Dan Gurney is one of those rare individuals who have achieved success in most realms of the automobile world. The American has feats to his credit as a race car driver, a car manufacturer, as well as a team owner.
Born on April 13th, 1931 in the United States of America, Gurney’s involvement in motor racing started when he became an amateur drag racer and sports car driver after high school. After driving a Ferrari at Le Mans in 1958, the team invited him to test its Formula One car. Following the test, Ferrari offered him a seat for the 1959 season. In four races that year, he secured two podium finishes and secured seventh place in the standings with 13 points. The team's regimental style of working did not suit him so he left the team and joined Owen Racing for the 1960 season. The move turned out to be a disaster as the American driver was unable to score even a single point that year retiring six times out of seven races.
In the following two seasons, Gurney raced for the Porsche team where his performance improved. He finished thrice on the podium and managed to secure a fourth place in the championship in 1961. The next year saw him win his first ever race at the 1962 French Grand Prix. It was also the only Grand Prix win for Porsche as a Formula One constructor. With one more podium that year he managed a fifth place in the standings.Gurney raced for the Brabham team for the next three seasons where he never really stood out as a contender for the title but managed to stay ahead of most drivers and finished on the podium for 10 times which included three race wins.In 1966, Gurney drove for his own team called the Anglo American Racers. The effort was not as successful as he would have liked it to be as the team managed to notch up only two podiums in the three years of its racing both earned by the American. It also included Gurney’s last race win at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. He did not participate in any race in 1969. Thereafter, he retired from Formula One after his last race at the 1970 British Grand Prix.
Dan Gurney never really came close to winning a championship in any of the seasons he raced in Formula One. One of the factors for that was the frequent breakdown of his car when he would be leading a race. Despite of not having a world title to his credit, an instance stands as a testimonial to the American’s racing prowess – at Jim Clark’s funeral, his father James Clark told Gurney that the only driver his son feared on the track was him.
-Rohhan Divanji