Dan Gurneys Eagle Racing Cars
Hide TextThe Technical History of the Machines Designed and Built by All American Racers
If Dan Gurney had never driven a racing car, his name would still belong in the pantheon of American motorsports as the constructor of a stunning variety of beautiful racing cars, designed, built, and campaigned by his company, All American Racers of Santa Ana, California.
An impressive 157 Gurney Eagles were built between 1965 and 2000 for AAR’s own racing team and for customers. Eagles won on the Formula 1 circuit, at the Indianapolis 500, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of Daytona, as well as in many national and international championships in open-wheel and sports-car racing.
Whenever they appeared on the racing scene, Gurney’s cars were a force to be reckoned with...
In Dan Gurney’s Eagle Racing Cars: The Technical History of the Machines Designed and Built by All American Racers, the cars are the stars. Each model AAR produced is profiled in extensive technical detail accompanied by in-depth commentary from Dan Gurney and the designers of the various eras.
Featured cars include the purebred Eagles such as the history making Grand Prix car, the furious Indianapolis machines of the 1960’s and 1070’s, and the all-conquering MKIII GTP Prototype of the 1990’s. Also explored in depth are the Eagles with mixed pedigrees such as the wild Can-Am McLeagle, the enormously popular Trans-Am AAR Cudas, and the championship winning Toyota Celicas.
Eagles were built to win, but they also possessed a distinctive aesthetic style that adds to their appeal. Their gorgeous paint schemes, distinctive “beaks,” and other signature Eagle design elements made an artistic statement that dazzled competitors and fans alike.
Throughout this book, author John Zimmermann details how each Eagle made us of new design ideas, materials, and technical innovations, and how the lessons learned from one car were passed on to the next. He also explains how changes in regulations, sponsorships, and personnel have shaped AAR’s performance through the years. Told form the inside, this is the definitive account of one of the great marques in American and International motor racing.
About the Author:
John Zimmermann was exposed to racing at birth. His father worked for famed race car builder Kurtis Kraft, and later as a mechanic at Indianapolis and on the championship trail for drivers such as Red Mays, Ted Horn and Troy Ruttman.
John has written about racing for more than 25 years, first at RACECAR before helping found both ON TRACK and RACER, overseeing the latter for a dozen years. He was also motorsports editor at AutoWeek and editor of SportsCar, and his book The Atlantic Championship celebrates the first 25 years of Formula Atlantic. His freelance work has appeared in Road & Track, Motor Sport, Autosport, and Vintage Motorsports, among other publications