{"id":497408,"date":"2018-03-01T01:55:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T09:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=55652"},"modified":"2024-04-06T02:40:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T02:40:23","slug":"dan-gurney-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/dan-gurney-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Gurney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Dan Gurney is a man whose accomplishments need no introduction. In addition to winning in everything from Formula One to NASCAR, Gurney laid claim to a long and successful career as a team owner, car constructor and truly one of racing\u2019s nicest and most approachable individuals. As a long-time friend of the magazine, VR has had numerous opportunities to speak with Dan on a variety of topics. What follows is a compilation of some of the more insightful discussions we\u2019ve enjoyed with the legend over the past 20 years.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-591972 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1.jpg\" alt=\" Fred Lewis\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1063\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1-300x295.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1-1024x1008.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1-100x98.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1-770x758.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p1-293x288.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a>VR: How does the son of an opera singer and an artist get started in racing?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, ya know, opera includes sound, and the sound of engines. I was never a great fan of opera, and I wasn\u2019t into show business.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But, anyway, one of the things that does have a connection, one of my first passionate racing fan experiences was at a little track in Freeport, Long Island. It was a little one-fifth mile paved track. One end of the turn was totally flat, and the other had a little tiny bit of banking on it. Because it was paved, the cars shined, and it was nighttime racing with lights. They would bring the cars out with John Phillips Sousa\u2019s marching music and baton twirlers like cheerleaders, then roll these midgets out to do battle. These were the days before roll cages and all of that, and these were the days when it wasn\u2019t just one kind of engine. It was probably, on any given race, you had five different brands, different sounds. Among other things, there were huge, standing-room-only crowds, and we had a driver from our town in Manhasset named Phil Walters, who raced there as Ted Tappett. It couldn\u2019t have been\u2026it was like going to heaven every week when we\u2019d go to this thing. At the end of that event, usually there was one section outside the grandstands where the motorcycles would park. So afterwards they\u2019d fire these cycles up, everybody getting ready to leave. And, of course, they all had open exhausts and everything else, so that was an additional entr\u00e9e to the racing. So the sounds of racing engines and the smells, you know, Castor Oil was used a lot in those days. Those were all\u2026that isn\u2019t opera, but there\u2019s more to it. So that was it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Sounds almost like the sound more than the speed got you in the beginning.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Yeah, it wasn\u2019t speed so much, but there was a lot of danger involved and a lot of skill, and a lot of\u2014without even realizing it\u2014technology. Why does one engine sound different than the other? Why does one guy get down the straightaway a little bit better, and how come some people can work their way through traffic without hitting other people when other guys cannot? How do you choose up sides about who\u2019s your favorite\u2026it was all part of it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: So you didn\u2019t actually get behind the wheel yourself until you moved to Riverside, California?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: That\u2019s right. First time behind the wheel at a race was at Torrey Pines, which was once a track and is now a golf course.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_591985\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-591985\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-591985 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3-100x68.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3-770x520.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p3-293x198.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-591985\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frank Arciero is given much credit for \u201cdiscovering\u201d\u2008Gurney, and fielded him in both Ferraris and this famous Lotus 19, with which Dan won the 1962 Daytona Continental.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: In your early days, you and Skip Hudson had a very close relationship, both as friends and as racers. Can you elaborate a little bit on Skip\u2019s impact on you and your career?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Naturally, we met because of the hot rod element and because Skip was quite an exceptional athlete. He liked boxing, and we ended up both having some confrontations, and also ended up really good friends. I found out he wanted to become a driver, as did I. We naturally gravitated to the same sort of things. He had a series of really good looking street roadsters, and we were all in the flathead era. The Ford flathead was the engine of choice. One of the things that really did help both of our careers a lot was that we started using a stopwatch. Skip and I made a sworn oath that we would never do anything except give the exact time we actually took, regardless of who ended up being quickest or not. So we used that as a way of developing our own driving styles. We used dirt hillclimbs or dirt roads around orange groves\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: This is all in Riverside County. Were you basically laying your own course,?