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NO SPORT BEATS AUTO RACING
when it comes to throwing a victory party.
You can have the NFL in December. The games usually are played about 100
yards south of the North Pole, and what happens to the winning coach after
a big game? He gets an ice-cold Gatorade shower – probably not his idea
of a good time.
Auto racers, on the other hand, have this celebration thing mastered.
After sweating it out in a fire retardant suit and a steamy cockpit for a
couple of hours, they let loose by spraying bottles of expensive champagne
at each other. The spraying, of course, comes after the racers have taken
a few swigs of the precious grape.
Bet you thought this tradition was as old as the sport itself, and that it
probably was started by some mustachioed driver named Pierre who was
wearing a flowing, white scarf. Well the setting was France, but the
tradition is relatively new and was initiated by an American. In 1967
Daniel Sexton Gurney, one of the greatest American drivers ever, first let
the champagne fly.
Back then, the big news was the battle between the powerful Fords and the
sophisticated Ferraris in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race.
"It was a magical time," says the 65-year-old Gurney whose
California surfer looks are still intact. "I think that was one of
the great eras for Le Mans".
"The fact that a bunch of Yanks, along with Ford Motor Co., were
officially coming to the Le Mans 24-hour race was a high-water mark.
Ferrari had put forth a real effort to blow them back across the Atlantic
if they could."
A squadron of six Fords was assembled to knock the Italian team off its
throne. Gurney was teamed with A.J. Foyt, who was better known as an
oval-track master than a road racer, and they garnered no respect from
their teammates. In fact, the duo was nicknamed "Chalk and
Cheese." "I think A.J. and I were voted the least likely to
succeed," Gurney says.
In the end, however, they were the last Ford remaining in the race, and
they toppled the fabled Ferraris with a record average speed of 136 mph.
Pandemonium broke out as the winners were ushered to a special, raised
platform to receive their trophy.
"Mr. Henry Ford was up there with his wife and entourage, and below
was a sea of lenses. Everyone sensed it was a particularly special
victory," Gurney says. "You get one of these big bottles of
champagne, and I thought, "This is so terrific, there's something I
could do. How about sharing it with the photographers? They probably
wouldn't mind if they had a taste, a little part of the moment."
"I was beyond caring, and I just got caught up in the moment. It was
one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments where things turned out to be
right. You don't re-create those moments, but a hard-fought victory needs
something."
Inspired, Gurney shook the bottle and let the gusher flow – and a new
tradition was born.
The Le Mans victory came eight days before Gurney won Formula One's Belgian
Grand Prix in a car produced by his company, All American Racers. The two
wins marked one of the most remarkable stretches in the history of auto
racing.
Gurney retired from driving in 1970 but remained in the business,
manufacturing the most successful Indy car of the 1970s, the All American
Eagle. He temporarily dropped out of the sport in the mid-1980s due to
lack of sponsorship, then started from the bottom again by agreeing to run
the sports car program for Toyota in the IMSA series.
In typical Gurney fashion, he began with the lowest-powered cars and
quickly worked his way up through the ranks. The champagne flowed freely
in the early 1990s, as his Toyota team became the dominant force in GT-prototype
racing, which was the top IMSA division before being discontinued after
the 1993 season.
Gurney's All American Racers returned to IndyCar this year with drivers
Juan Manuel Fangio II, nephew of five-time FI champion Juan Manuel Fangio,
and PJ Jones, son of longtime Gurney rival Parnelli Jones. Although the
team is powered by Toyota engines that are designed and manufactured in
Japan, it uses the series only American-built chassis.
With rookie drivers and unproven equipment, Gurney is having a tough year
in Indy Car – but he isn't worried. After all, he's been in this
position before. "It's a great challenge," he says. "As a
team, we relish the opportunity to spray more of that stuff."
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