RIP Dan Gurney: 1931 - 2018

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DChaps
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RIP Dan Gurney: 1931 - 2018

Post by DChaps »

Wow, somehow I missed this yesterday. One of my true heroes that made it from my childhood to adulthood pretty much unscathed. Thanks for all the memories.

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story ... ports-cars
How cool was Dan Gurney?

You might already know the statistical part of his racing life. The first man to stand atop the podium in the world's four major racing classifications: Formula One, IndyCar, Sports Cars and NASCAR. The winner of 51 races in all, earning 98 trips to the podium during a behind-the-wheel career that spanned 312 events in 20 counties. In 1967 he had what might have very well been the greatest three-week span for any man to ever hold a steering wheel, when he started second in the Indianapolis 500; won the 24 Hours of Le Mans while co-driving with A.J. Foyt, the man who'd just beaten him at Indy; and then traveled north to win the F1 Belgian Grand Prix in a car of his own construction, still the only American to do so.

He made only 16 NASCAR Cup Series starts and he won five of them. He made only 28 IndyCar starts and he won seven of them. He never won the Indy 500 as a driver, finishing second twice, but Gurney-built cars won the race three times, driven there by Gordon Johncock and Bobby Unser, twice. Gurney made 86 F1 starts as a driver, winning four races, three pole positions and earning 19 podium finishes.

Jimmy Clark, two-time world champion, said Gurney was the only driver he ever feared. Clark, like so many of Gurney's friends and rivals, lost his life on a racetrack. Gurney stayed with us much longer, dying Sunday morning at the age of 86......
http://www.racer.com/more/viewpoints/it ... n-treasure

http://www.indycar.com/News/2018/01/01- ... t-Davidson

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/m ... 033029001/

http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/22106 ... -1931-2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze4qvI8nsd0

https://www.motorsport.com/v/103270/?mp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swXZo581aI4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycAAl4_gMuU

Racer Magazine did an excellent 6 part interview series with Dan Gurney back in 2014 covering his career. See below:

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - Birth of AAR (episode 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4eKqmYO9lQ

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - The Eagle Soars (episode 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9oZ6djVgco&t=18s

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - A Different Era (episode 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xRcaQQFQjc

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - Triumph from Tragedy (episode 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8kfm4y3UzQ

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - The First 200mph Lap (episode 5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGoU2Efjw0A

Dan Gurney: All American Racer - The Pepsi Challenger (episode 6)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSBkTPmfxis

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