Gustavo Hellmund has died in San Antonio, Texas, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 66. Hellmund played an important role in reviving international racing in Mexico. Back in the 1960s Mexico was a regular stop for the Formula 1 circus, but the inability of the local authorities to guarantee crowd control and the death of Pedro Rodriguez in 1971 led to the race being axed from the calendar. Hellmund grew up in the era when Rodriguez Brothers took Mexico onto the world stage and after spending his high school years in Austin, Texasl, he returned to Mexico with dreams of becoming a racing driver. He competed successfully in Mexican TransAm before turning his hand to race promotion with a series of races under the Copa Mexico banner. These included events for Formula Atlantic, Trans-Am and the PPG CART Indy-Car Series. He was also one of those who established the Federación Mexicana de Automovilismo Deportivo (FMAD), which sanctioned events and issued licences in Mexico. In the 1970s he began to campaign for a revival of the Mexican Grand Prix but could not raise the funding needed for the event. Instead he turned to CART and in 1980 and 1981 Mexico hosted the US series, both races being won by Rick Mears. The Mexico City track needed work and CART did not return but the idea of a Mexican GP was revived by the Abed Brothers in 1985 and their Vitesse 2000 organisation eventually took over promoting the major motorsport activities in Mexico. Hellmund helped with the organisation of the event in 1986. He later moved to Texas again, where he continued to promote racing events until a few years ago. His son Tavo was, of course, the man who put together the plan for the United States GP in Austin and who is currently working on a new race in Mexico.
During the 70′s we had a street race here in Austin called the River City Road Race. It was an annual event as part of the larger AquaFest festival (both now defunct, sad to say).
The race was for sports cars as well as Formula Vee and Formula Ford cars. A large proportion of the racers were from Mexico, and it opened my eyes to a strong racing community in our southern neighbor.
The Mexican drivers were very serious about their craft and quite competitive. I recall Pedro Rodriguez was a fearless driver, on par with the best in the world.
Hopefully Tavo can extend his father’s heritage with a new circuit and race in Mexico. Buena suerte Tavo, and I’m sorry to hear about your father’s passing.