Rolf Stommelen

Rolf Johann Stommelen (; 11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a German racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Stommelen was a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with Porsche.

Stommelen participated in 63 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving one podium and 14 championship points. He also participated in several non-championship Formula One races. He was widely successful in sports car racing from the mid-1960s until his death in 1983, winning the 24 Hours of Daytona four times: in 1968, 1978, 1980 and 1982. He also won the 1967 Targa Florio with Porsche.

Early and personal life Rolf Johann Stommelen was born on 11 July 1943 in Siegen, Prussia, Nazi Germany.

Career Stommelen driving for Brabham at the 1976 German Grand Prix.

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 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.

Stommelen 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.

In 1978, Stommelen 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.

Stommelen 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.

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

Stommelen 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.

Stommelen 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, Stommelen 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 (306 km/h). The car became uncontrollable, slammed against a concrete wall, somersaulted and caught fire. Stommelen died of blunt force trauma, crushed chest and head injuries.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1965 Christian Poirot Christian Poirot Porsche 904 GT2.0 13 DNF DNF 1966 Porsche System Engineering Günter Klass Porsche 906/6L Carrera 6 S2.0 330 7th 1st 1967 Porsche System Engineering Jochen Neerpasch Porsche 910/6K P2.0 351 6th 2nd 1968 Porsche System Engineering Jochen Neerpasch Porsche 908 P3.0 325 3rd 2nd 1969 Porsche System Engineering Kurt Ahrens Jr. Porsche 917 S5.0 148 DNF DNF 1970 Autodelta S.P.A. Nanni Galli Alfa Romeo T33/3 P3.0 213 DSQ DSQ 1972 Autodelta S.P.A. Nanni Galli Alfa Romeo T33/TT/3 S3.0 263 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

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key)

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 Eifelland Team Surtees Surtees TS7 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG ROC QUE SPR INT Surtees TS9 RIN OUL VIC 1972 Team Eifelland Caravans Eifelland E21 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC BRA INT OUL REP VIC 1975 Embassy Racing with Graham Hill Hill GH1 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT SUI

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 Pts Eifelland Wohnwagenbau March 702 Ford THR HOC BAR ROU NC 0 Brabham BT30 PER TUL IMO HOC Team Eifelland Caravans Brabham BT36 Ford HOC THR NÜR JAR PAL ROU MAN TUL ALB VAL VAL NC 0 Fina Brabham BT40 Ford MAL HOC THR NÜR PAU KIN NIV HOC ROU MNZ MAN KAR PER SAL NOR ALB VAL NC 0 Team Ecuador Surtees TS15A BMW BAR HOC PAU SAL HOC MUG KAR PER HOC VAL NC 0 Rolf Stommelen Chevron B35 BMW HOC THR VAL SAL PAU HOC ROU MUG PER EST NC 0 March Engineering March 762 BMW NOG Fred Opert Racing Chevron B35 Hart HOC Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Class 1970 Ford Köln Ford Capri 2300 GT BRH SNE THR SIL CRY SIL SIL25 CRO BRH OUL BRH BRH NC 0 NC

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 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 CLB HCY DAR MAR CLT DOV CAR MGR RCH NWS TWS NA 0