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Dan Gurney, the precursor

16. Sep 2022 
by Ziv Knoll
5451 views

Dan Sexton Gurney (1931-2018), was an American racing driver, race car constructor , and team owner. Gurney is the first of only three drivers to have won races in Formula One, Sports cars, NASCAR, and IndyCars, the two other being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya.

In 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ford together with A.J. Foyt, Gurney spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium, which thereafter became a custom at many motorsport events.

The same year, Gurney took another historic victory, when he won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix held at Spa-Francorchamps in his Eagle, setting fastest lap and overcoming high-speed misfire of his Weslake V12 engine, in a car designed and built in his AAR Southern California-based facility.

As owner of All American Racers (AAR), he was again the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and stability and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. An invention widely used nowadays.

At the 1968 German Grand Prix (picture below), he also became the first driver to use a full face (Bell Star) helmet in Grand Prix racing. Among American F1 drivers, his 86 Grand Prix starts ranks third, and his total of four Grand Prix wins is second only to Mario Andretti. A legend of motor racing, without any doubt.

Source: DR

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