NASCAR Cup Series will race for points next week on an international land for the first time in nearly 67 years.
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| Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez |
Located in Mexico City, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a 4.304 km circuit bearing the name of two iconic racing drivers, Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez. The circuit earned its title after the untimely death of Ricardo during a practice session for the non-Championship 1962 Mexican Grand Prix. Sadly, nine years later, Pedro also lost his life while racing.
When the brothers — Pedro, twenty-one and Ricardo then just nineteen — paired up in the 1,000 Kilometers of Paris in 1961 to clinch one of their first major grand-touring victories, a trio of festive mariachi muchachos serenaded their steel-gray Ferrari at the finish, strumming guitars in their sombreros as they straddled the straw-bale trackside barrier.
Years later, Pedro Rodríguez became the first Mexican driver to win a Formula One race, realizing one of his lifelong dreams in the 1967 South African Grand Prix. The triumph was a singular feat for decades until countryman Sergio Pérez’s F1 breakthrough in 2020.
“I felt an immense satisfaction for Mexico,” Pedro Rodríguez, the elder of the two brothers, said post-race. “On the victory lap, tears started to flow from my eyes.”
What happened next amid the fanfare nearly prompted Rodríguez to choke on his victory champagne. After the young driver rose to the top step of the podium, the band assembled trackside realized it did not know the Mexican national anthem. Instead, the musicians improvised by playing a tune called Jarabe Tapatío, or as it’s known in English, the “Mexican Hat Dance.” According to legend, Rodríguez always traveled with a recording of Himno Nacional Mexicano from that point forward.
That pride lives on in the circuit that bears their names.
El Autódormo Hnos. Rodríguez cada vez más cerca del NASCAR Mexico City Weekend. 🔥 🇲🇽#nascar #nascarmexico #ah pic.twitter.com/vN3q5XxRrp
— Autodromo Hnos. Rodriguez (@autodromohr) June 9, 2025
Get out your google translation app - NASCAR Cup Series will race for points next week on an international land for the first time in nearly 67 years.
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