kb58 said:A friend of mine said that Gurney may well have been the last person on Earth that, on his own: designed, built, and drove his own F1 car - and won. Is that true, was he the last of the great engineer/constructor/drivers?
There were some like Chris Amon,Arturo Merzario etc in the 70s but none of these were competitive
kb58 said:A friend of mine said that Gurney may well have been the last person on Earth that, on his own: designed, built, and drove his own F1 car - and won. Is that true, was he the last of the great engineer/constructor/drivers?
He was a contemporary of Bruce McLaren, who did build and drive his own F1 car, and won a race in it in 1968, but it was designed by someone else. Fun fact, according to the wiki, Bruce had some outings in the Gurney/Weslake in 1967 and Dan drove for the McLaren team after Bruce's death in 1970. We won't see his like in the sport again, not in this era.. RIP
06HHR said:kb58 said:A friend of mine said that Gurney may well have been the last person on Earth that, on his own: designed, built, and drove his own F1 car - and won. Is that true, was he the last of the great engineer/constructor/drivers?
He was a contemporary of Bruce McLaren, who did build and drive his own F1 car, and won a race in it in 1968, but it was designed by someone else. Fun fact, according to the wiki, Bruce had some outings in the Gurney/Weslake in 1967 and Dan drove for the McLaren team after Bruce's death in 1970. We won't see his like in the sport again, not in this era.. RIP
Well the eagle was aswell,Len terry designed it .
Here's the back of my mighty Minivan---- taken today.
What impresses me most about Mr. Gurney isn't his on track accomplishments, or his incredibly innovative mind. What sticks with me is that he never burned bridges. EVERYONE has nice things to say about him. I've met a lot of people who were friendly with Dan, and they all say the same thing-----what an awesome human being he was. He did things the right way, and proved that you can be a huge success and a fantastic person at the same time. To me, that says more about the man than any race wins, or trophies. RIP Mr. Gurney. You were an inspiration, and a hero to many!
kb58 said:A friend of mine said that Gurney may well have been the last person on Earth that, on his own: designed, built, and drove his own F1 car - and won. Is that true, was he the last of the great engineer/constructor/drivers?
Plus, it was one of prettiest F1 cars ever.
Dan Gurney was a great American, a great man, a great racer, engineer, and businessman. And he was a perfect gentleman, always. I know from experience. I posted my thoughts about him awhile ago in this thread. But now the comments about him are beginning to show up in the printed media. Autoweek had a nice tribute to Dan, with him on the cover and a nice article inside. But I'd have to say, R&T's Sam Smith, writer extroidinarre, outdid himself with his tribute. It brought tears to my eyes because I revered this man so much:
RIP Dan. You were a fantastic American.
On the F1 Eagle:
"If you have the chance to make something beautiful, and you don’t, well, what does that say about you?" - Dan Gurney
(I loved the recent picture at the end of the Sam Smith article of Dan and wife Evi at the Goodwood Revival with Lord March, arms folded, looking on approvingly. It's priceless).
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