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"It was certainly the biggest compliment I ever received."
—Gurney on hearing he was the only driver Jim Clark ever feared, Motorsport Magazine[1]

Daniel Sexton "Dan" Gurney (born April 13, 1931, died January 14, 2018) was a former Formula One driver and team owner. He was born in New York state, but spent almost his entire life living in California.[2] Gurney would develop a cult following during his years in Grand Prix racing, which saw the American take four wins in eighty six starts.[3]

After making his début at the 1959 French Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari, Gurney drove for a variety of teams, and earned the respect of many competitors in the field.[3] Although Gurney would never win the Championship, the father of Jim Clark revealed to Gurney that he was the only driver that Clark had ever feared, something which Gurney kept quiet for several years.[1] His best career finish would be fourth in 1965, with half the number of points of Champion Clark.

Having won for Porsche at the 1962 French Grand Prix, Gurney would go on to take two wins for Brabham, before founding his own team, All American Racers.[2] With the aid of Carroll Shelby, Gurney managed to get his new team into Formula One in 1966, re-branded as Anglo American Racers, although his new cars proved unreliable.[2] Yet, Gurney's greatest achievement was to come for his team, as he won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in his own car, a feat matched by few.[2] His three wins were all maiden wins for those constructors, a feat never since equalled.

Gurney was also to be credited with the invention of the now common podium celebration of spraying champagne, having done so after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967.[4] His name would also become attached to a device known as the "Gurney Flap", used in aerodynamics for race cars to this day.[4] The American would retire from racing in 1970 to focus on building up AAR, which became a dominant force in American racing, but only recorded one victory in Formula One.[4]

Ultimately, having survived the deadliest era of Grand Prix racing, Gurney would die at the age of 86 after complications from pneumonia.[5]

Formula One Career[]

Despite being born in New York, Gurney grew up and cut his teeth in motor racing in California, after his parents moved the family to Riverside, a future host to the United States Grand Prix.[2] After using his engineering education to build and drive cars at the Bonneville salt flats, Gurney stepped up as a professional racer in 1955.[2] Spotted by a Ferrari dealer in 1957, Gurney was handed a factory drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, before getting a chance to race for the Scuderia in F1 during 1959.[6]

Formula One Statistical Overview[]

Formula One Record[]

Year Entrant Team WDC Points WDC Pos. Report
1959 Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 13 7th Report
1960 United Kingdom Owen Racing Organisation BRM 0 NC Report
United Kingdom Yeoman Credit Racing Team Cooper-Climax
1961 West Germany Porsche System Engineering Porsche 21 4th Report
United States Louise Bryden-Brown Lotus-Climax
1962 West Germany Porsche System Engineering Porsche 15 5th Report
West Germany Autosport Team Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-BRM
1963 United Kingdom Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Climax 19 5th Report
1964 United Kingdom Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Climax 19 6th Report
1965 United Kingdom Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Climax 25 4th Report
1966 United States Anglo American Racers Eagle-Climax 4 12th Report
Eagle-Weslake
1967 United States Anglo American Racers Eagle-Climax 13 8th Report
Eagle-Weslake
1968 United States Anglo American Racers Eagle-Weslake 3 21st Report
McLaren-Ford Cosworth
United Kingdom Brabham Racing Organisation Brabham-Repco
1969 United Kingdom Motor Racing Developments Ltd. Brabham-Ford Cosworth 0 NC
1970 United Kingdom Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren-Ford Cosworth 1 24th Report
  • Italics denotes an entrant used only in non-championship races.

Career Statistics[]

Entries 91
Starts 86
Pole Positions 3
Sprint Poles 0
Front Row Starts 22
Race Wins 4
Sprint Wins 0
Podiums 19
Sprint Podiums 0
Fastest Laps 6
Sprint Fastest Laps 0
Points 133
Laps Raced 3676
Distance Raced 21,463 km (13,336 mi)
Races Led 16
Laps Led 199
Distance Led 1,583 km (984 mi)

Race Wins[]

Win Number Grand Prix
1 1962 French Grand Prix
2 1964 French Grand Prix
3 1964 Mexican Grand Prix
4 1967 Belgian Grand Prix

Career Results[]

Complete Formula One Results
Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts Pos
1959 Flag of Monaco 48-star U S flag Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Portugal Flag of Italy US flag 49 stars 13 7th
Ret 2nd 3rd 4th
1960 Flag of Argentina Flag of Monaco US flag 49 stars Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Portugal Flag of Italy Flag of the United States 0 NC
NC Ret Ret Ret 10th Ret Ret
1961 Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States 21 4th
5th 10th 6th 2nd 7th 7th 2nd 2nd
1962 Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 15 5th
Ret Ret DNS 1st 9th 3rd Ret 5th
1963 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 19 5th
Ret 3rd 2nd 5th Ret Ret 14th Ret 6th 2nd
1964 Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Austria Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 19 6th
Ret Ret 6th 1st 13th 10th Ret 10th Ret 1st
1965 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 25 4th
Ret 10th Ret 6th 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd 2nd
1966 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 4 12th
NC 5th Ret Ret 7th Ret Ret 5th
1967 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 Flag of Monaco Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Belgium Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Canada Flag of Italy Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1934-1968 13 8th
Ret Ret Ret 1st Ret Ret Ret 3rd Ret Ret Ret
1968 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 Flag of Spain 1945 1977 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Italy Flag of Canada Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 3 21st
Ret Ret Ret Ret 9th Ret Ret 4th Ret
1970 Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 Flag of Spain 1945 1977 Flag of Monaco Flag of Belgium Flag of the Netherlands Flag of France Flag of the United Kingdom Flag of Germany Flag of Austria Flag of Italy Flag of Canada Flag of the United States Flag of Mexico 1 24th
Ret 6th Ret
Key
Symbol Meaning Symbol Meaning
1st Winner Ret Retired
2nd Podium finish DSQ Disqualified
3rd DNQ Did not qualify
5th Points finish DNPQ Did not pre-qualify
14th Non-points finish TD Test driver
Italics Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap DNS Did not start
18th Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) NC Non-classified finish (<90% race distance)
4thP Qualified for pole position [+] More Symbols

References[]

Images and Videos:

References:

  1. 1.0 1.1 David Tremayne, 'The life of Jim Clark', Motorsport Magazine (April 1993), via http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/halloffame/jim-clark/jim-clark/, (Accessed 04/02/2016)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 'DAN GURNEY'S BIOGRAPHY', allamericanracers.com, (All American Racers, 2016), http://allamericanracers.com/dan-gurney-biography/, (Accessed 04/02/2016)
  3. 3.0 3.1 '#F1 Cult Heroes: Dan Gurney', formula1.com, (Formula One Administration, 2016), http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/features/2016/1/f1-hunt-montoya-cult-hero.html, (Accessed 04/02/2016)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 'F1's Greatest Drivers: Dan Gurney', f1greatestdrivers.autosport.com, (Haymarket Media, 2016), http://f1greatestdrivers.autosport.com/?driver=28, (Accessed 04/02/2016)
  5. Mark Glendenning, 'Dan Gurney, 1931-2018', racer.com, (Racer Media & Marketing, Inc., 14/01/2018), http://www.racer.com/f1/item/146728-dan-gurney-1931-2018#!1959_Portugal_Ferrari, (Accessed 14/01/2018)
  6. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named GP
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