The love for motorsport in Mexico was not born with Components 1, in truth, the Gran Circo arrived a lot later in a rustic that was already enchanting with the sound produced by the automobiles and with drivers who have been making a distinguished identify past the brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez.
As in all sports activities, dynasties are rising, and in the case of Mexican motor racing there is a surname that has transcended nationally and internationally: Los Rojas.
No, we’re not speaking about Memo Rojas Jr., the most profitable Mexican in worldwide sequence, however his father, Guillermo Rojas, who, like his son, inherited the passion for driving “from my father, who raced the first three editions of La Carrera Panamericana. It is something that you carry in your blood and extra so when you stay with it each day, it was the identical factor that occurred to Memo ”, remembers the skilled pilot in a phone dialog.
With greater than 12 nationwide championships in its historical past and virtually 5 a long time at the wheel, the additionally Ford engineer is thought of one in all the greatest Mexican drivers.
“My objective was all the time to win the races, much less thought than to win the championships, however the second got here as a consequence of the first. I used to be an aggressive driver, who didn’t quit a lot floor, however I used to be all the time conscious that to win a race you all the time have to complete it.
“I really feel very proud when somebody says that, as a result of it is a mirrored image that issues have been carried out nicely with the help of the individuals who surrounded me. Whether or not it was with the Freddy Tame group, with the Porsche, with the Nissan, I used to be all the time lucky to be with the greatest trainers and that influenced the outcomes ”, he relives when speaking about the key to his success on the tracks at one time the place motorsport was completely different from now.
“It was very busy competitors weekends, however very entertaining. There have been weekends the place you ran as much as three completely different classes and you needed to be prepared for the whole lot. Now you must be extra specialised. In our time we ran numerous classes on a weekend.
“In all probability what I loved the most have been the occasions of the Porsche (911 RSR), as a result of at that time they have been sooner than there have been in Mexico. They have been the automobiles. They have been when endurance races began they usually have been extremely wanted by the public, as a result of they cherished to see them. However I additionally loved the Fords or the ponies, I had enjoyable, however it was additionally as a result of I had good outcomes ”.
Nevertheless, not all have been good occasions and in his thoughts is a rally accident in the eighties, a specialty in which he additionally achieved victories. “The strongest indubitably was one that occurred in the eighties. I used to be in a Ford Fairmont at a 24 Hour Rally, close to Morelia, in Mil Cumbres. We went into a really deep ravine, however fortuitously suffered minor injury ”.
Guillermo Rojas’s passage overseas
However like his son, Rojas Sr. additionally competed internationally, highlighting his participation in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1972 and 1976, though with out the outright victories.
“We went to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and we weren’t very fortunate. The engine failed round the eighth hour and we couldn’t full the mission ”, describes Rojas, who has returned to the La Sarthe circuit in France to accompany his son in the search for the long-awaited victory on that monitor.
Not the whole lot was dangerous luck in worldwide races, since he is one in all the few Mexican drivers who has triumphed in a contest of this kind in the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez when he gained the 1000 kilometers of Mexico in 1974, a date on the IMSA calendar for the United States.
Though he is now not behind the wheel, his life is nonetheless in racing attentive to what Memo does on the monitor, something of which he is proud. “By some means I see mirrored in him a lot of the issues that I may by no means obtain. My son has gained the 24 Hours of Daytona, IMSA championships and the European Le Mans Collection. I’m very proud ».
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