Dan Gurney

Dan Gurney

Nation:	United States
Automobile world championship
First start:	1959 French Grand Prix
Last start:	Great Britain Grand Prix 1970
Constructors
1959  Ferrari  • 1960  BRM  • 1961–1962  Porsche  • 1963–1965  Brabham  • 1966–1968  Anglo American Racers  • 1970  McLaren
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup fourth ( 1961 , 1965 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 86 4th 3 6th
World Cup points :	133
Podiums :	19th
Leadership laps :	141 over 1,324 km

Daniel Sexton "Dan" Gurney (born April 13, 1931 in Port Jefferson , Long Island , New York ; † January 14, 2018 in Newport Beach , California ) was an American automobile and Formula 1 racing driver as well as a designer

In addition to his participation in Formula 1 , Gurney also drove in other championships such as the IndyCar Series , NASCAR , Can-Am or the Trans-Am series . He was the first driver to record victories in the Sports Cars Series (1958), Formula 1 (1962), NASCAR (1963) and the IndyCar Series (1967). After him, only Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya managed to do this to this day (as of November 2019) .

On June 11, 1967 after he and his co-driver AJ Foyt , the 24-hour race in Le Mans had won, he splashed the audience spontaneously with the winner's champagne while on the podium stood. He is therefore regarded as the inventor of the champagne shower , which is now common in many motorsport events at the award ceremony. He was also the first Formula 1 driver to wear an early form of the full-face helmet for his own safety .

To this day (as of November 2019) Gurney is the only driver besides Jack Brabham who was able to achieve a Formula 1 victory on an in-house design, namely at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps in 1967. One of his important inventions for motorsport is the Gurney Flap , a small, upward-facing flap on the trailing edge of racing car wings. It increases downforce on the vehicle without significantly increasing aerodynamic drag and thus improves aerodynamic efficiency.

Origin and early years

Dan Gurney was the son of opera singer John R. "Jack" Gurney and his wife Roma Sexton. Despite the more musical environment, he came into contact with technical questions early on. His three uncles graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . His grandfather was Frederick William Gurney (1867-1944) who developed angular contact ball bearings and manufactured and marketed them in his company Gurney Ball Bearing.

Gurney's childhood and early youth were shaped by his father's career. Jack Gurney was most recently engaged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1947 he ended his singing career and bought a citrus and avocado plantation. So the family moved to Riverside, California . At the time, Dan was a teenager who had just graduated from Manhasset High School. At the age of 19 he designed and built a car with which he reached 138 mph (222 km / h) on the salt pan near Bonneville . It was with this car that he drove his first competitions. He continued his academic career by studying at Menlo Junior College . The first successes in motorsport led him to become an amateur driver in dragster and sports car races . Participation in these competitions, however, he had to interrupt his two years of military service in the United States Army , where he was used as an artillery mechanic (artillery mechanic). In this capacity he also took part in the Korean War.

Racing career

After Gurney had done his military service, he focused his professional activities exclusively on his racing career. He started in 1955 with national sports car races on a Triumph TR2 . The first big step in the direction he had planned began with an invitation in autumn 1957 from Frank Arciero , who owned a small racing team for classless cars. Arciero invited him to test his latest project. The vehicle was a Arciero Special with a revised 4.2-liter DOHC - Maserati -Motor of an Indy 500 race car to a Ferrari was built -375-mm chassis with the use of Ferrari and Jaguar suspension components. The construction was completed by a body made by Microplas . Experts confirmed that the car had great potential because it had high acceleration and top speed. At the same time, it was difficult to control. Even top drivers at the time such as Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles discovered after several test laps that the car was not right for them.

