Roberto Guerrero
21 Dallara/Aurora
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1998 Driver Profile
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Roberto Guerrero's most spectacular highlight of the season was his crash at the finale at Las Vegas, when he ran into a slower car, went airborne, landed upside-down, skidded, then barrel-rolled several times. He came out uninjured. Guerrero also came out seventh in the season standings by putting a car in every show and finishing with four top-10s. He got caught up in a wreck at Indy, but finally found some speed when he switched from the Nissan to the Oldsmobile engine at Pikes Peak. Unfortunately, he crashed out of that race, Charlotte and Vegas. He loses chief mechanic John Barnes and his Pennzoil sponsorship, but Guerrero returns with Pagan Racing for the 1998 season.
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Career
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Guerrero, a Colombia native who became a naturalized American citizen in 1989, had a brief career in Formula One. He made a his debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1984. This unknown 24-year-old drove to a second-place finish in his first Indianapolis 500 and shared co-rookie of the year award with Michael Andretti. Guerrero backed up the performance the next year when he finished third and in 1986 posted a fourth-place finish.
In 1987, his professional and personal life were on an upswing. Roberto and his wife Katie were enjoying their first child Marco, then 2, and Roberto won races at Phoenix and Mid-Ohio. He also captured four poles and again finished second at Indianapolis. In his first four years at Indianapolis, the man with a road-racing background posted four top-four finishes.
But on a fall day in Indianapolis testing tires, Guerrero, already slowing down after some fast laps, entered the second turn of the Speedway. Something broke in the car and he slammed into the wall. The right front tire came off the car and hit him in the head.
It was 17 days before Guerrero came out of the coma caused by severe head injuries. He not only survived, but with countless hours of therapy and hard work battled back to return to racing the following year. In 1988, he raced again at the Speedway.
There were some lean years to follow but he rebounded in 1992 and qualified on the pole at Indianapolis with an average four-lap speed of 232.618 mph -- a track record that stood until 1996. But, a cold windy day led to race conditions that contributed to a crash on the pace lap as he tried to warm up the cold tires. His was the first of many wrecks caused by the cold tires that day.
Guerrero finished in the back of the field in 1993 and 1994, but in 1995 he finished 12th in a Pagan Racing car and backed that up by finishing fifth in the 1996 race. He had also put the bright yellow Pennzoil car out front for 47 laps -- the most of any driver.
Courtesy SpeedNet, from the Indianapolis Star/News
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Driver Stats
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Team: Pagan Racing
Series: Indy Racing League
Car: #21 Dallara / Aurora / Goodyear
Sponsor: Pagan Racing
Car Owner: Jack Pagan, Allan Pagan
Chief Mechanic: Kevin Conley
Resides: San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
D.O.B: 11/16/58
IRL victories: 1987: Phoenix, Mid-Ohio
IRL points (standing): 1996 - 237 (5th); 1996-97 - 221 (7th)
CART points (standing): 1984 - 52 (11th); 1985 - 34 (17th); 1986 - 87 (9th); 1987 - 106 (4th); 1988 - 40 (12th); 1989 - 6 (23rd); 1990 - 24 (16th); 1991 - 0 (38th); 1992 - 1 (38th); 1993 - 39 (14th); 1994 - 0 (54th); 1995 - 1 (33rd)
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