Rolf Wütherich

Rudolf Karl Wütherich (August 5, 1927 – July 22, 1981), most commonly known as Rolf Wütherich, was a Luftwaffe mechanic and pilot, and later an automotive engineer and racer.

Wütherich was born in Heilbronn, Germany in 1927.

He served as a Luftwaffe glider pilot, paratrooper, and aircraft mechanic before joining the Daimler-Benz ( Mercedes) factory racing department.

In 1950 he joined the Porsche factory, becoming the second employee of their racing department.

Dean spotted an oncoming black-and-white 1950 Ford Custom coupe heading east on Rt.

46 toward the junction.

The time was approximately 5:45pm.

Its driver, 23-year-old Navy Veteran and Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed, suddenly turned in front of the Porsche to take the left fork onto Route 41.

Wütherich participated as a factory team member at the 24 Hours of Le Mans races in 1952, 1953, and 1954.

Wütherich was also a factory team member for the Porsche endurance racing and formula racing team at the AVUS, Mille Miglia, 12 Hours of Reims, and 6 Hours of Nürburgring races.

The Porsche factory sent Wütherich to the United States as a field engineer for Johnny von Neumann's Competition Motors in Los Angeles, where the new 550 Spyder racing cars were being distributed.

He was the passenger in James Dean's Porsche at the time of Dean's death in a fatal car crash in 1955.

He experienced many personal difficulties as a result of the crash and himself died in a car crash 26 years later.

He arrived in April 1955 and met actor James Dean, a Porsche Speedster racer, at the Bakersfield races.

He befriended Dean and began to work on Dean's Speedster for race events.

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 1–2.

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 Collier's magazine.

Due to the Porsche being a newly assembled vehicle and thus not yet optimized fully, Wütherich recommended that Dean drive the Spyder to Salinas in order to have the engine and other components mechanically "broken in."

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 sometimes reported) before leaving around 1:15pm.

"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.

It was at that Mobil station on Ventura Blvd. at Beverly Glen Blvd. in Sherman Oaks where the photograph was taken of Dean standing next to the "Little Bastard."

The group left around 2:00pm heading north on CA Rt.

99 and then over the ‘Grapevine’ toward Bakersfield.

At 3:30pm, 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 in a 55 mph zone.

Hickman, following behind the Spyder in the Ford with the trailer, was also ticketed for driving 20 mph over the limit, as the speed limit for all vehicles towing a trailer was 45 mph. After receiving the speeding tickets, Dean and Hickman turned left onto Rt.

166/33 to avoid going through Bakersfield's 25 mph downtown district.

Rt.

166/33 was a known short-cut for all the sports car drivers going to Salinas, termed ‘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.

At approximately 5:15pm, 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.