Dan Gurney

DAN GURNEY, an outstanding international driver and car builder, gained much of his early fame on the Formula One Grand Prix circuit with victories in France (1962 and 1964), Mexico (1964), and Belgium (1967). In 1967, he won the “race of champions” at Brands Hatch in England and teamed with A.J. Foyt, Jr. for victory in the Le Mans 24-hour race with a Ford GT40 Mark IV. His winning car in Belgium was an All American Eagle he built in Santa Ana, California, making that race only the second occasion an American driver in an American car won a Grand Prix and the only one since the introduction of the World Championship in 1950. The victory in Belgium came exactly one week after the glorious triumph at Le Mans. He later finished second in the 1968 and 1969 Indianapolis 500 races and third in the 1970 race. Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500 with Gurney Eagles in 1968 and 1975, as did Gordon Johncock in 1973. For four straight years, starting in 1973, approximately half of the 33-car starting lineups at the Indianapolis 500 race were Eagles. Gurney also won five out of six 500-mile NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) races at Riverside from 1963 through 1968, including four in succession.