Notes:
Rolf Stommelen's career as a professional racing driver began in 1965, when he was hired by Porsche to compete in hillclimbs and sportscar races. He moved up quickly, obtaining the second place in the European Hillclimb Championship in 1967 and 1968, being bettered by Gerhard Mitter in both years. Stommelen's engagements in sportscars were many and successful, and in 1967 he took Porsche to its first overall win in a major race, when he conquered the Targa Florio with a Porsche 910 shared with Paul Hawkins.

During the first half of the 1970 Stommelen would share his time between sportscars and Formula 1. Between 1970 and 1974 he drove in the World Sports Championship for Porsche and Alfa Romeo. In 1971 he scored a 2^nd place in the 1971 12 Hours of Sebring with Nanni Galli in a Alfa Romeo 33/3. Three years later he would do even better, with second places in three 1000-kilometer races - at Monza with Jacky Ickx and at the Nürburgring and Imola with Carlos Reutemann, all in a Alfa Romeo 33TT12.

Stommelen's first race in Formula 1 was the 1969 German Grand Prix - in which he actually competed at the wheel of a Formula 2 car, a Lotus 59B entered by Roy Winkelmann Racing. That was an event in which Formula 1 and 2 cars shared the track, and Stommelen made the best of his bravado and his knowledge of the tortuous Nürburgring circuit to overcome the power differential of the larger cars to finish it in eighth place. Stommelen was seen as one of the most promising German drivers at the time, and this catalysed enough support for the magazine Auto Motor und Sport to assemble a private team around him, using a customer Brabham BT33, for the 1970 season. Stommelen would indeed drive impressively, obtaining three fifth places - at Spa-Francorchamps, the Hockenheimring and Monza - and a brilliant third place at Zetweg in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Auto Motor und Sport would renew its program with Stommelen in 1971, this time as a satellite operation of Team Surtees. Then he drove Eifelland, Lola-Hill, again for Brabham and Arrows. In 1975 Stommelen suffered a horrendous crash when leading the Grand Prix of Spain of Formula 1, his Embassy Hill GH1 - Ford of Team Graham Hill was pitched into over the barriers, killing four people and seriously injuring himself. Ironically, the accident was caused by a rear wing failure - the same reason for the accident that would cost his life eight years later.

After convalescing from his injuries Stommelen refocused his career in sportscars, and in the late 1970s he obtain wins in 1000-kilometer races at the Nürburgring, Pergusa, Watkins Glen and Mugello, driving a Porsche 935 Turbo for Martini Racing and Team Reinhold Jöst. Stommelen also conquered the 24 Hours of Daytona three times in the space of five years races, rising to the top of the podium in 1978, 1980 and 1982. Another feat of his was winning three endurance races in the space of fifteen days - the Camel GT events in Mosport and Road America and the Lumberman’s 500 at Mid-Ohio in 1981.

In 1983 John Fitzpatrick entered the Six Hours of Riverside with two Porsche 935 replicas - that means, cars manufactured outside the works stable in Zuffenhausen, Germany. The first vehicle was a Kremer K4 - built by brothers Erwin and Manfred Kremer in Cologne, Germany - that Fitzpatrick himself would share with the experienced David Hobbs. The other car, one of the two 935 replicas built by Reinhold Jöst, was to be driven by Derek Bell and Jochen Mass. This latter, though, called the event off citing personal reasons, and Fitzpatrick invited his long-time friend Rolf Stommelen to fill in. Fitzpatrick and Stommelen had known each other since 1965, and the two won their first race ever together as drivers, the 1972 Six Hours of Nürburgring. Despite such a history, the Riverside race would be the first event in which Rolf would driver for John's team, at the time based in San Diego, California. The event was to be the last IMSA race for Fitzpatrick’s Porsche 935s, as the team was to concentrate on the new 956 model, and to focus on the World Endurance Championship.

