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I have Dan’s autograph. He has always been one of my racing hero’s. Gurney won in Formula One, Indycar, NASCAR, Can-Am, and the Trans-Am series. In 1958 he was the first driver ever to use a full-face helmet in F1.
I first saw Dan race at the 1961 24 Hours of LeMans in the 2-liter sports class with a 1700cc Porsche coupe teamed with the Swedish driver Jo Bonnier, during Dan's first full season on the Porsche factory team. The following year, 1962, at LeMans I watch he and Bonnier in a Ferrari 250 TRI/61 that retired in the 4th hour due to a gearbox failure. I then watched Dan at the Indianapolis 500 time trials from 1963 through 1967. 1967 was a highlight year when on consecutive Sundays Dan Gurney won in F1 with his own car, the Eagle. The only American ever to win in an American car! The prior Sunday he had won at LeMans with AJ Foyt in a Ford GT40 Mk IV and spontaneously sprayed champagne celebrating on the podium; a tradition that carries on today.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Gurney's driving ability, however, was paid by the father of Scottish World Champion Jim Clark when the elder Clark took Gurney aside at his son's funeral in 1968 and confided that he was the only driver Clark had ever feared on the track.
Some of you may remember the nationalistic fervor that led to Car and Driver magazine to endorse Gurney as its candidate for President starting in 1964. For the sum of $1, C&D would send you a bumper sticker and campaign button.
I could take up pages about Dan’s contribution to the sport but I’ll just leave you with one 'condensed' story from an out-of-production magazine Sports Car International about how two walk-ons got into the big time ...... In the fall of 1956 the SoCal Club racing circus arrived to race at Santa Barbara’s landing strip as they had prior years. MGs, Jags, Porsches and a gaggle of others like Oscas, plus the one marque that promised to develop its own marque - -Ferrari. Skip Hudson and Dan, a couple small-time kids from Riverside, could only dream of driving a prancing horse. At the time Tony Parravano was the God father of Ferrari in the USA. Tony had Enzo Ferrari’s ear because he could offer positions to Italian’s in his vast construction business. During WWII Tony built 18,000 homes for defense workers in Inglewood and after the war housing took off geometrically. In 1956 Tony had a mind-boggling collection of 30 Ferrari’s!
For some post-race refreshment after the 1956 SCCA event in Santa Barbara, Tony and his entourage retired to a lounge in Goleta. Gurney and Hudson, who that day had campaigned Hudson’s Porsche speedster to victory in E-production, also headed to the same lounge. They had heard Tony, with his vast fleet, was about to conduct driver tryouts. Brash 18-year old Skip strode over to the liquor-emboldened circle of ace racers and announced he thought Dan and he should be given a tryout! Keep in mind Tony was sitting there with the likes of Sam Hanks, an Indy 500 fixture. Naturally, Tony’s response was “Get outta here.” Hudson stuck to his guns and offered some cash to substantiate his boast. Hanks responded “Kid, you don’t have enough money.” As a deflated Hudson turned he was cheered by a voice from the bar by a supporter who said “I’ll put my money on Skip! Put up your money!” Hanks showed reluctance. Hudson retreated to a cheerful Gurney saying “Way to go.”
Believing that may have paved the way (not really), the pair showed up the following week at Willow Springs. When Parravano spied them he pointedly ignored their repeated pleas for a test. He had been at the track for several days evaluating known hotshoes from the Indy ranks. Phil Hill had set a new track record that was Tony’s targeted benchmark. Finally he reluctantly agreed if they drove a leisurely pace. Gurney went out first in a Ferrari Mondial driving slow enough to be of little interest to anyone else in the pits. While Tony and his assistants focus on other drivers in his cars, Gurney continued to gain speed but just as he bettered Hill’s time (in a 4-banger vs. Hill’s twincam 6 cylinder) Hudson watch Dan go off track and kick up a storm of dust. Dan snuck back into the pits wondering if anyone else had seen it. When Tony walked up to the pair he could see the ever widening lake of gasoline from a fuel tank crack when Gurney hit a rock - - a rock that Gurney keeps on his desk to this day. Naturally Tony exploded with a fury of expletives that came down to “Your no good. You’re out of it!”
Hudson figured his chances were done but approached Tony again and was told “You guys talks big, then you wrecka the car!”. Quick thinking Hudson appealed to Tony’s other side and said, “Look, what’s happened is Dan deal. What about my deal? Besides, my mother’s a full-blooded Italian . . . so you better give me a chance.” Miraculously, it worked. Skip passed up all the Ferrari’s and selected a “birdcage” Maserati just to be contrary and the fact he loved the lines of the car. As he later said, “They look good; they do something for your soul.” (I couldn’t agree more; always one of my dream cars.) Skip realized Tony was no longer distracted and was focused totally on him while sitting on the pit wall. So Skip pussy-footed past the pits on every single lap. What he did elsewhere was flying, especially through turn nine which he knew could be taken in a lower reving higher gear but faster. Even though he waved or nodded at Tony at each pass the charade was over when he was under Hill’s time two laps in a row. Parravano was beet red and screaming, “Goddamma SOB! You’re justa like him. Goddamma lap record, two seconds quicker than Phil Hill!” Even then, Hudson couldn’t help blurting out he could have gone two seconds faster. “Bullshit, I donna believe it!”
Astounded by the impudence and audacity of this pair of walk-on’s and nobodies, Tony realized they had quite thoroughly and convincingly thrashed all the high-priced talent that Parravano had meticulously assembled and tested day after day. He turned around, walked back to them, and invited them to join him that night at his motel for dinner and drinks.
Tony announced Skip Hudson would drive for him, and Dan Gurney would help; maybe Dan would drive soon, too. Neither Hudson nor Gurney would ever look back again. At their first outing Hudson started 64th out of 70 entrants and sliced his way to 3rd place when the Club black flagged him. The sporty-car crowd was unprepared for the brashness of his assault. Hudson would continue to make a name for himself in a Speedster and Gurney would join him on the stand, first with a Triumph TR2 and then with a Speedster. Both would go on to give solid accounts of themselves in big Ferraris and early Group 7 cars. Skip never made the international splash Dan did but they teamed together when Skip became a manager at All American Racers.
RIP Dan, you were one of the greatest of all time.
Nice post, Dave! Dan Gurney was also a class act! RIP! Back in the early sixties I followed him mostly through the radio coverage of Indy and in Formula 1, when hey were driving real cars.
01-14-2018, 04:39 PM