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Yeah, so we actually could develop a style that showed up on a stopwatch. Otherwise you can talk all you want about a style or how you\u2019d do something, or you\u2019d be smooth and all that, but that\u2019s all irrelevant if the stopwatch doesn\u2019t say it\u2019s better or worse.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: So you\u2019re really one of the founding fathers of data acquisition?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: (laughter) That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: You were each other\u2019s onboard computer?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: That was it. We weren\u2019t using an hourglass! I mean you needed that insight. Otherwise you were just guessing. So that was a big element in our development. Our big problem was how do you get into an industry that doesn\u2019t exist yet? Which is really what it was. There was quite a bit of racing, but the owners were driving the cars themselves out here. To be a young, struggling driver and to get an opportunity, I mean, there were just very few opportunities there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On one occasion, we were invited by Tony Paravano up to Willow Springs for a test. I got fired first\u2014for having gone off the road. Later on that day, further up the chain, Skip got fired. So we both got fired on what was then our biggest opportunity. But we persevered. That was probably 1957.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_591989\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-591989\" style=\"width: 939px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-591989 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"939\" height=\"851\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4.jpg 939w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4-300x272.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4-100x91.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4-770x698.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p4-293x266.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 939px) 100vw, 939px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-591989\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Clark (left) considerd Gurney the most dangerous rival of all on the racetrack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: I\u2019ve talked with a number of drivers from the \u201950s and \u201960s\u2014and you\u2019ll have to pardon the question\u2014who felt that Skip was the guy who was really going to go someplace in racing! In their eyes, he was the one who was going to go all the way. Looking back on all that now, what do you think it was that differentiated the two of you and enabled you to really take off?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, luck. Luck was an important element. Skip was a much better marketer. The term \u201cmarketing\u201d didn\u2019t exist in those days, but Skip was very good at walking in the front door and charming the potential car owner or the guy who was going to give him the opportunity. I was much more reticent and wasn\u2019t a great salesman. I\u2019d say that was my biggest problem. But in terms of what you do once you\u2019re in the car, I probably had a slight edge on Skip. Skip was very good, but in the end, how pure your desire was\u2014or is even today\u2014has a lot to do with success. As you get further into it, when the margins between the guys you\u2019re up against and yourself, become smaller and smaller, you have to be able to delve down and do something about that, or else you\u2019re pretty much stymied.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Legend has it that when a brushfire threatened your home, the only personal possession that you took with you was your \u201967 Spa F1 trophy. Does Spa rank as your most cherished victory?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, that\u2019s a doggoned nice trophy! I know it was commissioned by Larry Truesdale of Goodyear, who went to the silversmith who made the original trophy, which is kept at the track, and had him make a duplicate. So it is a genuine duplicate of the original one that has a lot of names of the Spa winners from before World War II up until it stopped when I ended up with it. So, yeah, that\u2019s a very special trophy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: But as far as race victories go for you, which ones stand out in your mind as having the most meaning to you either as an owner or as a driver?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: In the end, there are lots of bits that you rank in different ways as to your own assessment of how well you did and under what handicaps or lack of them. But in terms of\u2026yeah, the Spa victory with a car which we built here in California and had our own engine that no one else had. It was one of those things that probably won\u2019t happen again for a long time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Or ever, unfortunately.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Yeah. So that put it in perspective there. But there are others. When A.J. and I ended up winning Le Mans in that Ford victory, there was something about a watershed victory there that meant something. The first and only victory with the Porsche in Formula One was one. I won the first one for Brabham, which was very good, and also the first and only one for an Eagle.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592000\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592000\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-592000 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5-1024x661.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5-100x65.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5-770x497.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p5-293x189.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-592000\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Victory in France for Porsche in 1962 was Gurney\u2019s first Formula One success, and the only one for the German firm as a constructor. Photo: Porsche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: So from the mountaintop to the valley, what was the worst racecar you ever drove?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: I drove several Lotus cars that were products of being repaired\u2026 damaged cars that were diabolical. Those were not much fun. Actually, I drove an Eagle in 1970 that we had made and sold to other customers\u2014six other customers in all. They all said, \u201cUh uh, this thing is no good.