Rolf Wütherich

 Rudolf Karl Wütherich  (August 5, 1927 – July 22, 1981) Rolf Wütherich was born in Heilbronn, Germany on August 5, 1927. In 1950, the former Luftwaffe glider pilot, paratrooper, and aircraft mechanic joined Mercedes-Benz after the war. In 1949, he joined the Porsche factory becoming the second employee of their racing department. He participated as a factory team member at Le Mans in 1952, '53 and '54. Wütherich was also a factory team member for Porsche at Avus, Milia Miglia, Rheims, and the Nurburgring races.[1]

The Porsche factory sent Wütherich to the United States as a field engineer for Johnny von Neumann's Competition Motors in Hollywood, California where the new 550 Spyder racing cars were being distributed. Wütherich arrived in April, 1955. Wütherich later met actor James Dean, a Porsche Speedster racer, at the May 1st Bakersfield races. He befriended Dean and began to work on Dean's Speedster for race events.[2]

James Dean's fatal crash

In mid-September, 1955, Competition Motors received five new Porsche 550 Spyders that were being offered only to 'privateer' racers. Dean traded in his Super Speedster to purchase a new Spyder on September 21. Von Neumann only agreed to sell the new 550 Spyder to Dean as long as Wütherich would accompany him to the races as his mechanic. Dean immediately entered the Salinas Road Races scheduled for October 1-2nd.[3]

On Friday morning, September 30, 1955, Dean and Wütherich were at Competition Motors preparing Dean’s new Porsche 550 Spyder for the weekend sports car races at Salinas, California. Dean originally intended to trailer the Porsche to Salinas, behind his 1955 Ford Country Squire station wagon, driven by friend and movie stunt man, Bill Hickman, and accompanied by professional photographer, Sanford Roth, who was planning a photo story of Dean at the races for Colliers Magazine. Because the Porsche didn't have enough ‘break-in’ miles prior to the race, Wütherich recommended that Dean drive the Spyder to Salinas to get more ‘seat time’ behind the wheel. The group had coffee and donuts at the Hollywood Ranch Market on Vine Street across from Competition Motors (not the legendary Farmer’s Market at Fairfax and 3rd Ave. as previously reported) before leaving around 1:15 p.m. PST.[4] "Jimmy's and my nerves were pretty frayed when we finally pulled away from Competition Motors," Wütherich told Bill Barrett. "Our first stop was at a service station on Ventura Blvd.", he said.[5] It was at that Mobil station on Ventura Blvd. at Beverly Glen Blvd. in Sherman Oaks where the legendary photo was taken of Dean standing next to the "Little Bastard." The group left around 2:00 p.m., heading north on CA Rt. 99 and then over the ‘Grapevine’ toward Bakersfield. [6]

At 3:30 p.m., Dean was stopped by a California Highway Patrolman, O.V. Hunter at Mettler Station on Wheeler Ridge, just south of Bakersfield, for driving 65 mph (105 km/h) in a 55 mph (89 km/h) zone. Hickman, following behind the Spyder in the Ford with the trailer, was also ticketed for driving 20 mph (32 km/h) over the limit, as the speed limit for all vehicles towing a trailer was 45 mph (72 km/h). After receiving the speeding citations, Dean and Hickman turned left onto Rt. 166/33 to avoid going through Bakersfield’s slow 25 mph downtown district. Rt. 166/33 was a known short-cut for all the sports car drivers going to Salinas, called ‘the racer’s road,’ which took them directly to Blackwells Corner at CA Route 46. At Blackwells Corner, Dean stopped briefly only for refreshments and met up with fellow racers Lance Reventlow and Bruce Kessler, who were also on their way to the Salinas road races in Reventlow’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupe. As Reventlow and Kessler were leaving, they all agreed to meet for dinner in Paso Robles.[7]