Gurney got it under control during the test drives and was then hired. In his first participation in the Riverside Grand Prix, he was second behind Shelby. He left well-known drivers such as Masten Gregory , Walt Hansgen and Phil Hill behind. This success brought him to the attention of Luigi Chinetti , who was the sole importer of Ferraris in North America at the time. Chinenetti became his sponsor and enabled him to participate in the 1958 Le Mans 24-hour race on a 250 TR, supported by Ferrari . Here he formed a team with the Californian Bruce Kessler . Together they worked their way up to fifth place in the intermediate ranking until Kessler had an accident and they were eliminated. In the final ranking they nevertheless finished 34th. Although the result was rather unsatisfactory for Gurney, Enzo Ferrari noticed him. He arranged an invitation to test drives, whereupon Gurney got a contract offer. From 1959 he started for Ferrari in Formula 1. In his first four races he finished second and third. Since Gurney Enzo Ferrari's policy of pitting his drivers against each other, he left the team again after a season.

The accident at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1960		Gurney, a few minutes after the accident

For the 1960 season, Gurney moved to BRM within Formula 1 . However, the car he was driving had significant technical weaknesses. In the first seven races he retired due to defects six times. The vehicle also caused the most serious accident of his racing career. At the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort in 1960 , the braking system failed . The car overturned in the so-called Tarzan curve. Gurney only broke his arm in this incident, but a young bystander who was illegally staying in a restricted area was killed. This racing year was his only one in Formula 1 in which he did not achieve a point. Gurney later described his move to BRM as a mistake.

In 1960, Gurney, as a partner of Stirling Moss, won the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring with a Maserati Tipo 61 from the Camoradi team with a 2:52 minute lead over Joakim Bonnier / Olivier Gendebien in the less powerful Porsche 918 RS 60 , who came out on top started. A year earlier in the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1959 , Gurney and Cliff Allison had achieved fifth place in a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa . 

In 1961 Gurney moved to Porsche . In the newly founded Formula 1 team, he competed with Joakim Bonnier and Hans Herrmann with a 787 , the basic concept of which was four years old and was based on the 718 . This deficit was reflected in the team's results. Gurney could still show the best performances. At the 1961 French Grand Prix in Reims on July 2, it even looked for a long time that he could achieve victory. For the Porsche works team, these were the first kilometers in the lead in its then young team history. In the final laps there was a duel for victory between Giancarlo Baghetti and Gurney, who had started from ninth place. Both drivers often overtook each other during this phase. Shortly before the end, however, Baghetti came out of the last corner better and overtook Gurney about 100 meters from the finish. Gurney also came in second at the US Grand Prix on October 2nd .

Gurney also came second with Joakim Bonnier as a partner in the 1961 Targa Florio , the second round of the 1961 sports car world championship . In the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1961 , he and Bonnier finished tenth in the overall standings in a Porsche 718 RS and second in the sports car class with a displacement of up to 2 liters. He retired at Sebring and Le Mans.

With the new Porsche 804 with eight-cylinder engine, Gurney achieved Porsche's only victory in the Formula 1 World Championship at the 1962 French Grand Prix in Rouen on July 8th . A week later he won the Solitude in front of a home crowd. The race held there was not part of the world championship, but strong competitors such as Jim Clark were represented. In Friday practice for the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Gurney reached pole position with 8: 47.2 minutes; it was the best lap time on the Nordschleife so far. In the race he kept the lead until the battery came out of its holder on the third lap and he had to hold it in place with his foot. He finished third behind Graham Hill and John Surtees , 4.4 seconds behind the winner.

Porsche withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of 1962. In 1963 Gurney moved to Jack Brabham's new team . Again, it was the Solitude and Rouen racetracks that saw the new brand's debut victories, again with Gurney in Rouen.

All-American Racers

Dan Gurney in 1965 during training for the German Grand Prix

From 1962 Gurney was involved with Carroll Shelby in the use of large-volume American sports cars; the “All-American Racers” team was founded. With the support of Goodyear , the supremacy of Firestone in US racing should be broken. For this purpose, from 1965 a separate single-seater was developed for the Indianapolis 500 and Formula 1, the " AAR Eagle ". For Formula 1 bets the dark blue car with a was a V12 engine of Weslake equipped, has now been interpreted causing the AAR as "Anglo-American Racers".

