Pedro Rodríguez de la Vega (18 January 1940 – 11 July 1971) was a Mexican Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was the older brother of Ricardo Rodríguez.

Personal life

Rodríguez was born in Mexico City, Mexico, the second son of the marriage of Pedro Natalio Rodríguez and Concepción De la Vega, he had an older sister, Conchita, and three younger brothers: Ricardo, Federico (stillborn) and Alejandro. At 15, his father sent him to Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois in order to learn English and to develop more discipline.Rodríguez brothers raced bicycles and motorcycles, becoming Mexican national motorcycle champion in 1953 and 1954. He made his international debut in cars at Nassau in 1957 in a Ferrari. He married Angelina (née Dammy), in Mexico in 1961, although he had a girlfriend in England, Glenda Foreman, with whom he lived in Bray on Thames in his latter years, but left no children.Rodríguez always traveled with a Mexican flag and a record of the national anthem because when he won the 1967 South African GP the organizers did not have the Mexican anthem, and instead played the Mexican hat dance.Jo Ramírez was a very close friend to both Rodríguez as well as his younger brother Ricardo.

Career

Rodríguez began racing with bicycles at eight years old. He was a class winner in the Mexican Championship by 1950. He started racing a 125 cc (7.6 cu in) Adler motorcycle, winning Mexico's national championship in 1952 and 1954. In 1952, he entered a rally in a Ford, but achieved little.