At approximately 5:15 p.m., Dean and Hickman left Blackwells Corner driving west on Route 46 toward Paso Robles, approximately sixty miles away. Dean accelerated in the Porsche and left the Ford station wagon far behind. Further along on Rt. 46, the Porsche crested Polonio Pass and headed down the long Antelope Grade passing cars along the way toward the junction floor at Rt. 46 and 41. Dean spotted an oncoming black-and-white 1950 Ford Custom coupe heading east on Rt. 46 toward the junction. The time was approximately 5:45 p.m., PST. Its driver, 23-year-old Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed, suddenly turned in front of the Porsche to take the left fork onto Route 41. Turnupseed then hesitated as he 'spiked' the brakes just as the Ford crossed over the center line. Dean saw an impending crash and apparently tried to 'power steer' the Spyder in a 'side stepping' racing maneuver—but there wasn't enough time or space as the two cars crashed almost head-on. The Spyder flipped up into the air and landed back on its wheels off in a gully, northwest of the junction. The sheer velocity of the impact sent the much heavier Ford broad-sliding thirty-nine feet down Rt. 46 in the west bound lane.[8]

James Dean had been extricated from the Spyder's mangled cockpit after his left foot was crushed between the clutch and brake pedal. Dean was severely injured and was placed into an ambulance. The barely conscious Wütherich, who had been thrown from the Spyder onto the shoulder of the road next to the Porsche, was loaded in next. Dean and Wütherich were taken to the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, twenty-eight miles away. Dean was pronounced dead on arrival.[9]

Later life

Wütherich survived the horrific crash with a double fractured jaw and serious hip and femur injuries. He was transferred to a Los Angeles hospital for immediate surgery. So badly torn was Wütherich's left hip that it required several more surgeries over the next six months. In 1956, Wütherich was terminated for being 'unruly' at von Neumann's dealership. Wütherich began to 'freelance' as a Porsche mechanic, but legal and psychological problems arose. He returned to Germany where Porsche invited him back to work with the factory's testing department. Wütherich came back to the U.S. with the Porsche racing team, but only for the Sebring 12 Hour races in 1957 and 1958.[10]

During 1965, Wütherich established himself as a skilled rallye navigator for the Porsche factory at the Monte Carlo Rallye where he teamed with driver, Eugen Böhringer in a factory-sponsored 904 GTS Porsche to finish second overall and first in class. In 1966, Wütherich and Gunther Klass teamed in a factory-sponsored 911S Coupe to finish fifth overall and first in class. In 1968, Wütherich was terminated by the Porsche factory after 18 years.[11]

By reason of his accident with James Dean, Wütherich developed severe psychological problems. There were many accounts that he suffered from depression, had suicidal tendencies, and became an alcoholic. In 1979 he joined a Honda dealer in Hohenlohe near his native Heilbronn, but also had difficulties with his employer. Wütherich died in July, 1981, in Kupferzell, Germany, when he became intoxicated, lost control of his car and crashed into a residence. Like James Dean, Rolf Wütherich had to be extricated from the wreck and he died at the accident scene. He was 53 years old.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Barrett, Bill (1956). exclusive interview with Rolf Wütherich. West Coast Sports Car Journal (Los Angeles: Joe Weismann).
  2. ↑ Barrett, Bill (1956). "exclusive interview with Rolf Wütherich". West Coast Sports Car Journal (Los Angeles, Calif.: Joe Weismann).
  3. ↑ Barrett, Bill (1956). "exclusive interview with Rolf Wütherich". West Coast Sports Car Journal (Los Angeles, Calif.: Joe Weismann).
  4. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. pp. 111–115. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  5. ↑ Barrett, Bill (1956). "exclusive interview with Rolf Wütherich". West Coast Sports Car Journal (Los Angeles, Calif.: Joe Weismann).
  6. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. pp. 116–118. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  7. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. pp. 116–118. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  8. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. pp. 111–115. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  9. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  10. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. p. 138. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  11. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. p. 138. ISBN 978-1893618497.
  12. ↑ Raskin, Lee (2005). James Dean: At Speed. Phoenix, Ariz.: David Bull. p. 138. ISBN 978-1893618497.
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