Turn 10 Driver of the Week: Dan Gurney
By P. Rodriguez
Photos courtesy of: www.grandprix.com and www.allamericanracers.com
As much as I love to rant and rave about the great the automobiles of past and present, I think it is time that we spend a few minutes to focus on one of the legends of motorsport, Mr. Dan Sexton Gurney. To put it simply, Dan Gurney is an absolute badass. From Formula 1 to Le Mans to Trans AM to NASCAR©, Gurney could drive the wheels off anything. As if that wasn’t enough, Gurney established the All American Racers team that would dominate in several formulas of top-level motorsports for 30+ years. So, without further adieu, let us take a closer look at the amazing achievements of Dan Gurney, motorsports legend.
French Grand Prix 1964: Dan takes victory at Rouen driving a Brabham BT7
Dan began his professional career racing sports cars under the California sun in 1955 and collected his first professional victory behind the wheel of a Porsche Super 1600 in 1956. By 1958 he was racing a Ferrari at Le Mans for Luigi Chinetti’s N.A.R.T (North American Racing Team) and by 1959 he parlayed that into driving for Enzo Ferrari in Formula 1. In just four short years Dan had gone from racing Triumphs in regional events to occupying the most coveted seat in professional racing. Needless to say Gurney hit the ground running and bagged 3 podium finishes in his rookie F1 season, finishing a respectable 7th in the championship standings.
After a disappointing 1960 season, opportunity once again came knocking. The automotive juggernaut from Stuttgart, better known as Porsche decided to enter the F1 circus and Gurney was going to be their driver. The 1961 season saw Gurney finish every race he entered (an astonishing feat at the time) and, when it was all said and done, he wound up tied for 3rd in the championship standings. The following year, piloting a new 8-cylinder Porsche 804, the inevitable finally happened and Gurney claimed victory at the French Grand Prix. This would be the first and only win for Porsche as a constructor in Formula 1 -- quite a feather in Gurney’s cap, to be sure.
Gurney illustrating that downforce is highly overrated at the Nurburgring, German GP 1967.
After 3 consistent seasons driving for Jack Brabham, and collecting another two Grand Prix wins at France and Mexico in 1964, Gurney decided to follow in the footsteps of his former employer and take matters into his own hands. With financial backing from Goodyear Corporation, he launched the All American Racers team and began construction on his own car, named the Eagle. Powered by a Weslake 3.0 liter V12 engine that produced approximately 400bhp, the 1967 Eagle T1G is arguably the most beautiful F1 car of all time.
The classy blue and white livery, along with the striking “eagle nose”, awed spectators everywhere the F1 circus went. After suffering several mechanical breakdowns early in the 1967, the racing gods finally shined on the AAR team. With a shrieking engine note to match its name, Gurney drove the Eagle right into the history books by winning the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, at the treacherous Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Ok, at this point I want to take a moment for you to digest the last couple sentences… because it's some heavy food for thought. Basically, an American built his own F1 car, commissioned his own engine and then drove it to victory at one of the most difficult circuits on Earth! Oh and one more thing, Gurney was over a minute clear of the field if you need him! Think about that for a minute, what are the chances of that happening today? A truly astonishing feat if you ask me and in my opinion the highlight of Gurney’s career.
On his way to the history books, the Eagle T1G at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 1967.
In addition to F1, Gurney is one of the great “all-arounders”, and as noted above he could drive anything with a steering wheel and an engine. In 1959 he drove a Ferrari 250 Testarossa (TR59) to victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the following year captured the Nurburgring 1000km in a Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage (driving with Stirling Moss!).
By 1967 the famous Ford-Ferrari wars were in full swing and Gurney found himself on the frontlines of the battle. Driving the legendary Ford GT40 Mk IV with A.J. Foyt, the duo gave the folks from Maranello a swift ass-kicking and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 4 laps clear of the field. After being handed the magnum of champagne on the podium, Gurney spontaneously shook up the bottle and let loose with barrage of spray that soaked the photographers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives.
Unknowingly he started a tradition that continues to this very day, well... unless you are Kimi Raikonnen and you prefer to drink the magnum.
Dan Gurney and Jo Ramirez celebrate in victory lane, Belgian GP 1967.
Following his official retirement from professional motorsports in 1970, Gurney focused his attention on running the AAR team in USAC events and the CART series (which he helped to found). In the early 1990’s AAR ran a dominant IMSA GTP program in cooperation with Toyota. How dominate you ask? How does 17 victories in a row, two drivers’ and two manufacturers’ championships sound?
However one notable return to the driver’s seat took place in 1971 at the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Dash, where Gurney and co-driver Brock Yates drove a Ferrari Daytona from New York to Los Angeles. The pair finished first with a time just under 36 hours and an average speed of 80mph. According to Dan: “At no time did we exceed 175mph”, however they were doing 130mph in a 70mph zone when they were pulled over by the Arizona police!
In an era of motorsports when racing was at its most dangerous (there were 18 fatal accidents during Dan’s F1 career), Dan Gurney was a model of consistency and a source of pride for the American racing fans. He accomplished what in this day-and-age is absolutely unthinkable and did so through good ole’ fashioned hard work and ingenuity. Perhaps most telling of Gurney’s accomplishments happened at the funeral of the legendary Jim Clark, where Clark’s father told Gurney that he was the only driver who Jimmy feared on the race track. Now that is what I call a compliment!
So three cheers to you Dan Gurney, you are my hero and as always keep that right-foot flat to the floor.
And now for your obligatory public service announcement, courtesy of P. Rodriguez.
As we move through this election year of 2008 I have a couple questions I would like you to ask yourself. Are you tired of the same boring, slow, cumbersome government? Tired of seeing your president roll a tinted-out Cadillac limousine and ride his bicycle around a Texas wasteland? Would you like the leader of the free world to be able to lap the Nordschleife in under 8 minutes and execute the perfect four-wheel drift? Well fear not Forza fans, the cure for the anemic government is at hand! Vote Gurney for President in 2008, Car and Driver and Turn 10 candidate!
P. Rodriguez is an automotive writer who is still recovering from a 5th degree sunburn he suffered at the 2008 Long Beach Grand Prix. He would also like to congratulate Simona De Silvestro on her epic drive at the beach, way to show the guys how it’s done Simona, please don’t break my heart and end up in NASCAR©.