Just sharing some facts from this site http://www.heavy.com/
Roger Rodas Dead with Fast and Furious Star Paul Walker: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published:1:19 am EST, December 1, 2013| Updated:7:09 pm EST, December 1, 2013|
Comment | 396.1k By Paul Farrell
Roger Rodas, 38, has been named as the driver in the
crash that killed Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker,
reports Perez Hilton. Rodas was further confirmed as the
other victim of the tragedy by ABC Los Angeles.
A witness to the tragedy told TMZ:
Him and his buddy, his brother in arms at heart just
decided to joyride, take a spin. Something we all do.
We’re all car enthusiasts. ... We’re all here driving,
enjoying each other, and God must’ve needed help.
It’s a little difficult to know what it was. Someone
called it in and said it was a vehicle fire ... We all
ran around and jumped in cars and grabbed fire
extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle. It was
engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped.
Employees, friends of the shop. We tried. We tried. We
went through fire extinguishers.
Here's what you need to know the driver on Walker's
fateful journey:
1. He Was the CEO of a Custom Car Shop
named as a co-owner of the shop. Always Evolving,
describes itself as, "The source for all of your
automotive passions."
Walker described the business in an interview in April
2013 saying:
I have a performance shop called AE Performance and we do
race prep and all that stuff out in Valencia. So I have a
couple partners and we all race together. It's a family
business basically. We brought in friends and people
coming from different economic backgrounds, let's just
say, but it's cool because everyone gets to have their
cake and eat it too. Eric Davis, Roger Rodas, Rich
Taylor, Casey Adamo are just a handful of the guys
involved.
According to Auto Week:
3. He Worked in Charities With Paul Walker
Rodas was involved in other charities such as The
4. He Was a Merrill Lynch Employee
An online profile states that Rodas was, "one of
America's top wealth management advisors and portfolio
managers, with an impressive list of clients," this was
in addition to his role with Always Evolving. Rodas and
Walker's friendship evolved over a shared passion for
cars, it eventually morphed into a professional
relationship where Rodas became Walker's financial
adviser. A Merrill Lynch profile of the pair says:
The two struck up a conversation when Walker noticed
Rodas driving a Porsche GT3 he had previously owned. Soon
the two were racing side by side, as when they teamed
recently with two professional drivers in a pro-am 25-
hour endurance race in Thunder Hill, Calif. As their
friendship developed, Walker occasionally asked Rodas for
financial advice, and they began working together
formally as client and Financial Advisor in 2007.
The first item on their agenda was reorganizing Walker's
portfolio, a hodgepodge of personal investments. Rodas
suggested a diversified, relatively conservative
portfolio of stocks, bonds, cash and alternative
investments, aimed mostly at preserving capital. And
because an actor's income is sporadic, each time Walker
completes another film, he and Rodas meet to re-evaluate
his financial strategy to help make sure his long-term
goals stay on track.
The same profile states that Rodas had worked at Merrill
Lynch/Bank of America for 20 years (the profile is
undated) and has been named on a list of America's Top
1000 Financial Advisers in 2010, 2011 and in 2012.
5. He Was Originally From El Salvador
Rodas had only turned 38 on Halloween 2013. As a
competitive racer he had raced eight times in 2013. When
racing this past April, Rodas crashed into a wall at a
Pirelli World Challenge practice session at Long Beach.
In order to compete in the actual race, Paul Walker
allowed Rodas to borrow his Ford Mustang Boss 302S. His
biggest success while racing saw him win second place in
the Pirelli Porsche Driver's Cup Series championship in
2012.
According to a profile on World Challenge, Rodas was a
native of El Salvador but lived in Valencia, California,
having been brought up in Hollywood, California.
Roger Rodas Dead with Fast and Furious Star Paul Walker: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published:1:19 am EST, December 1, 2013| Updated:7:09 pm EST, December 1, 2013|
Comment | 396.1k By Paul Farrell
Paul Walker pictured with Roger Rodas in December 2010 (Facebook)
crash that killed Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker,
reports Perez Hilton. Rodas was further confirmed as the
other victim of the tragedy by ABC Los Angeles.
A witness to the tragedy told TMZ:
Him and his buddy, his brother in arms at heart just
decided to joyride, take a spin. Something we all do.
We’re all car enthusiasts. ... We’re all here driving,
enjoying each other, and God must’ve needed help.
It’s a little difficult to know what it was. Someone
called it in and said it was a vehicle fire ... We all
ran around and jumped in cars and grabbed fire
extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle. It was
engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped.
