Gurney, Dan

[teegeefla]

Hi- I am new to the site and really enjoy it. I am researching some unusual/one-off drives of Dan Gurney, and need some help finding details (such as car #, finishing position, etc) and hopefully photos.

1955 he drove his own Triumph in some local Southern California races

In 1956 he won some races in his own Porsche Speedster; not sure what it looked like

In Sept 957 he won a Production race in a Corvette owned by Cal Bailey; believe it was #4

In Sept 1958 at Watkins Glen he finished second to Bonnier in #3, a Ferrari 290MM; it was NART owned but not sure if red or blue

May 1958 he had one drive at Tracy, CA in the John Edgar Maserati 450S; it was #198

Feb 1960 he raced a Team Camoradi Maserati 200, #15 at the Cuban GP; not sure if it was in the usual Camoradi white w/blue stripes

late 1962 he may or may not have driven a Lotus 23 in a couple of sports car races in England; I have found conflicting info

In early 1963 he drove a Lotus 23 at Nassau Speedweeks; no further info

In June 1963 he drove a Cooper Monaco Ford at the Players 200 at Mosport; car #44, not sure what it looked like

In March 1964 he drove a Lotus Cortina in the Sebring 4-hour race as a teammate to Jim Clark

Finally, in May 1964 he drove a lightweight Jaguar E-type at Silverstone in a support race for the British GP; it was the car w/4WPD registration but i have no idea on its number.


I realize this is quite a list, so any help on any of these entries would be greatly appreciated. If you would prefer to use e-mail, please do so.

[thunder road]

the simplist way would be to contact Dan Gurney or his staff 'pr' person,www.allamericanracers.com, I had a lot of help from this avenue, very helpfull/ passionate people.

[flatlander_48]

He also had a '63 (I think) Ford Fairlane built up in the UK with a lot of Holman-Moody and Ford heavy duty parts. Gurney used the car for a few saloon races.

[teegeefla]

I tried AAR first, but the request was considered too time consuming and I was told that some info may come out in a possible book planned for sometime in the future, and that I should do my research on the internet (which is how I got the info in the first place). Not much help from them unfortunately, although very polite.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

The 1963 Player's 200 Programme shows a Lotus 19 (#5) entry driven by Chuck Daigh for Arciero Bros. Racing, not Gurney and no #44 car.

[Ol'_Motorhead]

Oops,I stand corrected. I was at the race but after 40+ years, the memory fades!|| The race report in Track & Traffic states "time was allowed Saturday for late arrivals Gurney, Clark, ..." and " Gurney ... in the red Tim Mayer-owned Cooper Monaco." He came a close third (1.5 sec.) behind Jim Hall and winner Chuch Daigh. There's a couple of photos of #44 in the article. Cheers.

[Neptune]

There is a photo of the Camorada Birdcage in a full page ad in a recent issue of Motorsport or Classic & Sportscar as it was just auctioned.

There are other photos of the car in several books on LeMans, such as "Americans at LeMAns" and "LeMans, 1923-'73", I'm guessing the dates in that title, but there are photos and it appears to be white w/ blue stripe.

Roger

[John Turner]

Dan Gurney was born at Port Jefferson, New Jersey on 13 April 1931.

He competed in 86 Grand Prix, winning 4 of them - 1962 French, 1964 French and Mexican and the 1967 Belgian. The last he won in the beautiful Eagle Gurney Weslake V12, with which he also won the race of Champions at Brands Hatch that year. Despite the above results, his best placing in the World Championship was earlier, in 1961, when he finished 3rd.

Sports car wins include 1959 Sebring 12 hours, 1960 Nurburgring 1000kms and 1967 Le Mans 24 hours.

He had several Indycar wins:-

1967 - Riverside,
1968 - Mosport Park Races 1 & 2, Riverside
1969 - Indianapolis Raceway Park Race 1, Brainerd Race 2
1970 - Sears Point

Jim Clark is reputed to have rated Gurney as his sternest opposition.

[Adam Ruddle]

In 1961 Gurney raced a 409 Chevy Impala in a couple of UK saloon races.
I think it was Silverstone and Brands. He led one until the wheel studs broke and was excluded from the other 'cos the car didn't have the necessary papers to prove it was running in production spec.
Adam

[Wolfi]

Feb 1960 he raced a Team Camoradi Maserati 200, #15 at the Cuban GP; not sure if it was in the usual Camoradi white w/blue stripes


Car was red as it was a private Maserati 200SI on loan from a friend of Lucky Casner, J J Packo. Chassis number #2427.

Regards

Wolfi

[bauble]

A good friend was at Brands Hatch when the Indi cars raced on the short circuit
(can't remember details at the moment), Eric was talking to Dan in the pits when a historic fighter plane made a pass over the circuit. On hearing the aircraft Dan leapt onto the pit counter and, shouted "Spitfire!"
Behind him panic ensued as mechanics grabbed fire extinguishers to put out the 'pits fire'.

Dan looked back and muttered "You fools!"