Happy Birthday to Dan Gurney!

Not implying anything by putting this in the Nostalgia forum {:^O ...though his career *does* reach back to the mid50s! And what a fine career it was/is. But, we'll be able to read all about it when Karl Ludvigsen's book about Dan is released next month!

Dan's been my 'hero' since 1964...shoot, I think I'll buy TWO books!

Forza Dan Gurney!

"Eagle104"
Paul Castagnoli
DANville, Indiana

Not a Gurney fan, by any chance?
Dan was in Brabham team at that time, leading Spa and showing Clark there was some opposition in the Climax-powered ranks... Jack (really Ron) actually made a chassis a couple of inches longer for the big man.
It's a shame he's had to pull his horns in this year, but even Jim Hall's out of the sport now. Time moves on. Maybe it's up to us to keep the memories going.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

Happy birthday to the man Car and Driver nominated for President of the U.S. I think we should renew that campaign.

Dave

I had the chance to meet Dan Gurney at Laguna Seca. A very gracious man and a true American legend.

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Regards,

Dennis David
Grand Prix History

Life is racing, the rest is waiting

He certainly knew some highs and lows. Running out of petrol when dominant at Spa, the fatal accident at Zandvoort, winning at Spa in the Eagle Weslake, those wins at Rouen, defeat at the Nurburgring aided by something amiss in the cockpit of the Porsche (was it the fire extinguisher rolling around?) on a day when the winner had to be a hero.
There was the Le Mans bunfight with the Fords, too, and shattered dreams with the early efforts at both Indy and Can-Am (Lotus 19 Ford V8 indeed!)
Not only that, but he did have that win in the BRM at Ballarat - despite the car having been taken for a joyride in the middle of the night.
The irony of winning all those NASCAR races, which would have branded him an all-rounder when he wanted more to be known as a GP driver.
The best part of all would be that he came out of it all with a lot of friends and supporters.

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[This message has been edited by Ray Bell (edited 04-13-2000).]

See my post about Dan Gurney on the Talented Drivers topic

Hey Eagle 104, remember when Dan brought the stock block Eagle to the Milwaukee Mile and Mr. Mosley drove it to first place and beat the built for racing motors. No sponsor if I remember correctly. Tell us about it please.

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"Speed cost money, how fast do you want to go?"

Only 5 and a half years later... but rather than begin another DSG thread, (there are 14 of them on TNF) I resurrected this one in order to mention an oddity that I have just come upon.

Searching for the drivers of a nice little Alfa Romeo model I may buy, in the results of the 1965 1000 km race at Monza, I see in the 'entered but did not arrive' list the following:

#58 DAN GURNEY - DE TOMASO VALELLUNGA - entrant: COBRA RICERCHE

Anyone know anything about this one; it's a new one on me?

From page 46 of "On This Day In Motorsports History..." on this forum, there is this about Pete Brock (the US one)

"...Designer of the De Tomaso prototype featured on the March 1966 Road & Track cover. (This was a Shelby/De Tomaso joint venture which failed, and De Tomaso falsely credited Ghia with the prototype's design and manufacture, although Pete Brock designed the car and Carrozzeria Fantuzzi of Italy built it)..."

and there is a picture here:

http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/BrockDeTomaso.htm

Is that the one? Pete lives in the Seattle area now...somebody should ask him about it?

Vince Howlett, Victoria, B.C., Canada

Wow! That's quite a weapon. What a pity it came to nought.

Rather than let these slumber away unused, I thought I'd post them before deleting them. DSG on his first Goodwood Festival visit and a few from Laguna Seca 1989.

Every time I see a photo of the 1957 version of the Vanwall I can't help thinking what a glorious body shape it had. Surely one of the best looking Formula One cars ever built, although tall Gurney probably could use some more space in the cockpit. Thanks for the photo.

WINO

No need. The Vallelunga was a Ford-powered (a little 1.6-liter 4-banger) cute little coupe, the never finished "King Cobra" a Can-Am car supposedly designed for a 7-liter Ford V8.
The 1967-produced Tamiya slot car kit (a rarity today) credits Ghia for the manufacturing of this mock-up, from a design by Pete Brock. That is if you read Japanese.

T54

Time to bring this thread back again to announce...

DAN GURNEY - Surprising fact #36

After three seasons in the pretty competitive Brabham Climax and two with Eagles (1966 notwithstanding) I was surprised to find, when looking for something else in Dan's list of accomplishments, that his best position in the World Championship was joint third.....

....in 1961 with the 4 cylinder Volkswa... sorry, Porsche.

Isn't life odd?

Not odd, it's called "lotsaDNF's".

I remember that this is one painter Ron Prevenslik and I had to paint in a hurry, an all-day plus all-nighter job, me masking the car from my color sketch, Ron applying the colors one per one, but I also remember it as one of my most satisfying jobs since I was put in charge of the paint scheme of the Indianapolis Eagles from 1972.





T54

Actually, 1981 was one of his best sponsored years as his Indy car team was sponsored by Pepsi Cola and the car was dubbed the "Pepsi Challenger". Due to trouble in qualifying, Mike Mosley started last, came through the field, and won. A rather improbably result, but I would imagine one of Dan's more satisfying wins. No small factor probably was the presence of Mosley in the cockpit, as three of Mosley's five career Indy Car wins came at the Milwaukee Mile.

(As an aside, I have often wondered about the use of the term, "stock block". A more accurate term would be 'pushrod' engine, as the block, while sourced from a Chevy V-8, was probably not what one would call "stock".)

Tom

Yes , quite odd . And to think Dan was the guy who Jim Clark said he feared the most . Dan is on my list as one of the best to never win a championship .

Number two in that list for me!