Stommelen was born on 11 July 1943 in Siegen, Prussia. His rise through motorsport ran in parallel with Porsche's dominant era in endurance racing, and he became one of the factory's most trusted drivers at circuits demanding technical precision and mechanical understanding.
He won the 1967 Targa Florio with Porsche, one of the most demanding road races in the world, contested over rough Sicilian mountain roads. In 1968 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona, establishing the Porsche-Stommelen partnership that would prove productive across more than a decade.
At the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, Stommelen qualified the Porsche 917 on pole position — itself a landmark, as he became the first driver to exceed 350 km/h (217 mph) on the circuit's Mulsanne Straight in that car.
Stommelen made his Formula One debut with Brabham in 1970, with sponsorship obtained from the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport. He combined Formula One with a continuing sports car programme across the decade.
The most consequential — and tragic — moment of his Formula One career came at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuich Park in Barcelona. The rear wing of his Hill GH1 failed at speed, sending the car into the crowd. Five spectators were killed and Stommelen was seriously injured. The accident contributed directly to the end of Formula One racing at Montjuich Park. The race was eventually stopped after 29 laps, and the points result was halved. Among those affected was Lella Lombardi, whose sixth-place finish at the time the race was stopped earned her half a championship point — the only points-scoring result ever recorded by a female Formula One driver.
Stommelen recovered from his injuries and returned to competition, though his Formula One career became increasingly sporadic. He participated in 63 World Championship Grands Prix in total, achieving a single podium and 14 points.
After his recovery from the 1975 Montjuich accident, Stommelen concentrated on sports car racing and produced some of his finest results. He won three further editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona — in 1978, 1980, and 1982 — all with Porsche, bringing his career total at that event to four victories.
In 1976 he was given the honour of driving the maiden race of the Porsche 936 at the 300 km Nürburgring. In heavy rain he overtook the leading factory Renault Alpine at the start, then deliberately let the pursuing Renaults through approaching the Nordkehre hairpin. Both Renaults ran into water puddles at the braking point and crashed into the catch fences, giving Stommelen the lead again. The incident gave rise to the saying among Nürburgring regulars: "On the Nordschleife, you can never brake later than Rolf Stommelen." When the 936's throttle cable stuck open later in the race, rather than retire he improvised by cutting the ignition at corners and switching back on in the accelerating phases, finishing second.
In 1978, driving the Porsche 935 Moby Dick in Martini colours, Stommelen recorded a top speed of 365 km/h on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans — faster than the prototype class cars including the Porsche 936 and the Renault Alpine A442B that won the race. High fuel consumption from the turbocharged 3.2-litre engine required excessive pit stops and prevented a result commensurate with the car's pace.
In 1979, Stommelen co-drove the Porsche 935 at Le Mans with Dick Barbour and actor Paul Newman, narrowly missing a win due to a 23-minute pit stop caused by a stuck wheel nut. He also won the German GT Championship Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft in 1977 for the Gelo Racing Team in a Porsche 935, and was a regular winner at the Nürburgring, where his knowledge of the circuit was regarded as exceptional.
In the early 1980s Stommelen drove Kremer CK5, Lancia LC1, and Porsche 956 prototypes, remaining a sought-after co-driver at the highest level of endurance racing.
On 24 April 1983, Stommelen was killed during the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix, a six-hour IMSA GT Championship race at Riverside International Raceway. He was co-driving a Porsche 935 entered by John Fitzpatrick alongside Derek Bell. Having just taken over from Bell and running in second place, the rear wing broke at 190 mph due to mechanical failure. The car became uncontrollable, struck a concrete wall, somersaulted, and caught fire. Stommelen died from blunt force trauma and crushing injuries to his chest and head. He was 39 years old.
Rolf Stommelen's four Daytona victories, his Le Mans speed records, and his decisive role in Porsche's sports car campaigns of the 1970s established him as one of the leading endurance racing specialists of his generation. His improvisational drive in the inaugural Porsche 936 race at the Nürburgring in 1976 became one of the most retold anecdotes in German motorsport. His death, like that of his 1975 accident victims, underscored the dangers that persisted in racing long after the sport's early safety reforms.