Dan Gurney

by Wallace Wyss

If they ever make a movie of Dan Gurney's life, they're gonna have trouble casting him as a young man because there's damn few actors that look as good as he did when he started out racing.

Tall and blonde, Daniel Sexton Gurney was born April 13, 1931, in Port Jefferson, Long Island, to John Gurney, a Metropolitan Opera star, and his wife Roma Sexton. But it was after high school that he became a Californian and, wouldn't cha' know it, his father decided to move the family to Riverside, California. Now this was before the racetrack was built so Gurney pratice race driving around the orange trees. After graduation from a junior college he served in the Korean war for two years. He began racing in the year 1955 driving a Triumph TR2. His talent was soon recognized and various sponsors began supplying him with Ferraris, and other exotic cars. He was one of several Yanks, including Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, and Masten Gregory who went to Europe trying to win that elusive "factory ride." He lucked out big time, becoming a race driver for Ferrari, running four races for Enzo, but left when he clashed with their management style He eventually worked his way to Formula 2 where he was a factory driver for Porsche, winning the French Grand Prix.

Then it was to BRM.. If you look up the race records, he was in races against Stirling Moss, Jimmy Clark, John Surtees, Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Ken Miles and others. He remains the only U.S. citizen to . win a Grand Prix in a car of his own construction in the 100 year history of F1 racing. The car was the Gurney-Eagle. It was while racing with Shelby American that he became enamored for the sports car group, because he also drove NASCAR races in the Motor Trend 500 and in GP. He reportedly consulted on the Cobra when it was first being developed and went to Nassau with a Cobra in '62” and that's got to be early-early in Cobra development. 

When Carroll Shelby decided to contest the FIA World Championship for GT cars in 1964, he developed a Cobra race car specifically to run in Europe The chassis numbers wee CSX2259, CSX2260. CSX2301, CSX2323, and CSX2345. The painting shows the Gurney/Grant Cobra running April 26th at the Targa Florio, piloted by Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. Gurney set the lap record but it was a real battle. The roads had been built by the Romans thousands of years before and were too much in disrepair for the Cobra suspension. But the duo finished eighth over all and second in the GT class. Of course next the Cobra Daytona was developed. The first one was built in the U.S. but then Shelby, always looking for a deal, sent the remaining five chassis to Modena Italy. They botched up the roofline on the next car and it was thought that it would be slower but when it was sent to LeMans, Gurney drove it faster . Gurney drove the car he fitted in best which is the outsize "tall one.".

When Ford developed the Ford GT, at first they tried to run the year 1964 without Shelby. Big mistake. They later brought Shelby into the program and Gurney was able to race the mk. II but hit his stride in the big block Mk. IV. When paired with A.J. Foyt at LeMans, the two won the race. Gurney also drove in Trans Am. According to one report Dan Gurney won only once in Trans Am as a driver.That win was in 1967 at Green Valley, TX. He also switched to Chrysler and in 1970 ran a Barracuda Trans Am team. In Can-AM he had three wins as a driver, one in 1966 and two others in 1970. The 1970 wins came when he was driving for McLaren Cars. Denis Holme hired Dan to replace Bruce McLaren who was killed testing his Can-Am car. But Dan couldn't complete the season. Dan's All American Racers also built cars for the Can-Am series. They were modified McLaren Cars, called McLeagles.. n By the time he retired from active driving in 1970, according to his AAR website, Gurney had raced in 312 events in 20 countries , driving 51 different makes of cars and winning 51 races and finishing on the podium an additional 47 times! Among his most important victories: 7 Formula One races (four Grand Prix World Championship events), 7 Indy Car races, 5 NASCAR Winston Cup stockcar races (all 500 mile races in Riverside, California), and two second place finishes at the "Indy 500". Additionally he captured wins in Trans-Am, Can-Am and Sports car races including the endurance classics at the Nuerburgring, Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. He claimed 42 career pole positions and started on the front row of the grid an additional and astonishing 58 times! The many "races that got away", i.e. those that Dan was leading - often by a considerable margin - but could not finish due to mechanical problems, made him almost as famous and popular as the wins. Gurney's record of winning in Grand Prix, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Car categories has been matched only by. Mario Andretti.

Few people know that Carroll Shelby and Gurney started All American Racers together. But in 1970 Gurney bought out AAR co-founder Carroll Shelby and has been sole owner, chairman and CEO of the company ever since. The company's records show, winning 8 Championships and capturing 78 victories and 83 pole positions, including the Indy 500 and the 12 hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Daytona. They report 66 drivers from around the globe have been employed at AAR between the years 1965 and 2000, the last one being Dan's son Alexander , who raced in the Atlantic Series. They were once a strong force at Indy, winning the Indy 500 twice with Bobby Unser in1968 and Gordon Johncock in 1973, plus 3 Championships in Indy Cars and Formula A. Gurney is an inventor. In 1971 he developed the "Gurney Flap" (wickerbill), an invention which has been adopted by the automobile racing and aviation industries throughout the world. Early on, when other drivers were still wearing helmets that looked like football helmets, he introduced a full-face helmet to Indy Car racing as well as Grand Prix racing. He was instrumental in launching the rear-engine revolution in Indianapolis in 1963 even taking Colin Chapman to Ford in person just to introduce Ford to the man who could supply the car. Gurney also helped Toyota in their racing ambitions. His long term relationship with Toyota started in 1982 when Dan was hired by them to do TV commercials for the introduction of the Supra. This relationship eventually resulted in three Drivers and three Manufacturers championships for the auto maker. I said earlier Gurney is Hollywood handsome. It make sense that he would appear in movies at one time or another. A member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1965, Gurney appeared in such motor racing films as 'Winning', 'A Man and a Woman', and 'Grand Prix'.

An avid reader of political and military history, Gurney has many passions, including old movies, opera, cigars, traveling to historical places and riding motorcycles. He has even developed his own motorcycle. Gurney met his current wife, Evi, while she was a junior executive in the public relations/press department of Porsche in Stuttgart. They have two grown sons. Dan also has four grown children from his first marriage and five grandchildren and the Gurneys reside in Newport Beach, California.

One of the most fun things about Gurney is what he did when he won LeMans in 1967. Presented with a giant bottle of champagne, he shook it up and sprayed the crowd with it. Though his patrons, Mr. & Mrs. Henry Ford II, were not amused, race drivers the world over started doing the same when they reached the podium, and have been doing it ever since.

*The illustration, entitled "Gurney , Targa/1964" is by the author.
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