Gonzalo Rodríguez (racing driver)

{{Infobox racing driver

| name = Gonzalo Rodríguez

| image = Gonzalo Rodriquez, Silverstone British F3000, 1996.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Gonzalo Rodríguez Bongoll

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1971|01|22}}

| birth_place = Montevideo, Uruguay

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|09|11|1971|01|22}}

| death_place = Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey County, California, U.S.

| last series = CART Championship Car

| years active = 1999

| teams = Penske Racing

| starts = 1

| wins = 0

| poles = 0

| prev series = {{nowrap|International Formula 3000
British Formula 3000
British Formula Renault
Spanish Formula Renault}}

| prev series years = {{nowrap|1997–1999
1996–1997
1994–1996
1993}}

}}

Gonzalo "Gonchi" Rodríguez Bongoll (January 22, 1971 – September 11, 1999){{cite web | url=https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2014037076.html | title=Rodríguez Bongoll, Gonzalo, 1971-1999 - LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies | Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress) }} was a Uruguayan racing driver. He was killed in a crash at Laguna Seca Raceway during practice for a CART race which would have been his second start in the series.

Career

He showed promise in Formula 3000 for three seasons, taking two wins in 1998 at Spa-Francorchamps and Nürburgring, winning the following season in Monaco and finishing third in both championships. Following a rotation of drivers as team mates to Al Unser Jr. in CART Penske Racing's second car, he was given his opportunity at the Detroit Grand Prix in 1999 and scored a point in his only race.

Death

At the Laguna Seca Raceway during a practice session for his second CART race, he was fatally injured in a crash. A stuck throttle was initially thought to be the cause for his car overshooting the braking point, leaving the track, striking a tire barrier and slamming into a concrete wall behind the barrier at the entry of the Corkscrew corner. Review of the in-car telemetry refuted this supposition.{{cite web |title=Rookie driver killed in CART crash |url=http://www.espn.com/auto/cart/news/1999/0911/51424.html |website=ESPN.com}} The impact caused his car to flip over the barrier and land upside down on the other side of the wall. Rodríguez was killed instantly by a basilar skull fracture caused by the impact with the wall, which was lined by only a thin layer of tires. Because of the incident, an additional tire wall was installed at the end of the straight.{{cite web |title=ABC broadcast coverage of the Shell 300 from Laguna Seca Raceway |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3GQJxcka-o |website=youtube.com| date=4 December 2020 }}{{cbignore}}

In 2021, teammate Al Unser, Jr. released his biography Al Unser, Jr.: A Checkered Past, written by motorsport author Jade Gurss. Unser noted the nuances of the incident, basing information on what happened to him during various testing and practice sessions during the season. Both he and Rodríguez were driving the Lola B99/00 chassis and not the Penske PC-27 chassis for the weekend, and he specifically noted a mechanical nuance with the Hewland gearbox in the Lola versus the Xtrac used by the Penske and Reynard chassis.

{{quote|"The Lola would jam into neutral if you tried to downshift too fast. It did it to me a couple of times in testing, which is why I preferred the Penske. Going up the hill (before the Corkscrew), there is a point before you get to the top where you need to get out (of the throttle) to downshift and get the thing stopped. I think he was taking it to the top of the hill like (drivers driving Reynard 99I chassis vehicles that season). There was a limit on how fast you could downshift the Lola.}}

Unser believed the Hewland gearbox downshifted to neutral in the crash while Rodríguez was making a shift.{{cite book |last1=Gurss |first1=Jade |title=Al Unser Jr: A Checkered Past |date=2021-10-01 |publisher=Octane Press |location=Austin, TX |isbn=9781642340457 |pages=320 |url=https://octanepress.com/book/al-unser-jr-checkered-past |access-date=2024-12-26 |ref=UnserBook}}

Rodríguez had a contract in place to compete in the 2000 CART championship with Patrick Racing, and there were rumours that Minardi could hire him for the 2001 Formula One season.

Legacy

In 2014, a Spanish-language documentary of his life, Gonchi, was released.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-10 |title=Got Netflix? Watch Gonchi — dan is cross |url=http://www.daniscross.co.uk/2015/09/got-netflix-watch-gonchi-documentary/ |access-date=2023-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810163110/http://www.daniscross.co.uk/2015/09/got-netflix-watch-gonchi-documentary/ |archive-date=2016-08-10 }}

