Thursday 18th January 1940

Born on this day, Pedro Rodriguez, Mexicab racing driver who became Mexican motorcycle champion in 1953 and 1954. He first gained Formula 1 prominence winning the 1967 South African GP in a Cooper-Maserati. His victories in endurance races at the wheel of the John Wyer entered Gulf Porsche 917 turned him into one of the sportís greatest all-rounders, while his accomplishments in F1 were largely hampered by the less competitive BRM cars. In a situation similar to his younger brother Ricarod, Pedro was killed at the wheel of a racing car. A strange accident with a Ferrari 512M sports car during a German Interseries at the Norisring, where he hit the retaining wall head in the Esses head-on, took his life at age 31., won at Daytona International Speedway in 1963 and took part in his first Grand Prix for Lotus in the USA and Mexico. He was killed in a minor league sports car race at Norisring in Nuremberg, Germany in 1971.