» Happy birthday, Roberto Guerrero!

Former Grand Prix driver Roberto Guerrero is celebrating his 53rd birthday today!

Born in Colombia, this very charming man was a graduate of Jim Russell’s racing school who finished joint runner-up in the British Formula 3 championship before making his Grand Prix debut.

His entire F1 career – just two seasons and no championship points for the little Ensign and Theodore teams – seems an incredible waste when one acknowledges that he was a very talented driver who could have been quite successful had he not turned his back on Formula 1 to pursue a career in the American open-wheel racing scene.

But his popularity was cemented with a brilliant run to second place in the 1984 Indianapolis 500. He later went on to claim two wins in the 1987 CART season before a crash at Indy left him in a coma for nearly three weeks.

Thankfully, he made a complete recovery, but his career was never quite the same. He did show flashes of form (such as claiming a record-breaking pole for the 1992 Indy 500) only to follow that up with some very mediocre performances (such as crashing out on that race’s pace lap!).

[Image via Enter F1]