Jan de Rooy has passed away. The former rally driver, winner of the Dakar Rally and transport entrepreneur, died on Tuesday at the age of 80.
“After a very short illness, our dad, husband and grandfather passed away peacefully and was reunited with our great love, Annie. He has dedicated 65 years to his transport company De Rooy, which celebrated its centenary last year”, the family business said in a response.
The Eindhoven region has lost one of its most notable transport entrepreneurs. Jan de Rooy was born in Eindhoven on 19 February, 1943. His father Graad had been running the transport company for years, which Jan, then 22 years old, took over in 1965. He had fourteen trucks at the time, which eventually became four hundred. His brother Harry also entered the transport world and started De Rooy Logistics, which still transports parts for the DAF factories.
Rallycross
That is also where most people know Jan de Rooy from: racing DAFs. He started rallycrossing in 1969, not in trucks, but cars. De Rooy managed to win several Dutch titles and international podium places, especially in his DAF 55, until he switched to trucks in 1982 at the request of DAF itself.
The manufacturer wanted Jan to participate in Paris-Dakar, a desert race across Africa to the Senegalese capital Dakar. There he quickly got the nickname ‘De Beer’ (‘the bear’) and that did not only refer to his large stature. Fearless and extremely agile, he drove his converted trucks faster and faster through the desert.
Rally winning trucks
De Rooy built special trucks for the desert rally. For example, he turned two trucks into one, but with two engines and two cabins: the double header in 1984. Things really got serious after the introduction of the DAF Turbo Twin ll in 1986, a truck with two engines that together delivered more than a thousand horsepower.
In 1987 he became winner of the truck classification. His lead over the number two in that class was no less than fourteen hours. De Rooy even finished eleventh in the general classification, among the rally cars. That left him wanting more, because the driver from Son wanted to compete with the rally cars.
Dramatic accident
Jan de Rooy was given a completely free hand by DAF in 1988 to win the general classification. The result was the 1200 hp (horse power) X1. The images in which the DAF truck overtakes the car of top driver Ari Vatanen are iconic. De Rooy also deployed a second truck, but it overturned. The accident claimed the life of Kees van Loevezijn and driver Theo van de Rijt was injured. DAF withdrew from the rally and Jan de Rooy would not appear again in Paris-Dakar for years.
His son Gerard managed to persuade him to participate again from 2002, but in 2009 Jan de Rooy finally stopped participating in the ‘Dakar’. He felt that he could not tolerate his employees to have such an expensive hobby during the economic crisis. Moreover, he did not agree with the rally being moved from Africa to South America.
Succession
Son Gerard and daughter Anneke de Rooy have been at the helm of the transport company since 2010. Something their father Jan was very proud of. There was also follow-up as a victor in the Dakar Rally. First in 2007 when cousin Hans Stacey won the truck rally. In 2012, son Gerard finally managed to win. That was particularly emotional for father Jan, 25 years after his own victory. In 2016, his son won a second Dakar title in the trucks.
Jan de Rooy no longer followed the Dakar Rally in recent years. He lived a relatively secluded life in Middelbeers with his partner.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
