Rolf Stommelen

Rolf Johann Stommelen[1] (11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a racing driver from Siegen, Germany. He participated in 63 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, achieving one podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.

Rolf Stommelen
Stommelen in 1972
BornRolf Johann Stommelen
(1943-07-11)11 July 1943
Siegen, Germany
Died24 April 1983(1983-04-24) (aged 39)
Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California, USA
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality German
Active years19691976, 1978
TeamsSurtees, Brabham, Eifelland, Hill, RAM, Hesketh, Arrows
Entries63 (54 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums1
Career points14
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1970 South African Grand Prix
Last entry1978 Canadian Grand Prix

One of the best endurance sports car racing drivers of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Stommelen won the 24 Hours of Daytona four times; in 1968, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the Targa Florio in 1967 in a Porsche 910.

Career

Stommelen driving for Brabham at the 1976 German Grand Prix.
Stommelen driving a Porsche for Georg Loos in 1977.

Stommelen won the pole position for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 917 a year after finishing third in a Porsche 908. In this year, he became the first man to reach speeds exceeding 350 km/h (217 mph) on the Le Mans circuit's Mulsanne Straight in his Porsche 917 LH. In 1970, he made his Formula One debut with Brabham with sponsorship obtained from the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport and raced both sportscars (Toj and Porsche works teams) and Formula 1 throughout the 1970s.

Unfortunately, he inadvertently played a role in the end of the Spanish Grand Prix's tenure at Montjuich Park in Barcelona when he crashed there in the 1975 race after the rear wing of his Hill GH1 failed which caused his car to fly into the crowd, resulting in the deaths of five spectators and him being seriously injured.

After his recovery, Stommelen returned to sports car racing, winning races for Alfa Romeo and also winning the 24 Hours of Daytona a further three times.

In 1976 Stommelen had the honour to drive the maiden race of the Porsche 936 at the 300 km Nürburgring race. With a black body and without the air-intake, the 936 of this race became known as the black widow. He qualified second, between the factory Renault Alpine A442 of Patrick Depailler and Jean-Pierre Jabouille in first and third. The Renault team was eager to win at Porsche's home soil. On race-day in heavy rain, Stommelen managed to overtake the Renault in front right after the start. Now in the lead, he rushed towards the Nordkehre, braked and deliberately left room for the Renaults in pursuit to overtake. The Renaults, wanting to take back the lead after 2 of 300 km, rushed past Stommelen into the water puddles and crashed into the catch-fences in tandem, with Stommelen taking back the lead again. This led to the saying "On the Nordschleife, you can never brake later than Rolf Stommelen!". After the sixth lap, the throttle cable of the 936 stuck in the "open" position. But instead of giving up, Stommelen continued the race by turning off the master switch at the bends to brake, and turning on the master switch again after the bends to accelerate throughout the rest of the race, taking second place at the end of the race.[2]

In 1978 he was given the task by the Porsche factory to drive the Porsche 935 "Moby Dick" in Martini Colors. The 78 "Moby Dick" had a 3.2-litre Turbo Engine that produced 845 HP and Stommelen was, with 235 mph, (365 km/h) the fastest man on the Mulsanne Straight, faster than the prototypes like the Porsche 936 and the Renault Alpine A442B which won the race. Due to high fuel-consumption of the engine, Stommelen had to pit too often to battle for the win.[3]

He continued at Le Mans with the Porsche 935, nearly winning the 24 hours of Le Mans with Dick Barbour and actor Paul Newman as co-drivers in 1979, only to be set back by a 23-minute-long pit stop caused by a stuck wheel nut. The team would not have come so far, if Stommelen had not been constantly seconds faster than his team mates each lap.

He also drove Toj SC320 prototype sportscars with some success against the works Alfa team (Toj was a small German manufacturer).[4]

He also competed in one NASCAR Grand National series event in 1971 at Talladega Superspeedway in a former Holman-Moody Ford which Mario Andretti used to win the 1967 Daytona 500, which was rebuilt by Robert Gee (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s grandfather) as a Mercury Cyclone, with Jake Elder as crew chief. That car eventually was sold to independent driver Darrell Waltrip to use a year later in his Cup Series debut in 1972, which is how it stands today in the latter's museum.

He was also active in the German GT Championship Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, winning the championship in 1977 for the Gelo Racing Team in a Porsche 935. A master at the Nürburgring, he was a constant winner of races held there.

In the 1980s he was still a sought after prototype pilot and achieved success driving the Kremer CK5, Lancia LC1 and Porsche 956 cars.

Death

Stommelen was killed in a crash during the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix 6 hour International Motor Sports Association GT Championship event at Riverside International Raceway on 24 April 1983. He was competing in a John Fitzpatrick entered Porsche 935 with co-driver Derek Bell. Stommelen had just taken over the car from Bell and was running in second place when the rear wing broke due to mechanical failure at 190 mph (310 km/h). The car became uncontrollable, slammed against a concrete wall, somersaulted and caught fire. Stommelen died of head injuries.[5]

