I used to read Road & Track magazine when I was a teenager and follow the Formula One GP circuit and European Sports car racing through reading the always entertaining and well written articles of Henry N. Manney lll. My favourite racers of the 1960's, were in no particular order...Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney.
All wonderful drivers and all...gentlemen.
A couple stories about Mr. Gurney that I recall, include how Ford had to put a bubble in the roof of the cabin of his LeMans' winning Ford GT 40...to accommodate his tall stature...6'3" I believe. He needed the extra room in order that his head...mit Bell Magnum helmet could fit into the cockpit of this sports racing car.
Another anecdote took place in 1961 or '62 I believe. The car he used to drive to the different Formula One circuits in Europe was a '61 Chevrolet Impala with one of the early 409 cubic inch V8 engines, an engine legendary in both power and song. Remember the Beach Boys..My 4-0-9...she's real fine ?
Well that was the engine.
Anyways Dan entered his transportation for the F1 circuit into one of the big sedan (saloon ?) races in the UK. These were mostly won by Jaguars, etc...and this might of been one of the first races in Europe where a big engined American car was entered...except of course for the Cadillac (Briggs Cunningham) raced at LeMans early in the '50's.
Anyways Dan piloting the 409 jumped to the lead and led most of the race...using his undoubted skill and the 409 power... till at almost the end of the race a wheel broke. There was another race scheduled a few days later, Dan had ordered some heavy duty GM wheels used with police/taxi packages...but his car was disqualified because according to the racing governing body, the replacement wheels were not 'stock'. The wheels were optional on Chevies...so ...
Also I have heard that Dan was the first racer to shake the champagne bottle and spray it...think he did this first at a LeMans race he won in the late '60's.
Sad to see him go. What a racer. Also a fine man from what I read/heard over the years. He will be missed. RIP Dan.
