Rolf Johann Stommelen (11 July 1943 – 24 April 1983) was a racing driver from

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

, Germany. He participated in 63

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

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. One of the best endurance

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

drivers of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Stommelen won the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

four times; in 1968, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the Targa Florio in 1967 in a

Porsche 910 The Porsche 910 or Carrera 10 was a race car from Porsche, based on the Porsche 906. 29 were produced and were raced in 1966 and 1967. The factory name for the 910 was the 906/10. The 910 was considered the next sequence in the 906 line. Histor ...

Career

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 The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906- Porsche 910- Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand P ...

. In this year, he became the first man to reach speeds exceeding on the Le Mans circuit's

Mulsanne Straight The Mulsanne Straight (''Ligne Droite des Hunaudières'' in French) is the name used in English for a formerly long straight of the Circuit de la Sarthe around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place. Since 1990, the straight is int ...

in his Porsche 917 LH. In 1970, he made his

debut with

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

with sponsorship obtained from the German magazine ''

Auto, Motor und Sport ''Auto Motor und Sport'', often stylized as auto motor und sport and abbreviated AMS or AMuS, is a German automobile magazine. It is published fortnightly by Motor Presse Netzwerk's subsidiary Motor Presse Stuttgart, a specialist magazine publis ...

'' and raced both sportscars (

Toj ToJ was a German racing car constructor, founded by Jörg Obermoser. Obermoser began with selling open wheel racing cars for Formula Two and Formula Three, and later diversified into sports racing cars. New designs continued until 1982 with the f ...

and Porsche works teams) and Formula 1 throughout the 1970s. He inadvertently played a role in the end of the

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...

's tenure at Montjuich Park in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

when he crashed there in the 1975 race after the rear wing of his

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

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 Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

and also winning the

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 The Renault Alpine A442 (also known as the Alpine Renault A442 ) is a sports prototype racing car, designed and built by Alpine, but funded and powered by Alpine's owners Renault, specifically to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Variants wer ...

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 he was given the task by the Porsche factory to drive the

Porsche 935 The Porsche 935 was a race car developed and manufactured by German automaker Porsche. Introduced in 1976 as the factory racing version of the Porsche 930, 911 (930) Turbo and prepared for Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-Group 5 ( ...

"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. He continued at Le Mans with the Porsche 935, nearly winning the

24 hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

with Dick Barbour and actor

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

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

SC320 prototype sportscars with some success against the works Alfa team (Toj was a small German manufacturer). He also competed in one

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Grand National series event in 1971 at

Talladega Superspeedway Talladega Superspeedway, nicknamed “'Dega”, and formerly named Alabama International Motor Speedway (AIMS) from 1969 to 1989, is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base ...

in a former

Holman-Moody Holman-Moody is an American racecar manufacturer, marine engine manufacturer and former auto racing team. The company currently operates out of Charlotte, North Carolina, but is no longer a race team. Holman-Moody continues to manufacture racing v ...

Ford which

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

used to win the 1967 Daytona 500, which was rebuilt by Robert Gee (

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

's grandfather) as a

Mercury Cyclone The Mercury Cyclone is an automobile that was marketed by the Mercury division of Ford from 1964 to 1971. Introduced in 1964 as the Mercury Comet Cyclone, the Cyclone replaced the S-22 as the performance-oriented version of the Mercury Comet mo ...

, 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 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as ''German Racing Championship'') or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series. His ...

, 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 Kremer is a German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname cognate to Kramer (surname), Kramer.Kremer name meaning

Lancia LC1 The Lancia LC1 was a sports car run by Lancia under the Group 6 regulations in the World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1982 to 1983. The car was built as an attempt by Lancia to move up from production-based competition wi ...

and Porsche 956 cars.

Death

Stommelen was killed in a crash during the

Los Angeles Times Grand Prix The Los Angeles Times Grand Prix was a sports car race held at the Riverside International Raceway. The race was held throughout the track's existence, from 1957 until 1987. The race was sponsored by the ''Los Angeles Times'' to raise money for ...

6 hour

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

GT Championship event at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...

on 24 April 1983. He was competing in a John Fitzpatrick entered

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.
IMSA Blog: A very sad Sunday

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( :Template:F1 driver results legend 2, key)

Formula One non-championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Graded drivers not eligible for European Formula Two Championship points

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(

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

NASCAR

(

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

Winston Cup Series

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stommelen, Rolf 1943 births 1983 deaths 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers German Formula One drivers Surtees Formula One drivers Eifelland Formula One drivers Brabham Formula One drivers Hill Formula One drivers Hesketh Formula One drivers Arrows Formula One drivers German racing drivers Sportspeople from Siegen Racing drivers from North Rhine-Westphalia Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in California World Sportscar Championship drivers NASCAR drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Team Joest drivers