REMEMBERING MEXICO’S BEST RACING DRIVER
“Racing is my life, and a weekend without a race is a lost weekend.” That line, said to North American Racing Team boss Luigi Chinetti, and which appears in the comprehensive work Brothers Rodriguez by Carlos Eduardo Jalife-Villalon, sums up Pedro Rodriguez’s approach to motorsport. It also helps to explain why the BRM and Porsche star was driving a privateer Ferrari 512M in a relatively minor Interserie race at the Norisring on 11 July 1971.
Despite the presence of much bigger machinery, Rodriguez was leading at the time he lost control, possibly due to a backmarker, and hit the wall. The Ferrari burst into flames and, despite quick medical attention, Rodriguez had little chance of survival.
“It was a tragedy,” recalls former Autosport Editor Simon Taylor, who covered many of the Mexican’s races. “I believe he combined all the elements of a great driver of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s – incredible passion, a real will to win and being relaxed out of the car. He was