After delays, the engine was used in 1967. The team won a non-World Championship Formula 1 race at Brands Hatch and the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, a week after Gurney's Le Mans victory. At the Nürburgring at the German Grand Prix , Gurney set the fastest lap and was in the lead for a long time, but then retired. Technical defects also impaired further operations. After the Ford Cosworth V8 engine was freely available from 1968 and several designers built Formula 1 racing cars with it, Gurney stopped his own efforts.

After his official retirement as a driver in 1970, he paid off the co-founder and co-owner of the AAR team, Carroll Shelby, making that team the sole owner.

Gurney at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, 2008

Gurney competed in 303 races in 20 countries in 25 different vehicles, achieved 37 pole positions, 58 front row starts, 48 ​​wins (including 7 Formula 1 victories (including three wins in non-World Championship Grand Prix races) ), 7 Indy Car victories and 5 NASCAR - Winston Cup victories) as well as 41 second or third places. Gurney is one of only five American racing drivers who have won a Formula 1 race. He also won races in the American racing series Indy-Car, NASCAR, Can-Am and the Trans-Am series. After him, only Mario Andretti has managed this so far .

His successes made Dan Gurney very popular, even "Gurney for president" initiatives arose during his active time. Even before the end of his racing career, Gurney was active as the vehicle manufacturer of his "All American Eagle" racing cars and as team boss of the AAR team.

Life

Dan Gurney has appeared in a number of Hollywood films that dealt with motor racing, such as Winning (with Paul Newman ), A Man and a Woman or Grand Prix (with James Garner ). Brock Yates, a friend of Gurney's, was inspired to write the script for the movie Cannonball when they won the Cannonball races across the United States together in 1971 . The car manufacturer Toyota signed Gurney in 1982 for commercials on the occasion of the market launch of the Supra in the USA.

In 2002 Gurney presented a motorcycle he had developed called the "Alligator", a single-cylinder machine in which the driver sits deep in the machine instead of on it. He had worked on this project for over two decades.

Gurney lived (as of 2005) together with his second wife Evi, née Butz, of German descent, in Newport Beach , California. Evi Butz was known as a motorsport journalist in Germany in the early 1960s, above all as the secretary of the then Porsche racing director Huschke von Hanstein , where Dan Gurney saw her during his time as a Porsche works driver in 1962 after winning his Grand Prix in Rouen in Stuttgart got to know at Porsche. They have two sons together. Gurney had four children from his first marriage and a total of eight grandchildren.

Dan Gurney was the brother-in-law of the former motorsport boss at Mercedes-Benz , Norbert Haug . Haug's wife is the sister of Dan Gurney's wife Evi Butz.

Dan Gurney is also considered to be the "inventor" of the champagne shower in racing. After his victory with the seven-liter Mark IV GT40 from Ford at Le Mans in 1967, he stood on the podium with his partner A. J. Foyt and Henry Ford. “Henry Ford was on the podium, his whole entourage, the atmosphere was lively, we had beaten Ferrari. The moment was great - I just let it go ”, Dan Gurney later reported very factually about this moment.

He died on January 14, 2018 at the age of 86 of complications from pneumonia .

