It was 1958 when Luigi Chinetti brought the two Rodríguez brothers, Pedro and Ricardo, to Europe. They were known as the “terrible brothers”. They could convey the impression of being two smooth-faced adolescents, but their impertinence was equal to their skills.

The exit from the road at the Mexican GP in 1962 was fatal to Ricardo. After his grave loss, Pedro kept on the sidelines from races for a while, he only made a few occasional appearances in the USA or Le Mans. After a few results driving sporadically for Ferrari, with the NART colours, in 1967 there was his true return to F1 races when he was hired by Cooper-Maserati. He made his debut with a victory at the South African GP. He was the driver for BRM in ’68, for Parnelli-BRM and Ferrari semi-officially in 1969, then once again for BRM in 1970 and 1971.

Rodríguez was very active in the long-lasting races, he loved high speed and very powerful cars. He was endowed with resistance and impetuousness, which are key requirements for this kind of races. In 1968, the “rebel boy” won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, coupled with Lucien Bianchi, with the official team Mirage-Ford. 1970 was a year of major satisfaction in the sports cars races and with the Porsche 917, he won at Daytona Beach, Brands Hatch, Monza and Watkins Glen. In July 1971, on the German track in Norisring, during a minor race, he had a fatal accident with a Ferrari 512 M.