The car used by Stommelen and Bell in that race was the second of the two 935 replicas built by Reinhold Jöst. The first chassis, number JR 001, was initially used by Jöst himself in Germany - with a win in Hockenheim - and was then sold to Giampiero Moretti. Moretti campaigned this car in several seasons of the IMSA series in North America, obtaining many top five results. On the other hand, the JR 002 sister had became famous by a forth place overall in the 1982 24 Heures du Mans, where it was driven by Fitzpatrick and Hobbs; the car also scored a pole-position, fastest lap and win in the IMSA GTX class in that race. The two Jöst replicas were actually slightly different from each other, as while the Fitzpatrick-owned replica had full length door coverings that flushed them with the fenders, the Moretti one had no coverings at all.

Stommelen qualified very well for the Riverside race, putting the car on the front row, and only the March 83G - Chevrolet of Al Holbert and of Jim Trueman managed to be faster than him. Stommelen was very familiar with 935s, and the Riverside layout seemed to suit well his driving style. In the meantime, Fitzpatrick and Hobbs were to start in fourth place, having being a fraction slower than the Lola T600 - Chevrolet of Chris Cord and Jim Adams during the timing sessions. Stommelen and Bell fared very well during the whole race, but tragedy struck on the ninety-fourth lap, some fifteen minutes before halfway the race and a few laps after Rolf replaced Derek in the car. Running in second place, the Porsche lost its engine cover and rear wing at terminal speed, just as the car was approaching the Dog Leg at the end of the long back straight - the same spot where, a little earlier, it had been clocked at 198 mi/h, being the fastest car in the race. The sudden change in aerodynamics caused the car "shovel nose", as described by a witness, and it veered into the wall at the entrance to Turn 9, a fast and sweeping right-hand bend at the south end of the circuit. The front end of the Porsche hooked onto the wall, causing the car to slam broadside into two concrete barricades. The impact was such that each of these two-tone barriers was turned on its side and pushed six feet back. The Porsche became airborne and cartwheeled end over end for more than one hundred meters down the track, only stopping midway Turn 9. No other vehicle was involved in the accident. Fire erupted beneath the car, and course workers had difficulty extinguishing it. The Porsche was a right-hand drive car, and the entire right side of the vehicle was sheered off in the accident. Once the wreckage was towed back to the paddock, "it was impossible to distinguish it as having once been a car", as described by racing writer Shav Glick.

Dante Puccetti, an SCCA Nationally Licensed Flagger, was working at the area where Stommelen had his accident. Puccetti was responsible for the yellow flag; his station was at driver's right at the Dog Leg. He recalls the events of that day: "I noted Stommelen's Porsche 935 racing past me estimated at 200 mi/h [322 km/h] in normal form on the racing line. On the chute entering the breaking point before Turn 9, the rear of the car raised up some 6 inches [15 centimeters] off the ground. I immediately deployed the waving yellow flag, to warn the approaching drivers of a dangerous situation ahead."

Puccetti, who worked at Riverside in a variety of races, explaines what ensued: "Stommelen's Porsche turned 90 degrees to the left and shot off the track. It impacted the K-Rail where the two joined, and destroyed them both and raised a huge cloud of dust. The car tumbled into the vacant land and stopped in the field. I slowed the approaching cars, as I thought the Porsche blew the front right caliper, and the left brake yanked the car directly to the left."

Mr. S. Schifando was the marshal manning the the blue flag at Turn 9. had a privileged vantage point and describes the unfolding events in detail: "Rolf's Porsche 935 rear wing collaped on the right side causing the car to vier suddenly to the left. It spun almost 180 degrees, impacting the right side of the car on the K rail. The Porsche then flew back onto the race track, spraying body parts and fluids. The driver compartment ended up about ten to fifteen feet [three to five meters] from the Turn 9 wall; what some mistook for the race car tumbling in the infield was in fact the engine and transaxle that did wind up in the infield. We had the fire out in less than 60 seconds and at no time did the driver ever get burned."