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

Grand Prix victories

1962 France ( Rouen )  1964 France (Rouen)

1964 Mexico ( Mexico City )  1967 Belgium ( Spa-Francorchamps )

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari Dino 246F1	Ferrari 2.4 V6	4th	-	1	1	-	-	13	7th
1960	Owen Racing Organization	BRM P48	BRM 2.5 L4	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1961	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 F4	6th	-	2	-	-	-	21st	4th
		Porsche 787		2	-	1	-	-	-
1962	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 804	Porsche 1.5 F8	7th	1	-	1	1	-	15th	5.
1963	Brabham Racing Organization	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	10	-	2	1	-	1	19th	5.
1964	Brabham Racing Organization	Brabham BT7	Climax 1.5 V8	10	2	-	-	2	2	19th	6th
1965	Brabham Racing Organization	Brabham BT11	Climax 1.5 V8	9	-	2	3	-	1	25th	4th
1966	Anglo American Racers	Eagle Mk1	Climax 2.8 L4	6th	-	-	-	-	-	4th	12.
			Weslake 3.0 V12	2	-	-	-	-	-
1967	Anglo American Racers	Eagle Mk1	Climax 2.8 L4	1	-	-	-	-	-	13	8th.
			Weslake 3.0 V12	10	1	-	1	-	2
1968	Anglo American Racers	Eagle Mk1	Weslake 3.0 V12	5	-	-	-	-	-	3	21st
		McLaren M7A	Ford-Cosworth 3.0 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-
	Brabham Racing Organization	Brabham BT24	Repco 3.0 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M14A	Ford-Cosworth 3.0 V8	3	-	-	-	-	-	1	24.
total				86	4th	8th	7th	3	6th	133

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13
1959
				DNF		2	3	4th
1960
		NC		DNF	DNF	DNF	10	DNF		DNF
1961
	5	10	6th	2	7th	7th	2	2
1962
	DNF	DNF	DNS	1	9	3	DNF	5
1963
	DNF	3	2	5	DNF	DNF	14th	DNF	6th	2
1964
	DNF	DNF	6th	1	13	10	DNF	10	DNF	1
1965
	DNF		10	DNF	6th	3	3	3	2	2
1966
		NC	5	DNF	DNF	7th	DNF	DNF	5
1967
	DNF	DNF	DNF	1	DNF	DNF	DNF	3	DNF	DNF	DNF
1968
	DNF		DNF		DNF		DNF	9	DNF	DNF	4th	DNF
1970
					DNF	6th	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1958	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 250TR	Bruce Kessler	failure	accident
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250TR59	Jean Behra	failure	Gearbox damage
1960	Briggs S. Cunningham	Jaguar D-Type 2A	Walt Hansgen	failure	Cylinder overheated
1961	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 718/4 RS Coupe	Joakim Bonnier	failure	Engine failure
1962	Scuderia SSS Repubblica di Venezia	Ferrari 250TRI / 61	Joakim Bonnier	failure	Gearbox damage
1963	North American Racing Team	Ferrari 330LMB	Jim Hall	failure	Gearbox damage
1964	Shelby American Inc.	AC Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	Bob Bondurant	4th place and class win
1965	Shelby American Inc.	AC Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	Jerry Grant	failure	no oil pressure
1966	Shelby American Inc.	Ford GT40 MK.II	Jerry Grant	failure	Cooler defective
1967	Shelby American Inc.	Ford GT40 MK.IV	AJ Foyt	Overall victory

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250TR59	Phil Hill	Olivier Gendebien	Chuck Daigh	Overall victory
1960	Camoradi USA	Maserati Tipo 61	Stirling Moss			failure	Power transmission
1961	Porsche car	Porsche 718 RS / 61	Joakim Bonnier			failure	Clutch damage
1962	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 356B Carrera Abarth GTL	Bob Holbert			Rank 7 and class win
1963	Shelby American Inc.	Shelby Cobra	Phil Hill			Rank 28
1964	Shelby American Inc.	Shelby Cobra Roadster	Bob Johnson			failure	accident
1965	All American Racers Inc.	Lotus 19J	Jerry Grant			failure	Oil pump
1966	Shelby American Inc.	Ford GT40 Mk.II	Jerry Grant			Disqualified
1970	Equipe Matra-Elf	Matra-Simca MS650	François Cevert			Rank 12