\u201d I ended up having to drive it because we designed and built it. That wasn\u2019t real good, although we managed to finish 3rd at Indy with it. It was another one of those situations where you perform by dint of just gritting your teeth.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Looking back at the Eagle F1 program, it seemed to be a prematurely short-lived program. Some historians have speculated that part of the problem may have been the Weslake engine and its relative lack of development. Looking back over it now, what do you think ultimately held back that program?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: One, I would say the Weslakes did an excellent job, considering the funding that we could throw at it\u2014which was very, very slim. One of the stories that still bugs me is that our sixth race with it happened to coincide with the first coming of the Cosworth, which was funded by a budget from Ford and included getting really good machinery to do it. When in fact, what the Weslakes could afford on our program included some ex-Royal Navy World War I machinery that was pretty run down.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Challenging to work with?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Yeah, it was. Instead of using a screw to move the cutting tool, you had to do it with a hammer and then measure. But they were robust enough to make a nice piece. It certainly wasn\u2019t a way of making interchangeable parts though! Now compare that to Cosworth, who at the time were using tape-controlled machines from Pratt &amp; Whitney. So it was a\u2026I mean, no use complaining about it, but I certainly wouldn\u2019t blame the Weslakes for being a big handicap. The fact was that we tried to compete with poor precious little money. And they worked very hard, they had a lot of excellent craftsmen. More than machinery. And they had a \u201ccan-do\u201d philosophy. Michael Daniel was Harry Weslake\u2019s stepson, and he pushed it, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anyway, the part that hasn\u2019t been mentioned much is that originally that engine would have been a whole lot better because it was designed by Aubrey Woods, who was ex-BRM at the time and who had been the designer of what was a very successful 1.5-liter V8 that BRM did and won the championship for Graham Hill. But the engine I thought we were going to build was based upon a 500-cc research engine that Weslakes had run\u2026it was a 500-cc twin, 250 per cylinder. And the Weslakes had used it in a high-speed combustion research project funded by Shell. That was what I thought we were going to use as the basis. You put 12 of those together and you\u2019ve got a 3-liter, 12-cylinder. Somewhere in all of the shuffle, Aubrey didn\u2019t include what at the time was a\u2014that 500-cc twin was consistently making 76 horsepower on gasoline, which was bloody good at the time, you know, over 150 horsepower per liter. That would have made it a 450 horsepower, 3-liter. But that slipped through the cracks.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592007\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592007\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-592007 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6-1024x739.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6-100x72.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6-770x555.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p6-293x211.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-592007\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8230;with two American icons, Dan Gurney and A.J Foyt, behind the wheel of Henry II\u2019s Mark IV. Photo: Ford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: So did they just decide to redesign from scratch and not use that test engine?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Yeah, it was essentially ignored, when in fact it would have been a whole lot better. By the time I finally realized what was happening, I was really, really shaken. As it was, our engine was about the only one that gave Cosworth any real concern. And it was a very good engine. In terms of reliability it was excellent. In terms of weight it was excellent. It really didn\u2019t have a very good oil-scavenging system. That was one of its \u201cAchilles Heels.\u201d All and all, the potential was very good. Although had we had the thing that was the basis of&#8230;what I thought was the basis of, it would have been pretty exceptional.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: At the Mosport Can-Am race in 1970 you beat Jackie Oliver in the Titanium Ti22. What do you remember of that race?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Jackie had the lightweight Ti22 with the 496-cid Chevrolet engine. The engine ran like nobody\u2019s business, and it was damn hard to pass. It understeered a bit on the main straight and he lifted for a second. I got by him and it was all over. I was very proud of winning that race. I was trying hard. The team (McLaren) was hurt. Its founder, Bruce McLaren, had been killed in a testing accident that spring, and Denis Hulme had had sustained terrible burns at Indianapolis. Denis, in fact, finished 3rd in that race, burned hands and all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Regarding the death of Bruce McLaren, there are other drivers whom we also miss. What do you remember about Jim Clark, for example?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: The best compliment I ever had came from Jimmy\u2019s father. I was at the funeral and we were filing out of the church after the funeral. Jimmy\u2019s father put his hand on my shoulder and said, \u201cAre you Dan Gurney?\u201d I said I was. He said, \u201cStep in here, please,\u201d and he motioned to a door off the corridor. When we were inside he said to me, \u201cLook, you\u2019re the only driver Jimmy ever feared.\u201d I replied, \u201cMr. Clark, Jimmy never feared anything.\u201d He replied, \u201cYes, he did. He feared you on the track.\u201d I broke down and Jimmy\u2019s sister had to console me.