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
1965 Christian Poirot Christian Poirot Porsche 904 GT
2.0
13 DNF DNF
1966 Porsche System Engineering Günter Klass Porsche 906/6L Carrera 6 S
2.0
330 7th 1st
1967 Porsche System Engineering Jochen Neerpasch Porsche 910/6K P
2.0
351 6th 2nd
1968 Porsche System Engineering Jochen Neerpasch Porsche 908 P
3.0
325 3rd 2nd
1969 Porsche System Engineering Kurt Ahrens, Jr. Porsche 917 S
5.0
148 DNF DNF
1970 Autodelta S.P.A. Nanni Galli Alfa Romeo T33/3 P
3.0
213 DSQ DSQ
1972 Autodelta S.P.A. Nanni Galli Alfa Romeo T33/TT/3 S
3.0
263 DNF DNF
1976 Martini Racing Porsche System Manfred Schurti Porsche 935 Gr.5 331 4th 1st
1977 Martini Racing Porsche System Manfred Schurti Porsche 935 Gr.5 52 DNF DNF
1978 Martini Racing Porsche System Manfred Schurti Porsche 935 Gr.5
+2.0
326 8th 3rd
1979 Dick Barbour Racing Paul Newman
Dick Barbour
Porsche 935 IMSA
+2.5
299 2nd 1st
1980 Gozzy Kremer Racing Tetsu Ikuzawa
Axel Plankenhorn
Porsche 935 Gr.5 167 DNF DNF
1982 Martini Racing Michele Alboreto
Teo Fabi
Lancia LC1 Gr.6 92 DNF DNF
Source:[6]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts.
1969 Roy Winkelmann Racing Lotus 59B F2 Ford Cosworth FVA 1.6 L4 RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER
8
ITA CAN USA MEX NC 0
1970 Auto Motor und Sport Brabham BT33 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA
Ret
ESP
Ret
MON
DNQ
BEL
5
NED
DNQ
FRA
7
GBR
DNS
GER
5
AUT
3
ITA
5
CAN
Ret
USA
12
MEX
Ret
11th 10
1971 Auto Motor und Sport Team Surtees Surtees TS7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA
12
20th 3
Surtees TS9 ESP
Ret
MON
6
NED
DSQ
FRA
11
GBR
5
GER
10
AUT
7
ITA
DNS
CAN
Ret
USA
1972 Team Eifelland Caravans Eifelland E21 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG RSA
13
ESP
Ret
MON
10
BEL
11
FRA
16
GBR
10
GER
Ret
AUT
15
ITA CAN USA NC 0
1973 Ceramica Pagnossin Team MRD Brabham BT42 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER
11
AUT
Ret
ITA
12
CAN
12
USA NC 0
1974 Embassy Racing with Graham Hill Lola T370 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT
Ret
ITA
Ret
CAN
11
USA
12
NC 0
1975 Embassy Racing with Graham Hill Lola T370 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG
13
BRA
14
NC 0
Lola T371 RSA
7
Hill GH1 ESP
Ret
MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT
16
ITA
Ret
USA
1976 RAM Racing Brabham BT44B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER
DNS
20th 1
Martini Racing Brabham BT45 Alfa Romeo 115-12 3.0 F12 GER
6
AUT ITA
Ret
CAN USA JPN
Hesketh Racing Hesketh 308D Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 NED
12
1978 Arrows Racing Team Arrows FA1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG BRA RSA
9
USW
9
MON
Ret
BEL
Ret
ESP
14
SWE
14
FRA
15
GBR
DNQ
GER
DSQ
NC 0
Arrows A1 AUT
DNPQ
NED
DNPQ
ITA
DNPQ
USA
16
CAN
DNQ

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1971 Auto Motor und Sport Team Surtees Surtees TS7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG
Ret
ROC QUE SPR INT
Surtees TS9 RIN
7
OUL VIC
1972 Team Eifelland Caravans Eifelland E21 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC
12
BRA INT OUL REP VIC
1975 Embassy Racing with Graham Hill Hill GH1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC
9
INT SUI
12

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos. Pts
1970 Eifelland Wohnwagenbau March 702 Ford THR
Ret
HOC
6
BAR
12
ROU NC 0
Brabham BT30 PER
6
TUL
Ret
IMO
5
HOC
1971 Team Eifelland Caravans Brabham BT36 Ford HOC THR NÜR
Ret
JAR PAL
DNQ
ROU MAN
Ret
TUL ALB VAL VAL NC 0
1973 Fina Brabham BT40 Ford MAL HOC THR NÜR PAU KIN NIV HOC ROU MNZ MAN KAR PER SAL NOR ALB VAL
Ret
NC 0
1974 Team Ecuador Surtees TS15A BMW BAR HOC PAU SAL HOC
DNS
MUG KAR PER HOC VAL NC 0
1976 Rolf Stommelen Chevron B35 BMW HOC THR VAL SAL PAU HOC
Ret
ROU MUG PER EST NC 0
March Engineering March 762 BMW NOG
7
Fred Opert Racing Chevron B35 Hart HOC
16

Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 NWCC Pts Ref
1971 Holman-Moody 52 Mercury RSD DAY DAY DAY ONT RCH CAR HCY BRI ATL CLB GPS SMR NWS MAR DAR SBO TAL ASH KPT CLT DOV MCH RSD HOU GPS DAY BRI AST ISP TRN NSV ATL BGS ONA MCH TAL
39
CLB HCY DAR MAR CLT DOV CAR MGR RCH NWS TWS NA 0 [7]

References

  1. FIA Year Book of Automobile Sport 1979. Patrick Stephens Ltd. white p. 43. ISBN 0-85059-320-4.
  2. Motorsport-info.de 300km Nuerburgring 1976
  3. Motorsport-info.de Le Mans 1978
  4. http://www.peter-auto-racing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12%3Afordgt40&catid=14&lang=dpx_uk
  5. IMSA Blog: A very sad Sunday
  6. "Rolf Stommelen, Germany". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  7. "Rolf Stommelem – 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
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