Employees, friends of the shop. We tried. We tried. We
went through fire extinguishers.
Here's what you need to know the driver on Walker's
fateful journey:
1. He Was the CEO of a Custom Car Shop
Rodas was the co-owner of a car customization store,
Always Evolving, in Santa Clarita, California. Walker was named as a co-owner of the shop. Always Evolving,
describes itself as, "The source for all of your
automotive passions."
Walker described the business in an interview in April
2013 saying:
I have a performance shop called AE Performance and we do
race prep and all that stuff out in Valencia. So I have a
couple partners and we all race together. It's a family
business basically. We brought in friends and people
coming from different economic backgrounds, let's just
say, but it's cool because everyone gets to have their
cake and eat it too. Eric Davis, Roger Rodas, Rich
Taylor, Casey Adamo are just a handful of the guys
involved.
(Facebook)
2. He Raced With Paul Walker
Rodas had raced with Walker in the Pirelli World
Challenge Series.
According to Auto Week:
They ended up racing together at events like the 25 Hours
of Thunderhill, but his schedule limited Walker's racing
mostly to time attack-type events at Buttonwillow or
other California tracks.
Rodas timing in a race on August 24 2013 in the Pirelli
Rodas was driving his car, a Porsche Carrera GT, which
was on display at a car show in his building to another
event, the Reach Out Worldwide charity show in Los
Angeles. The charity had been founded by Walker while he
was part of an aid response team to the devastating
earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
A profile described Reach Out Worldwide as:
A network of volunteer first responders who are experts
in their individual fields, consisting of heavy equipment
operators, paramedics, firefighters and healthcare
specialists. Paul Walker, a race car driver in his own
right and Ford Racing Boss 302s owner, has come to us to
spread awareness for his disaster relief organization.
also RIP Roger Rodas, CEO of Always Evolving Motorsports
pic.twitter.com/6OQstRXncM
— matt wooddy (@mwooddy) December 1, 2013
Asomugha Foundation. In addition to that charitable
endeavors, he owned Cielo Recycling, recycling plant in
Central America and is also active in "waste to energy
power plants and wind farms" in Central America.
Walker said of the pair's charitable efforts:
Instead of just writing a check, we're seeing how much
more bang for the buck we can get by giving of ourselves
and spending every dollar on the cause. As tragic as the
disasters are, people consistently rise above the
bleakness by focusing on what they still have. It gives
you a lot of hope.
4. He Was a Merrill Lynch Employee
(Facebook)
An online profile states that Rodas was, "one of
America's top wealth management advisors and portfolio
managers, with an impressive list of clients," this was
in addition to his role with Always Evolving. Rodas and
Walker's friendship evolved over a shared passion for
cars, it eventually morphed into a professional
relationship where Rodas became Walker's financial
adviser. A Merrill Lynch profile of the pair says:
The two struck up a conversation when Walker noticed
Rodas driving a Porsche GT3 he had previously owned. Soon
the two were racing side by side, as when they teamed
recently with two professional drivers in a pro-am 25-
hour endurance race in Thunder Hill, Calif. As their
friendship developed, Walker occasionally asked Rodas for
financial advice, and they began working together
formally as client and Financial Advisor in 2007.
The first item on their agenda was reorganizing Walker's
portfolio, a hodgepodge of personal investments. Rodas
suggested a diversified, relatively conservative
portfolio of stocks, bonds, cash and alternative
investments, aimed mostly at preserving capital. And
because an actor's income is sporadic, each time Walker
completes another film, he and Rodas meet to re-evaluate
his financial strategy to help make sure his long-term
goals stay on track.
The same profile states that Rodas had worked at Merrill
Lynch/Bank of America for 20 years (the profile is
undated) and has been named on a list of America's Top
1000 Financial Advisers in 2010, 2011 and in 2012.
5. He Was Originally From El Salvador
Rodas had only turned 38 on Halloween 2013. As a
competitive racer he had raced eight times in 2013. When
racing this past April, Rodas crashed into a wall at a
Pirelli World Challenge practice session at Long Beach.
In order to compete in the actual race, Paul Walker
allowed Rodas to borrow his Ford Mustang Boss 302S. His
biggest success while racing saw him win second place in
the Pirelli Porsche Driver's Cup Series championship in
2012.
According to a profile on World Challenge, Rodas was a
native of El Salvador but lived in Valencia, California,
having been brought up in Hollywood, California.
