Pedro Rodriguez (racing driver)

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Pedro Rodriguez
Formula One Career
Nationality	Mexican
Active years	1963 - 1971
Team(s)	Ferrari, Lotus, Cooper, BRM
Grands Prix	54
Championships	0
Wins	2
Podium finishes	7
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First Grand Prix	1963 US Grand Prix
First win	1967 South African Grand Prix
Last win	1970 Belgian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1971 French Grand Prix

Pedro Rodriguez (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. The two are sometimes referred to as "The Little Mexicans". The brothers both raced bicycles and motorcycles to become Mexican champions. Pedro was national champion in 1953 and 1954 in motorcycles. He made his international debut in cars at Nassau in 1957 in a Ferrari, along with Ricardo in a Porsche.

Contents 1 Career 2 Personal 3 Commemoration 4 Complete F1 Results 5 External links

[edit] Career

He was just eighteen when US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti dispatched them to Le Mans at the wheel of a Ferrari 500 TR Testa Rossa. Ricardo did not drive due to age, so Pedro partnered José Behra, brother of Jean Behra. 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 practising 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 his ninth GP, in South Africa in 1967, and became a permanent ficture 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.

Rodriguez 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. 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.

Rodriguez 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.

[edit] Personal

He always carried Tabasco sauce with him in order to enliven his food. He was married with Angelina in Mexico, although he had a girfriend in England, Glenda, with whom he lived in Bray in his latter years, but left no children.

[edit] 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 Rodiguez (the family foundation) and the city authorities. The Scuderia keeps alive the memory of the Rodriguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, serving as Register for Rodríguez memorabilia and cars, and certifying them. Its Secretary General, Carlos Jalife, will publish the first voulme of the Rodríguez biography in 2006, with the second to follow shortly.

[edit] Complete F1 Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Team	WDC	Points
1963	Lotus	MON	BEL	DUT	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA ret	MEX ret	SAF				Lotus	NA	0
1964	Ferrari	MON	DUT	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX 6				Ferrari	22nd	1
1965	Ferrari	SAF	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	DUT	GER	ITA	USA 5	MEX 7				Ferrari	14th	2
1966	Lotus	MON	BEL	FRA ret	GBR	DUT	GER	ITA	USA ret	MEX ret					Lotus	NA	0
1967	Cooper	SAF 1	MON 5	DUT ret	BEL 9	FRA 6	GBR 5	GER 8	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX 6			Cooper	6th	15
1968	BRM	SAF ret	ESP ret	MON ret	BEL 2	DUT 3	FRA NC	GBR ret	GER 6	ITA ret	CAN 3	USA ret	MEX 4		BRM	6th	18
1969	BRM	SAF ret	ESP ret	MON ret	DUT	FRA	GBR ret	GER	ITA 6	CAN ret	USA 5	MEX 7			Ferrari	14th	3
1970	BRM	SAF 9	ESP WD	MON 6	BEL 1	DUT 10	FRA ret	GBR ret	GER ret	AUT 4	ITA ret	CAN 4	USA 2	MEX 6	BRM	7th	23
1971	BRM	SAF ret	ESP 4	MON 9	DUT 2	FRA ret	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			BRM	10th	9

[edit] External links

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