A sad day for the motorsport community has arrived, following the unfortunate passing of Dan Gurney yesterday from complications of pneumonia at the age of 86.
Gurney raced and won in a variety of series throughout the '60s, including Formula One, Champ Cars, NASCAR, Can-Am, Trans-Am. He also won the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Ford GT40 MkIV, after which he spontaneously began spraying champagne, starting a motorsport tradition.
He raced at a time in motorsport when deaths were all too common and there was very little in terms of safety. Like other drivers of that era he risked his life every time he raced, yet still managed to excel at some of the most difficult and demanding circuits, winning Formula One races at tracks like Spa-Francorchamps and the Solitudering. Interetingly, he was also the first driver to wear a full-face helmet in a Grand Prix, in the 1968 German Grand Prix.
As owner of the team All American Racers, he was equally successful. While perhaps most famously winning in his own car in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, AAR would go on to win the Indianapolis 500 and dominate the IMSA Camel GT championship in the early '90s with the Eagle MkIII. Most recently, AAR was behind the DeltaWing project which competed first at Le Mans in 2012 and later in the ALMS and into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He also invented the Gurney Flap, a small tab attached to a wing that helps to generate more downforce and is still used today, over 40 years later.
Dan Gurney was a true motorsports icon, and his absence will truly be missed in the motorsports community. If you want to visit the AAR website, it can be found here: http://allamericanracers.com/
Note: I understand that individual tributes are not normally allowed, however I believe that this can be classified as an exception given the impact Dan Gurney has made to motor racing.
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