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592008\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592008\" style=\"width: 907px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-592008 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"907\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7.jpg 907w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7-100x74.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7-770x572.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p7-293x218.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 907px) 100vw, 907px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-592008\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Stars and Stripes waved proudly over France in 1967 as Ford took and all-American win&#8230; Photo: Ford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: You have introduced a number of technical devices to racing like the wicker bill (otherwise known as the Gurney Flap. \u2013 Ed.). Can you describe any other devices which have come out of your racing experience?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: I was one of the early ones to use the reclining (seating) position. Frank Arciero had the second Lotus 19 ever built. I went to sit in it. I didn\u2019t fit. I said, \u201cCome on. There\u2019s no way. Take the seat out.\u201d I slid down in. \u201cNow we\u2019ll make a seat.\u201d Then, who walks in but Colin Chapman. His eyes zoned in. He went in and started building a F1 car. You don\u2019t want to look like a giraffe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: You retired from driving, some would say, at the peak of your abilities. You also seemed to retire somewhat earlier than your contemporaries. What was the reason for stepping away from the cockpit at that time?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: It\u2019s very easy to give out the wrong impression, but I had done it for 15 years, and I had in more recent times experienced a loneliness at the races. Because the competitors that I had previously looked forward to running with weren\u2019t there anymore. It was a\u2026 you know, that took a lot of the challenge out of it. I even won a race in 1970 where I didn\u2019t feel as though it was much of an accomplishment. It was a Can-Am race.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And I thought to myself, I guess this happens sooner or later. I didn\u2019t want to do it as just a job. I wanted to do it because I really, really was into it 100 percent. The minute there were some doubts about it and it was only 99.5 percent, why I thought, \u201cLet\u2019s pull back.\u201d I mean it was\u2026that\u2019s another way of saying it\u2019s doggoned dangerous, and you can see what it does to a family and that sort of thing, too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Well, I\u2019m sure that\u2019s a lot of the reason why you\u2019re here today and many of your contemporaries are not.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: I knew it was going to happen sooner or later; hopefully, it turned out to be the right step!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: What has been more satisfying for you, your career as a driver or your career as a constructor\/team owner?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Different, different. I think as a driver you are put on a pedestal, for want of a better description. There\u2019s a certain something about it that\u2019s pretty doggoned interesting if you happen to do well. And yet from a technical standpoint\u2026 I mean a driver doesn\u2019t do it without a team, but he is more or less singled out as the recipient of most of the accolades. But from the standpoint of the team achieving things\u2026 well, it more or less says, \u201cHey, there are some things you can do even without drivers in races.\u201d I don\u2019t know which is more satisfying. I think it all changes as you get older and older.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Changing gears a little bit\u2026 how do you stack up the Schumachers and the Hakkinens of this racing era with the Clarks and the Ascaris of the earlier era? Do you think they\u2019re the same\u2014of the same caliber as the older drivers?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: That\u2019s probably a question that requires a long, drawn out\u2026in the end, there isn\u2019t any way to make a fair comparison. I think there\u2019s far more specialization today. There\u2019s far more intimate knowledge, there\u2019s far more\u2026you mentioned having the stopwatches as being part of the first data gathering, and nowadays, I mean, they\u2019ve gone so far beyond that, it\u2019s incredible. And yet you think, at the very foundation with each guy, he\u2019s still a human.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592009\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592009\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-592009 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8-300x184.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8-1024x627.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8-100x61.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8-770x471.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p8-293x179.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-592009\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cWhen you build your own cars, guess where the complaint department is!\u201d Gurney once said of AAR\u2019s 1970 Eagle Indycar offering. Photo: Jim Hatfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: You obviously devoted a large chunk of your career to Toyota and the development of Toyota\u2019s GT, GTP and Champcar programs. While you\u2019ve publicly said, \u201cBusiness is business,\u201d does the loss of your contract with Toyota kind of smack as a betrayal of trust to you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, on one hand, yes. It was unexpected, although it was hinted at. I asked on quite a few occasions, \u201cHow does Toyota go about making policies?\u201d And the answer I got from high up was, \u201cWhen we find out, we\u2019ll let you know.\u201d They like to be seen as a very loyal outfit and, therefore, I\u2019ve lost some faith in that aspect of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You know, it\u2019s a great big company\u2014very powerful\u2014and if you get into, say, a PR contest, you\u2019re going to lose. So, I\u2019ve lost a lot of faith in what I perceive as Toyota, after 16 years, trying really hard. You know, we did the best we could and, politically, I think, we were found wanting, I guess. So I won\u2019t go much beyond that. In some respect I feel as though we\u2019ve escaped.