News of the violent accident quickly reached the paddock. Fitzpatrick, who was in the pits waiting to take over from Hobbs when Stommelen’s accident happened, was too disturbed to return to the car, and asked Bell to replace him. Bell - who had disliked the handling of his own car, stating "it was quite nervous all day long. I wanted to go one way, had to point it where I wanted it to go and it didn’t like it" - obliged. Fitzpatrick remained in the pits monitoring Rolf’s condition, checking the reports from the Riverside Community Hospital, where Stommelen had been taken. However, the German’s injuries were beyond help, and he arrived at the clinic in full cardiac arrest. He was declared dead shortly after arrival at that facility. The initial information given by the Chief of Emergency, as Puccetti recalls, was that Rolf had been killed on impact because his chest was crushed by the seat belts. That was corrected at the end of the weekend by Chief of Emergency himself, who announced to Schifando and others that the Riverside Memorial Hospital had stated that the cause of Stommelen' death was massive head trauma.

Schifando provides some light on the causes of the accident: "On an earlier pit stop the team was going to make a wing ajustment, and one side of the wing was loosened but the other was not. The wing ajustment idea was abandoned to save time in the pits, but no one retightened the three nuta on the right side holding up the wing. So after a few laps it vibrated loose."

Sometime later Bell returned from his driving stint, ceding the wheel of the car to Hobbs. As Derek took off his helmet and sat on the pit wall, Fitzpatrick had to face one of the most difficult moments of his life - telling him that a close and common friend was gone. As Fitzpatrick said at the time, "It is unbelievable that Rolf won’t be walking into this truck. I never dreamed anything like that would happen to a team of mine." Nevertheless, Bell and Hobbs took to the chequered flag and won the race in the most bitter possible way. The crowd at the track, announced at 39,000 spectators, was not informed of Stommelen's death. Rolf, a bachelor, was a thirty-nine-year old and lived in Cologne, Germany.

• Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X.
• Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4.
• Book "The Tribute Project", edited by Ed Watson, 1997, page 37.
• Book "24 Heures du Mans 1923-1992", Volume 2 - 1963-1992, by Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre and Alain Bienvenu, Editions D'Art J.-P. Barthélémy, Besançon, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France, 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3, page 241.
• Book "24 Heures du Mans 1982", by Christian Moity and Jean-Marc Teissèdre and Alain Bienvenu, Automobile Club de l'Ouest, Le Mans, France, 1982, ISBN 2-903356-09-2, pages 78, 146 to 150 and 156.
• Magazine Rombo, issue 26 April 1983.
• Magazine "Autosportführer '77", page 26.
• Newspaper Los Angeles Times, issue of 25 April 1983, article "Stommelen Dies After Crash", by Shav Glick, Sports section, pages 1 and 10.
• Website Atlas F1, bulletin boards, "The Nostalgia Forum", thread "Speed's Ultimate Price: The Toll", page 27, posting by "ReWind".
• Website Crapwagon, Forum, thread "For those who miss the GTP era...", posting by "phoneguy", message http://www.champcarfanatics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=363602&postcount=15.
• Website 962.com, article "The History Of Porsche’s Production Racing Turbos, the 934 and 935", by Bill Oursler, page http://962.com/history/935/index.htm.
• Website Porsche 917, by Juan Gebhard, article "El Último 917: Porsche 917K 81 - Kremer", by Antonio Castelo, page http://www.porsche917.com.ar/misckremer.htm.
• Website Kremer Racing, page http://kremer-racing.net/nuke/index.php.
• Website Classicscars, page http://www.classicscars.com/wspr/results/imsa/imsa1983.html#5.
• E-mail by Chris Sampang, dated 25 December 2004.
• E-mail by Chris Sampang, dated 26 December 2004.
• E-mail by Dante M. Puccetti, dated 28 February 2008.
• E-mail by S. Schifando, dated 11 August 2009.