80 replies to this topic

[cstlhn]

My contribution. Surely passed away much too young.



Please Credit the David Castelhano Collection

[cjpani]

[charles r]

One of the best threads I have ever seen on TNF.

[David M. Kane]

One of my great disappointments was not seeing race, I saw Pedro race 3 times and I actually talked to him once. They both were much larger than life when I was a kid. When they first came to the States they simply stunned America. I miss them both.

He died trying doing what he did best, going faster.

[William Hunt]

Are there any good books / biographies on the Rodriguez brothers.

[Jack-the-Lad]

Originally posted by William Hunt
Are there any good books / biographies on the Rodriguez brothers.

I've been waiting for what seems an eternity for Brothers Rodriguez to be published in English. If you hear any news about it, please post it on the book thread.

Jack

[Pedro 917]

It was 46 years ago today...


Nürburgring 1962, picture Günther Molter

About the Brothers Rodriguez book : latest news is that it will be presented at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elégance in March 2009. Printing has started already though.

[johnnytipler]

I've seen the Spanish language biography, and maybe it's the English version of this you're referring to. I also hear that Ed McDonough is busy with a Rodriguez biography too - should be a good one.

[Carlos Jalife]

Hi guys,
the biography in English is gonna come out at the Amelia Island Concours D'Elegance in March, The Brothers Rodríguez is the title and this time it is definite, we are already prnting somewhere in China. The book is over 600 pages, ovver 4000 pictures and the text is something big too. And it seems Mike Argetsinger is having his Donohue book out at the same time, so we can race each other as Pedro and Mark did!

Yours truly
Carlos Jalife

[CarlBauer]

7th place '60 Targa Florio. I'll be very pleased when I can get this up on my wall.

[B Squared]

The photos on this interesting thread are beautiful. In the portrait shot (post # 45), Ricardo looks like a movie star with helmet & goggles. I remember reading about his untimely death in a book, probably 3) years after the fact. It made me profoundly sad then, for some reason it still effects me in that way to this day. My Dad's friend, Lee Wilson, had seen the brothers race at Sebring, he still loves to talk about their respective talents. Thanks for sharing the memories.

Brian

[Dennis Hockenbury]

Would anyone know what became of Glenda Foreman who was Pedro's girlfriend?

[Pedro 917]

Hi Dennis,
I asked David Piper a couple of years ago and he said they took her to Japan somewhere in the mid-nineties for a Porsche reunion and she was OK at first but got very depressed on the way back home, going through all the emotions again. He then lost contact with her. There's a Pedro tribute movie on you tube where a guy says in one of the comments that Glenda is married to his father. I believe he was Dutch. That's all I know.

[Dennis Hockenbury]

Thanks very much for the update.

[markpde]

Posted this photo as a link on another thread - Ricardo with his Dino 156 at Nürburgring, 1962 - thought this was the proper place for it:



From this wonderful collection, first posted by Papiyv in the 'Personal photos from the paddock' thread - "Mr Hudson's photos".

[Martin Roessler]

as above.....

[af2]

Would anyone know what became of Glenda Foreman who was Pedro's girlfriend?

Some 30 days ago Carlos Jalife told me he is now in contact with Glenda, who is in England

[ddmichael]

Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere, but I recall reading in William Court's book Grand Prix Requiem that Ricardo had decided to retire at the end of 1962. Now the resident (make that worldwide) authority on the brothers, Carlos Jalife, says that Ricardo would have been in a Ferrari for the '63 season, which seems most likely, so where did Mr. Court get the retirement rumour - or was it just a bit of poetic licence?

DM

[longhorn]

Court says that Ricardo had entered against the wishes of his wife whom he had already told that he would be giving up after this just one more race. So, presumably the information came from her. However, as has already been stated, in view of his 1963 Ferrari contract, it would appear to be incorrect.

[ddmichael]

Seems that she spent a fair amount of her time spreading misinformation...

