The Official 356Talk Forum

One of the greatest american drivers.
RIP

Godspeed

Dan Gurney was the embodiment of cool American. The pictures of him racing the Porsche GP cars wearing a wool sweater are classics. Also the story of Dan driving the VW at the Bahama races, where he lapped the field, then got disqualified over valve springs. Then, there was the Eagle...

Dan Gurney was my high school hero. We would pack my Nash Rambler full of young gearheads and make the long trek from Palo Alto up to Cotati to watch him embarrass the big-buck Ferraris and Maseratis driven by the more famous drivers of the day. He was in a little borrowed Lotus I think, and his speed thru the infield was so amazing compared to those big lumbering hulks! Dan was really tall and you couldn't miss him as he whizzed by, overflowing from that tiny Lotus. At least these are some of my fuzzy recollections of a really talented young man, who would go on to have such a big impact on the golden era of motorsports. Thanks for the memories, Dan.

You never ever heard anything bad about Dan Gurney. Class, talent, humility, he had it all. I met him when I was around 11 years old at a private Ford meeting held in a back room at the Philadelphia Auto Show. My dad was heading the Ford rally team, not quite on par with Dan, and I was totally star struck when I met him. Another strong memory of that night is walking to our car and seeing and hearing Skip Scott(local gentleman Ford racer) pull away in his 289 Cobra. Those were the days!

Craig Richter wrote:We would pack my Nash Rambler full of young gearheads and make the long trek from Palo Alto up to Cotati

Craig - you're really dating yourself!

Can't help it, Greg. Life is what it is, but it's nice to know that you too remember Ramblers and Cotati!
Health to us all in this new year.

Great picture of Dan on the site opening page. His head is a good 3 or 4 inches above the roll bar - those were brave men back in the day ...

Greg,
+1
One of my best memories is of viewing the Porsche F1 car that Dan drove on display in the Porsche Museum. I wondered how Gurney, being a giant in stature (and racing achievement), would fit into that "little" car. The photo that you posted answers that.
Thanks,
Gary

Sorry to hear that.
I sent him a poster where he was driving a car I own in a Palm Springs race in the 80's.
He signed the poster along with some comments.
This was a couple years ago, great person.

Sad to hear. I last talked to Dan a few years ago at Indy. I knew he was fighting heart problems. He was an incredible driver, car constructor, and team owner. I was lucky enough to drive one of his Eagles at Indy and on the CART circuit. Dan is 2nd from the left in the qualifying photo, we finished 9th that year (1985). One of the many memories I have of Dan; He had a contract with Toyota to help develop their race and street cars. Toyota wanted Dan to stop by Riverside Raceway where they were testing a new mini-van. They wanted Dan's opinion on the new van. Dan arrived and promptly said the design was all wrong. The Japanese engineers were upset and wanted Dan to explain. He didn't say a word, just hopped into the van drove the wrong way down the front straight, turned around accelerated back towards the engineers and at quite a high rate of speed hit the brakes. The van's rear end came off the ground, the front nose dived into the ground sparks flying then settled back on all fours after it stopped. Dan hops out laughing . He made his point. Godspeed Dan.

Gurnery and Holbert at Sebring in the early 60's. From The Dodge Olmsted Racing Collection

Holbert looks amazingly like Shelby.

+1
I guess you had to be there...

Spent a lot of time at Riverside in the 1960's as a teen, remember Gurney and possibly met him. Racing legend. RIP, Dan.