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1958	NART	Ferrari 250TR	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
							DNF
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 250TR	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			1	DNF	5	DNF	5
1960	Camoradi Racing Briggs Cunningham	Maserati Tipo 61 Jaguar D-Type	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
			DNF	DNF		1	DNF
1961	Porsche	Porsche 718 RS	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
			DNF	2	10	DNF
1962	Frank Arciero Porsche Scuderia Serenissima	Lotus 19 Porsche 356 Porsche 718 Ferrari 250TRI	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
			1		7th		DNF		DNF	DNF
1963	Carroll Shelby International NART John Edgar	Shelby Cobra Ferrari 330LMB	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
			DNF		28							DNF												1
1964	Carroll Shelby International	Shalby Cobra Shelby Daytona	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
			4th	DNF	8th						4th	DNF			3
1965	AAR Eagle Carroll Shelby International	Lotus 19 Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
			DNF	DNF										DNF
1966	Carroll Shelby International	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			2	DNF					DNF
1967	Carroll Shelby International	Ford GT40	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			DNF						1
1970	NART Matra	Ferrari 512S Matra MS650	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			DNF	12

literature

• Karl Ludvigsen: Dan Gurney. The Ultimate Racer. Foreword by Sir Jack Brabham. Haynes Publishing, Sparkford 2000, ISBN 1-85960-655-5 .

Web links

Commons : Dan Gurney  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Dan Gurney: The eternally lively pioneer and tinkerer ( Memento from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) earlier post on www.motorsport-aktuell.com (no longer directly available)
• Even in Solitude he was stunning (in English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dan Gurney - Formula One Gallery - Dan Gurney's All American Racers . In: allamericanracers.com . Retrieved February 4, 2016.
2. ↑ SEAS: Gurney Flap . Retrieved April 23, 2018.
3. ^ ^{A b c} Clayton Moore: Dan Gurney: All American Racer, Hero and Legend . The Speed ​​Journal.
4. ↑ Frederick W. Gurney . In: www.findagrave.com, accessed November 9, 2019.
5. ↑ Gurney Ball Bearing Engineering Bulletin A-2, "Gurney Bearing Application to Worm Drive," 1915 . In: www.thehenryford.org, accessed November 9, 2019.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Bill Bennett: Dan Gurney: Racing's Renaissance Man . DieCastX. March 23, 2015.
7. ^ Mark Vaughn: Dan Gurney: 1931-2018 . Autoweek. January 14, 2018.
8. ^ Dan Gurney's Biography - Dan Gurney's All American Racers . In: allamericanracers.com . Retrieved February 4, 2016.
9. ↑ Biography at the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame , 2003, accessed November 8, 2007.
10. ↑ The motorsport world mourns Dan Gurney - a multi-talent is dead . In: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de, accessed on November 10, 2019.
11. ↑ A difficult time for specials . In: www. Zwischengas.com, accessed on November 9, 2019.
12. ↑ Aciero Special, Harold Pace and Mark R. Brinker, Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950–1969, pages 138–139, MotorBooks International, ISBN 0760317836
13. ↑ The motorsport world mourns Dan Gurney - a multi-talent is dead . In: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de, accessed on November 10, 2019.
14. ↑ When sand flies and Tarzan calls . In: www.motorsport-total.com, accessed on November 10, 2019.
15. ↑ The motorsport world mourns Dan Gurney - a multi-talent is dead . In: www.auto-motor-und-sport.de, accessed on November 10, 2019.
16. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC 1000 km race . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-89880-903-0 .
17. ↑ Background to Baghetti's Formula 1 debut in 1961 on 8w.forix.com (accessed on December 5, 2017)
18. ^ Dan Gurney Biography. Retrieved August 27, 2018 (UK English). 
19. ↑ Haug says Mercedes gets back what it spends on F1. Retrieved August 27, 2018 (UK English). 
20. ↑ By Mark Glendenning / Images by IMS Photo, LAT, Marshall Pruett, All American Racers, Steve Shunck: Dan Gurney, 1931-2018. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 16, 2018 ; Retrieved January 15, 2018 (UK English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.