DM

[Pedro 917]

Well, Ricardo's gorgeous wife (Sarita) really loved living in Italy, the jetset life and all the attention she got from the racing world people so I find it hard to believe she would have wanted Ricardo to give up on his dream : becoming a F1 World Champion. In the late nineties, she wrote a book called "La Curva De La Muerte", as she desperately needed money to survive. The book focuses on her life with Ricardo but has a lot of mistakes and the editor/publisher probably asked her to romanticise the story. She even writes that Jim Clark wanted to marry her and filled her hotelroom with flowers. There's a picture in the book with a dedication from Jim Clark but it's in her own handwriting..... The book has great family pictures though. A couple of years ago, a Mexican friend told me she was selling handbags on a streetcorner in Mexico City....

[RA Historian]

Sad, on a number of levels...........

Tom

[Pedro 917]

It was 47 years ago today....

[cjpani]

Sad day.
Great photo Luc, wanna tell us more about it?
Godspeed, Ricardo

cj

[Pedro 917]

Well, it's Ricardo in a Cooper T56 BMC Formula Junior. He ran the car twice (in Mexico City 1961 and 62 finishing 1st and 2nd resp.).
Pedro also drove the car at Sebring and Mexico City in 1961 and at La Loma in 1962.
Wonder where that car could be now.
Here are some more pics of Ricardo and the Cooper from 1961 :

[cjpani]

Well, it's Ricardo in a Cooper T56 BMC Formula Junior. He ran the car twice (in Mexico City 1961 and 62 finishing 1st and 2nd resp.).
Pedro also drove the car at Sebring and Mexico City in 1961 and at La Loma in 1962.
Wonder where that car could be now.
Here are some more pics of Ricardo and the Cooper from 1961 :

great pics!!
the Esso sponsorship in the first picture, was it a one off??
i haven't seen a lot of images with that sticker...
regards
cj

[AAA-Eagle]

A day to remember Ricardo Valentin Rodriguez de la Vega. Half a century today...

[AAA-Eagle]

And here is a picture taken by Pietro 'Dino' Turco of the two young brothers alongside Ettore Muro Chimeri and Taffy's Ferrari Dino 246 '0002' at Sebring on 10-12th December 1959 during the United States GP.



Obvoiusly the story behind this photo has two sides...

First of all the car: Ferrari Dino 246 '0002'. On the one side it had won the International Trophy and the British GP in the hands of Peter Collins in 1958, and also had won two Grandes Épreuves at Reims and AVUS in the hands of Tony Brooks in 1959, but on the other side being the car in which Peter Collins fatally crashed.

Then the people. Chimeri, the first F1 Venezuelan, who had been entered by Escuderia Sorocaima to drive a Maserati 250F '2528' (in which Fangio won the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix and Behra triumphed at Pau, Modena and Ain Diab same year, later owned by Francesco Godia), had nothing to do but just to watch the race outside the track as his 7000 bolivar-costed new acquisition didn't arrive in time to Florida due to shipping delay. Early February 1960 Chimeri would finally make his WDC debut at Argentine GP. But only to be killed in Ferrari 250 TR during Gran Premio Libertad, a sports car race at Havana, three weeks later, on 27th February 1960.

Wolfgang von Trips died on 10th September 1961 while approaching to Monza's Parabolica curve. Ricardo found his end on 1st November, 1962 at lonely Magdalena Mixhuca's Peraltada curve. Pedro, just being crowned as World Sportscar Champion for a second consecutive year, followed him on 11th July 1971 at Norisring. While Pietro 'Dino' Turco, El Mago de Los Rosales who was a mechanic of Chimeri's Fangio Maserati, passed away last week Monday, on 22nd October 2012 (more information here: http://diarioautomot.../home/?p=12253)

That's how promising the whole atmosphere may seem on the picture at first sight, and how nasty it finally ended...

[Pedro 917]

It was 50 years ago today ....

Pictures by Heinrich Esch and Dr. Benno Müller.

[cjpani]

Wonder where that car could be now.

Well, Luc, the question you asked in 2009 is answered.
Yesterday, as I'm sure you're aware, we at Scuderia Rodriguez managed to pull off a huge event in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to commemorate Ricardo's 50th anniversary.
We held a Guard of Honour and, with the Cooper leading us, we symbolically finished the lap that Ricardo never was able to finish. Javier Velazquez flagged us. it was a very emotional moment.
We missed you at the celebration Luc, but I know you were there by heart.
some pics:





oh, and of course, godspeed Ricardo.

cj

Edited by cjpani, 04 November 2012 - 00:39.

[cjpani]

and here are a couple of videos:




regards