AUTODROMO HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ Pedro B 1940-11 july 1971 55gps -2 wins The Mexican Grand Prix circuit is named after the Mexican Rodriguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo. Both of the hard-charging risk-taking racers. who were both killed Ricardo, the youngest, died first. 1 November 1962 Their wealthy father bought fast sportscars for them to race when they were in their mid-teens. Ricardo Before a race the Rodriguez boys would kneel on the tarmac to be blessed by their mother, who then went away and read a book. Before Ricardo set off on the final lap of his short life he crossed himself and kissed his father's hand. Ricardo b1942-1962 5gps More flamboyant than his old brother (he owned 100 suits and 60 pairs of shoes) and even more of a risk-taker, Ric told his worried wife, Sarita, that he would stop after he won his first Grand Prix. He was killed in front Sarita in his home Grand Prix in Mexico, on 1 November 1962. Rob Walker: “Ricardo had been motorcycle champion of Mexico when he was 13, he’d started racing cars at 15 and became a Ferrari F1 driver at 19. Enzo Ferrari: “I recall thinking to myself that Ricardo Rodriguez is a holy terror, who drives with a frightful lack of any restraint. If this young fellow will only learn to control himself, he will be a big success. A short time afterwards his luck ran out. He was a really good lad – always happy, with that innocent face of a mischievious schoolboy.” Though devastated by Ricardo’s death, Pedro continued racing in F1 and in sportscars, always charging hard and gradually earning respect as went from frightenly fast to just plain fast. In 1970 he won the Belgian GP at desperately dangerous Spa, fearlessly flogging his BRM at an average speed of 149.94mph (241.31km/). On 1 July 1971 he was killed at the Norisring in Germany when his Ferrari sportscar crashed and burned. Pedro: “God is the only one who can tell you when it is the end of the line. You can be racing, in the street, in church, you can be anywhere. Nuvolari, he raced thirty years, every week, and he died in bed of illness.” JYS: “Pedro Rodriguez is everything the neophyte thinks about racing drivers. Hot-blooded. Latin, and totally irrational. “Certainly not one of your more stable drivers. His thinking rarely goes to depth…I’m almost certain he’s incapable of anything short of an emotional response. Jo Ramirez: “Pedro was just a racer all the way. He didn’t agree with all the safety campaigns that people like Jackie Stewart did – he believed that when it’s our turn to go, you gotta go, regardless.
- from FORMULA 1 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (edited by
No comments:
Post a Comment