Dan Gurney – Continued | Dan Gurney's All American Racers

Dan Gurney - Continued

By the time Dan retired from active driving in 1970, he had raced in 312 events in 20 countries with 51 different makes (more than 100 different models ) of cars winning 51 races, and 47 podiums.

Among his most important victories: 7 Formula One races (four Grand Prix World Championship events), 7 Indy Car races, 5 NASCAR Winston Cup stockcar races (all 500 mile races in Riverside, California), and two second place finishes at the "Indy 500".

Additionally he captured wins in Trans-Am, Can-Am and Sports car races including the endurance classics at the Nuerburgring, Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. He claimed 42 career pole positions and started on the front row of the grid an additional an astonishing 58 times! see “Gurney Statistics” and the many "races that got away", i.e. those that Dan was leading - often by a considerable margin - but could not finish due to mechanical problems, made him almost as famous and popular as his wins.

In the 1960s the technical reliability of race cars was by no means what it is today, on average not more than 30% of the cars entered were around when the chequered flag fell.

His versatility behind the wheel combined with his curiosity to find out what racing in the top echelon of various racing series was like, made Dan the first driver to post victories in the four major motorspsorts categories: Grand Prix, Indy Car, NASCAR and Sports Cars.

To this day he is one of only three drivers in history (the other being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya) who have accomplished that. From all the great victories one stands above all the others: Dan’s win of the 1967 Grand Prix of Belgium in an Eagle Gurney-Weslake V12. It was and remains the first and only time that an American citizen built and raced a car of his own construction and put it into the winner’s circle of a World Championship F1 race.

While his second and third career as a race car manufacturer of the Eagles as well as team owner of AAR started while he was still actively driving, it went into full gear upon his retirement in 1970. At that time he bought out AAR co-founder Carroll Shelby and has been sole owner, chairman and CEO of the company ever since. AAR has been designing and manufacturing race cars with great success during the last 30 years, winning 8 Championships and capturing 78 victories and 83 pole positions, including the Indy 500 and the 12 hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Daytona. 66 drivers from around the globe have been employed at AAR between the years 1965 and 2000, the last one being Dan's son Alex Gurney who raced in the Atlantic Series.

Eagles bought by customers raced on the Indy circuit and Formula A/5000 circuit with great success, capturing numerous victories, most notably the Indy 500 twice with Bobby Unser in 1968 and Gordon Johncock in 1973, plus 3 Championships in Indy Cars and Formula A. All American Racers built 157 Eagles, many of them are beautifully restored and exhibited in private collections as well as museums here and abroad.