The Mexican television world is in mourning after learning of the death at the age of 88 of Javier López “Chabelo,” considered one of the most beloved personalities of the small screen in the Aztec nation due to his charisma and his way of dealing with the public.
Despite his extensive history in television, the animator and comedian once revealed that he had a much bigger dream that he could not fulfill because he did not have enough economic resources to put it into practice. That is precisely to be a professional race car driver.
Antonio Perez Garibay, the father of Mexican Formula 1 driver Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez, recently recalled through his account on the social network TikTok an emotional moment when his son met this figure; in the video, he recalled when Checo had an interview on Televisa with Brozo, the popular character of Victor Trujillo where he also met Chabelo.
“Many years ago, Checo was invited to an interview, Brozo invited him, and when he was in the chat, Checo’s idol character, Chabelo, came to greet him; Brozo thought he was coming with him, no, he was coming to greet Checo,” he said.
“Checo, I congratulate you. I know everything you have done. I know how good you are at go-karts, I wanted to be a driver, but I was very poor”, said Chabelo to a little Sergio Perez, 12 years old, who at that time was racing go-karts.
Now, many years later, Checo has become the best Mexican driver in history and one of the most important figures in Formula 1, reaching the point of scoring several victories in the premier category of motorsport and being among the top three places in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship in 2022.