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Well, it\u2019s 2000, you\u2019re somewhat unencumbered by your Champcar program, now. It is time to rise to the nation\u2019s call and finally run for the presidency? You now have the time to actually make a good run at it?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: That\u2019s another vicious arena, isn\u2019t it!?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: When the whole \u201cGurney for President\u201d campaign started back then, it must have been pretty gratifying to have so many people show such support for you, as a person, not just as a driver.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, it was. It was started by David E. Davis at Car and Driver, and was kind of tongue in cheek. But at the time it got quite a bit of notice, and people rallied around. It\u2019s fun to make fun of it. But running for the presidency is a serious matter, you want to be pretty well prepared, and again, it\u2019s like so many things, it takes enormous amounts of money. And it takes a degree of passion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: Finally, if a genie could grant you one racecar, what would be your choice? What would be the one car that you would love to own?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, we have an \u201981 Eagle, and we have a GTP Eagle. We have a GTO Celica. I have a \u201968 Eagle. Those are pretty good cars. We no longer have Formula One cars. Miles Collier has the one that won the Belgium Grand Prix. I\u2019ve always wanted to own a Norton Manx.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_592010\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-592010\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-592010 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9-100x75.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9-770x578.jpg 770w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p9-293x220.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-592010\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gurney contends that had the Weslake engine been ultimately built around the original 500-cc test engine as intended, the Eagle would have had over 450-hp. Ian Welsh Photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: The genie\u2019s there for you, so whatever you want.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: I think one of those pre-war Alfas would be pretty darn nice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>VR: It\u2019s interesting that you wouldn\u2019t pick your own Eagle F1 car. I would have, if I had to answer for you. I would have expected that you\u2019d want your Spa-winning car.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Gurney: Well, I did have it. So it\u2019s up there. But I was thinking of one that would be enjoyable to drive around. I think the Alfa.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/product\/march-2018-vr\/\">Click here to order either the printed version of this issue or a pdf download of the print version.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Gurney is a man whose accomplishments need no introduction. In addition to winning in everything from Formula One to NASCAR, Gurney laid claim to a long and successful career as a team owner, car constructor and truly one of racing\u2019s nicest and most approachable individuals. As a long-time friend of the magazine, VR has had numerous opportunities to speak with Dan on a variety of topics. What follows is a compilation of some of the more insightful discussions we\u2019ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":591963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,18114,18330],"tags":[12551,18323,544,7050,1436,4595,60,65,11893,18435,11766,2827,11600,11382,13578,11881,11387,11455,16462,89,1148,524,11471,604,11795,11784,1782],"class_list":["post-497408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-people","category-profiles-car-culture","tag-aar","tag-2010s-all","tag-alfa-romeo","tag-british-racing-motors","tag-cosworth","tag-eagle","tag-ferrari","tag-ford","tag-mosport","tag-people","tag-a-j-foyt","tag-bruce-mclaren","tag-colin-chapman","tag-dan-gurney","tag-frank-arciero","tag-jackie-oliver","tag-jim-clark","tag-skip-hudson","tag-interview","tag-porsche","tag-24-hours-of-le-mans","tag-daytona","tag-can-am","tag-f1","tag-indycar","tag-nascar","tag-toyota"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dan Gurney<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We compile an insightful selection of our conversations with the legend over the past 20 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/dan-gurney-5\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/dan-gurney-5\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dan Gurney\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We compile an insightful selection of our conversations with the legend over the past 20 years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/dan-gurney-5\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-01T09:55:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-06T02:40:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/INT201803-p2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/dan-gurney-5\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/dan-gurney-5\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Natale\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\"},\"headline\":\"Dan Gurney\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-01T09:55:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-06T02:40:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/dan-gurney-5\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3885,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/dan-gurney-5\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/INT201803-p2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"(AAR) All American Racers\",\"2010s All\",\"Alfa Romeo\",\"BRM\",\"Cosworth\",\"Eagle\",\"Ferrari\",\"Ford\",\"Mosport\",\"People\",\"People (A.J. 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