Racing record

=Complete International Formula 3000 results=

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

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%" ! Year ! Entrant ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! DC ! Points
1997 ! nowrap\| Redman & Bright F3000 \|style="background:#FFCFCF;"\| SIL {{small\|DNQ}} \| PAU \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| HEL {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| NÜR {{small\|6}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| PER {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| HOC {{small\|17}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| A1R {{small\|7}} \| SPA \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| MUG {{small\|8}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| JER {{small\|Ret}} \| \| ! 22nd ! 0.5
1998 ! nowrap\| Team Astromega \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| OSC {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#FFDF9F;"\| IMO {{small\|3}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| CAT {{small\|21}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| SIL {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| MON {{small\|2}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| PAU {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| A1R {{small\|4}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| HOC {{small\|11}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| HUN {{small\|7}} \|style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| SPA {{small\|1}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| PER {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| NÜR {{small\|1}} \|style="background:#FFDF9F;"\|3rd \|style="background:#FFDF9F;"\|33
1999 ! nowrap\| Team Astromega \|style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| IMO {{small\|5}} \|style="background:#FFFFBF;"\| MON {{small\|1}} \|style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| CAT {{small\|2}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| MAG {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#CFCFFF;"\| SIL {{small\|15}} \|style="background:#FFCFCF;"\| A1R {{small\|DNQ}} \|style="background:#DFFFDF;"\| HOC {{small\|4}} \|style="background:#EFCFFF;"\| HUN {{small\|Ret}} \|style="background:#DFDFDF;"\| SPA {{small\|2}} \| NÜR \| \| \|style="background:#FFDF9F;"\|3rd \|style="background:#FFDF9F;"\|27
colspan="16"\|{{center\|{{small\|Source:{{cite web\|title=Gonzalo Rodríguez Results\|url=https://motorsportstats.com/driver/gonzalo-rodriguez/results\|publisher=Motorsport Stats\|access-date=20 December 2022}}}}}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Entrant

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! DC

! Points

1997

! nowrap| Redman & Bright F3000

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"| SIL
{{small|DNQ}}

| PAU

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| HEL
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| NÜR
{{small|6}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| PER
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC
{{small|17}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| A1R
{{small|7}}

| SPA

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MUG
{{small|8}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| JER
{{small|Ret}}

! 22nd

! 0.5

1998

! nowrap| Team Astromega

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| OSC
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| IMO
{{small|3}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| CAT
{{small|21}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SIL
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| MON
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| PAU
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| A1R
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC
{{small|11}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HUN
{{small|7}}

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| SPA
{{small|1}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| PER
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| NÜR
{{small|1}}

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"|3rd

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"|33

1999

! nowrap| Team Astromega

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| IMO
{{small|5}}

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| MON
{{small|1}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| CAT
{{small|2}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MAG
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SIL
{{small|15}}

|style="background:#FFCFCF;"| A1R
{{small|DNQ}}

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| HOC
{{small|4}}

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| HUN
{{small|Ret}}

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| SPA
{{small|2}}

| NÜR

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"|3rd

|style="background:#FFDF9F;"|27

colspan="16"|{{center|{{small|Source:{{cite web|title=Gonzalo Rodríguez Results|url=https://motorsportstats.com/driver/gonzalo-rodriguez/results|publisher=Motorsport Stats|access-date=20 December 2022}}}}}}

=Complete American Open Wheel results=

(key)

==CART==

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! No.

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! 18

! 19

! 20

! Rank

! Points

! Ref

1999

! nowrap| Team Penske

! 3

! nowrap| Lola B99/00

! nowrap| Mercedes-Benz IC108E

| MIA

| MOT

| LBH

| NZR

| RIO

| STL

| MIL

| POR

| CLE

| ROA

| TOR

| MIS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| DET
{{small|12}}

| MDO

| CHI

| VAN

|style="background:#DFC484;"| LAG
{{small|WD}}

| HOU

| SRF

| FON

!32nd

!{{cite web|title=Gonzalo Rodriguez|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/rodrigo01/1999/R/|publisher=Racing-Reference|access-date=20 December 2022}}

Gallery

Expo Automovilismo 2024 - Gonzalo Rodríguez clothing 01.jpg|1999 Penske and Astromega firesuits

Expo Automovilismo 2024 - Gonzalo Rodríguez clothing 04.jpg|1999 Penske helmet

Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini de El Pinar - Gonchi Rodríguez monument.JPG|Monument at the Autódromo Víctor Borrat Fabini

References

External links

[http://www.gonzalorodriguez.org/ Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez] - a foundation which promotes child road safety and physical education
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080203224441/http://www.historicracing.com/drivers_nation.cfm?start=1&page_no=1&driverID=2365&orderType=name Profile at HistoricRacing.com]
{{YouTube|19Fl1e79O1Y|News report and footage of the crash}}

{{succession box

| before = Unknown driver

| title = Fatalities in CART/IndyCar

| years = 1999

| after = Greg Moore

}}

Category:1971 births

Category:1999 deaths

Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers

Category:British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers

Category:Champ Car drivers

Category:Sportspeople from Montevideo