Tribute to a maverick

Respects paid to Dan Gurney, who passed away in January

DAN Gurney made a strong impression during his first championship Grand Prix in South Africa. The American started his works Brabham-climax from the front row at East London on 28 December 1963, finished second and established a new lap record for the 4,1 km track.

The fact that Gurney was beaten by Jim Clark was no disgrace, since the Scotsman and his Lotus were a formidable force that year. In fact, it was a portent of the future; Clark went on to rate Gurney as the driver he feared most. Following Clark’s fatal accident in April 1968, Gurney was in tears at the funeral when Jimmy’s father took Dan to one side and passed on this token of respect.

That came at a time of mixed emotions for Gurney. The man from California would experience a glorious couple of weeks the previous summer when he finished second in the Indianapolis 500, shared a GT40 MKIV with AJ Foyt to give Ford victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and then won the Belgian Grand Prix (on the original Spa-francorchamps track) in his blue Eagle-weslake, arguably one of the most beautiful F1 cars ever made.

But there was even more to Gurney than that. Aside from 51 victories in a vast variety of competition cars, Gurney would probably have trebled that score had he not remained very much his own man, never afraid to follow his engineering hunch, try something new and then use an abundance of skill to race it. And, while doing so, remain a humble and handsome figure, albeit driven by a quiet determination that could occasionally be his undoing.

Mario Andretti perfectly summed up Gurney’s legacy. “If Dan had driven for Lotus or Ferrari, he’d have been a multiple-world champion,” said the 1978 F1 champ. “But he did it his way, be it F1 or Indycars, and he paid dearly. But you have to admire him for that. In my book, he was a world champion. He just didn’t have the trophy.”

Many trophies went to the drivers of Gurney’s Eagle cars, none more so than Bobby Unser who gave Eagle its first Indycar win in 1968 and then blitzed the Indianapolis lap record by a massive 27 km/h in 1972, leading comfortably until the ignition failed. The following May, 19 of the 33 starters were in Eagles.

Gurney and Bruce Mclaren were likeminded when it came to building and driving their own racecars. When Bruce was killed while testing at Goodwood in June 1970, Dan stepped in a couple of weeks later and did a massive amount to bolster the shattered team. Despite never having driven the mighty Mclaren M8D before, Gurney put the Can-am car on pole and won at Mosport.

Gurney would race anything with four wheels, provided it was well prepared, of course. Having supposedly retired from driving, he could not resist the 1971 Cannonball Baker Sea-toShining-sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an unofficial, unsanctioned race from New York to California. Sharing a Ferrari Daytona with writer Brock Yates, Gurney took 35 hours and 54 minutes to complete the 4 607 km drive. It would have been quicker had they not been hampered by snow in the Rockies. “At no time did we exceed 175 mph (280 km/h),” said Dan, with the twinkle and wry smile that had long since been his winning trademark.

Road racing was in his blood, which is why he won at places such as Spa, Rouen-les-essarts and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Only four of those victories were in F1 world-championship races: France in 1962 and ‘64 (Porsche and Brabham; both at Rouen); Mexico in 1964 (Brabham); and that celebrated win in Belgium three years later. But when Clark paid Gurney that compliment, the double-world champion’s quiet words spoke more loudly than any collection of cups or crowns.

There have been many glowing tributes and plenty of great memories. My favourite is an informal lunch with Dan and his wife, Evi, at a pub in Surrey in December 2000. He had a boyish desire to hear the latest gossip and express genuine admiration for the F1 drivers of the day. Only when pressed would he talk about his part in such a fantastic past.

Daniel Sexton Gurney stood six feet, four inches in his flameproof socks. He will remain even taller than that when his contribution is measured as a racer and a fine, decent man.

“He did it his way, be it F1 or Indycars, and he paid dearly”