Photo: Hal Crocker
On October 29, 2014 at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, the Museum’s Board of Directors and Board President Patricia Mooradian will honor Dan Gurney with the Edison/Ford Medal in recognition of his “ingenuity and innovative achievements in racing and beyond.”
Gurney is, of course, a genuine American racing icon, with a long list of accomplishments in Fords and Ford-powered vehicles, foremost of which is his 1967 triumph in the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside A.J. Foyt. Gurney also scored the only Ford-powered victory in the revered Can-Am series, driving his AAR Lola powered by a Gurney-Weslake Ford V8 to the win at Bridgehampton, N.Y., in 1966 and, of course, instigated the “Lotus Powered by Ford” program that resulted in Jim Clark registering the first win for a rear-engined car at Indianapolis.
Photo: Morem Sports History
He also won NASCAR’s season-opening Motor Trend 500 at Riverside five times in six years (1963-’66 and 1968) in Fords entered by the Wood Brothers and Holman Moody, and scored all seven of his Indycar wins in Eagles powered by his Gurney-Weslake Ford engines.
