Dan Gurney died the other day, which means something to a certain generation of racing fan, and probably not as much to those not of that generation.
Almost everyone everywhere knows his contemporaries, after all: A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti and Bobby and Al Unser, and maybe even Jim Clark, in the Blob's biased judgment the greatest Formula One driver of all time. Gurney, however, likely doesn't have the same shine of legend about him for the casual fan who wasn't around back in the day.
Which is a shame. Because he should.
He was, arguably, the most influential American racing figure of the 1960s, a man who not only won in every major discipline but designed and built his own iconic American Eagle line of race cars. The most successful American grand prix driver after Andretti, he was the first driver to win an F1 race for Porsche, and the second driver to win one in his own car. He won in Indy cars. He won in NASCAR. He won, with Foyt, the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving the legendary Ford GT40.
A week later, he won the Belgian Grand Prix in the Eagle.
Among American drivers, only Andretti and Foyt won as often in as many disciplines. If he is not remembered by some as being on their footing, therefore, it is their failing, not his.
Just ask that certain generation.
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