway (the right-hand hairpin) is named the Pedro Rodriguez curve, and the Mexico City autodrome, where F1, Champ Car and other series race is named for him and Ricardo: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

In July 2006, 35 years after his death, a bronze plaque was placed at the site of his crash in Nuremberg, a joint effort by the Scuderia Rodríguez (the friends and family foundation) and the city authorities. The Scuderia keeps alive the memory of the Rodríguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, serving as Register for Rodríguez memorabilia and cars, and certifying them. Its Secretary General, Carlos Jalife, published the Rodríguez brothers' biography in December, 2006, with an English translation already for sale in United States, Canada & England which won the Motor Press Guild Book of the Year award in 2009.

Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts.
1963	Team Lotus	Lotus 25	Climax V8	MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA Ret	MEX Ret	RSA				NC	0
1964	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 156 Aero	Ferrari V6	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX 6				22nd	1
1965	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 1512	Ferrari V12	RSA	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA 5	MEX 7				14th	2
1966	Team Lotus	Lotus 33	Climax V8	MON	BEL	FRA Ret	GBR	NED									NC	0
		Lotus F2 44	Cosworth Straight-4						GER Ret	ITA
		Lotus 33	BRM V8								USA Ret	MEX Ret
1967	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T81	Maserati V12	RSA 1	MON 5	NED Ret	BEL 9	FRA 6	GBR 5	GER 11	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX 6			6th	15
1968	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P126	BRM V12	RSA Ret													6th	18
		BRM P133	BRM V12		ESP Ret	MON Ret	BEL 2	NED 3	FRA NC	GBR Ret	GER 6		CAN 3	USA Ret	MEX 4
		BRM P138	BRM V12									ITA Ret
1969	Reg Parnell Racing	BRM P126	BRM V12	RSA Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret											14th	3
	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 312	Ferrari V12				NED DNA	FRA	GBR Ret	GER	ITA 6
	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 312	Ferrari V12									CAN Ret	USA 5	MEX 7
1970	Yardley Team BRM	BRM P153	BRM V12	RSA 9	ESP Ret	MON 6	BEL 1	NED 10	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT 4	ITA Ret	CAN 4	USA 2	MEX 6	7th	23
1971	Yardley Team BRM	BRM P160	BRM V12	RSA Ret	ESP 4	MON 9	NED 2	FRA Ret	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			10th	9

Sources

• The Brothers Rodríguez book by Carlos Jalife

External links

• History of Norisring races
• GrandPrix.com
• Fan Page
• Career stats, courtesy GrandPrixStats.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dan Gurney A. J. Foyt	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1968 with: Lucien Bianchi	Succeeded by Jacky Ickx Jackie Oliver