Posts: 261
Joined: 12/29/2014
Location: Eagle, ID USA
A true legend in American Motorsport - automobiles and motorcycles.
F1, IndyCar, LeMans, Daytona, IMSA, Can-Am, Trans-Am...he won in all.
Strong links to motocross as well - Montesa distributor and recently built David Bailey’s RAAM bike
http://allamericanracers.com/aar-creates-some-new-vehicles/
Posts: 24853
Joined: 7/22/2007
Location: Portland, OR USA
Oh man this sucks to hear. Dan was a legend like you said above , in many forms of motorsports. His name has been around for as long as I can remember. RIP Dan.
And there goes Jeffro. One of God's own prototypes. A super high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
Pimpin' Ho's , Rollin' fatty's......drinkin' beers , beers , beers!! ~ Ja
Posts: 1963
Joined: 8/17/2006
Location: Huntington Beach, CA USA
Posts: 2518
Joined: 8/20/2006
Location: Menifee, CA USA
Posts: 1751
Joined: 2/18/2017
Location: Antioch, CA USA
Very sorry to hear that. He was an absolute Legend a giant. Won a Formula One race in an American car of his own design. Invented the spraying of champagne in the Winner's Circle. He could drive anything. One of the best of all time. R.I.P Dan, say hi to Fangio and Ascari.
Posts: 3134
Joined: 8/16/2006
Location: Vista, CA USA
Saw him win the NASCAR race at Riverside 5 out of 6 years as a child. Amazing as he was winning at F1, Can Am, Trans Am and Indy cars at the same time. To me this guy was the greatest auto racer of all time. And yes he did have strong ties to Motorcycles
His son Justin races vintage MX here in So Cal and while he was well you would see Dan n the pits. One of the nicest and brightest people to ever grace this earth
Posts: 4585
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: Palmdale, CA USA
You can thank Dan Gurney the next time your too close to the podium and get sprayed with champagne, he invented the podium champagne spray.
RIP Dan Gurney
Posts: 24853
Joined: 7/22/2007
Location: Portland, OR USA
Hey guys....didn't Dan's son post here at one time? It dawned on me a bit ago and thought I remembered a guy on here saying Dan was his dad. Maybe it was a nephew?
And there goes Jeffro. One of God's own prototypes. A super high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
Pimpin' Ho's , Rollin' fatty's......drinkin' beers , beers , beers!! ~ Ja
Posts: 821
Joined: 3/23/2017
Location: DEU
Edited Date/Time:
RIP
Nice article about his F1 racing achievements:
http://en.f1i.com/news/290104-racing-icon-f1-legend-dan-gurney-dies-86.html
Posts: 1141
Joined: 4/1/2008
Location: UT, USA
Dan Gurney's shop built the carbon-fiber hand-cycles that David Bailey and Doug Henry used in last year's Race Across America. With all of the custom work and man-hours devoted to building these two machines, they were valued at about $70.000 each.
Bailey and Henry, of course, teamed up with Jeff Ward and Micky Dymond. With Ward and Dymond on standard bicycles, the 4-person team powered themselves the 3,089 miles from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland in seven days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes…an average speed was 16.33mph. They finished second in their category (four-person 50-59 team), about four hours behind a team all competing on regular bikes.
Bailey was obviously thrilled at his RAAM outcome and about his Gurney Racing machine. Asked at the finish if he sees more ultra-cycling events in his future he said, “I’m going to keep those options open. I’ve got an incredible bike now, and I’m not going to just let it sit and collect dust. I’m going to ride it and stay fit enough because it’s good for my lifestyle. Doug said, “This is a lifestyle change. Thanks for getting me into this.’ That’s one of the things I really wanted to promote. Besides helping injured riders for Road2Recovery, just people in general. If we can get anybody out to ride, that’s a good thing. I don’t think I’ve ever come back from a ride, short or long, and thought, ‘Well that was a waste of time.’ I always feel better.”
At that moment Bailey was called away to join his teammates in spraying some champagne to celebrate. “And by the way,” he said, just before rolling away, “Dan Gurney started that tradition at LeMans back in ’67. They handed the champagne to him and A.J. Foyt, and Gurney decided to spray it and now everybody does. And now I’m going to go and do just that.”
Posts: 665
Joined: 10/12/2008
Location: California, CA USA
Posts: 518
Joined: 10/21/2016
Location: San Antonio, TX USA
A pure racer, just like A.J. Foyt. True American Badass. May he rest in peace.
You kids get off my lawn!
2013 KTM450 Factory Edition
Projects......lots of projects!
Posts: 312
Joined: 8/27/2016
Location: OR, USA
Well, the passing of an absolute legend.... The amount that man contributed to motorsports worldwide is hard to quantify, but he left a mark that will be seen forever.
RIP, what a life he lived.
Posts: 293
Joined: 5/21/2010
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Love reading these posts honoring and remembering Dan Gurney. Vital forum at its best. Thanks for educating us guys who didn't know how wide the great man's range was.
Posts: 641
Joined: 5/27/2017
Location: Huntington Beach, CA USA
Posts: 4152
Joined: 9/21/2011
Location: Sacramento, CA USA
Posts: 115
Joined: 1/1/2012
Location: Huntington Beach, CA USA
Absolutely devastated. Been my boss for 19 years. His passion for motorsports has led our company from 4 wheels to 2 wheels to 3 wheels, space and beyond. He allowed us to work on crazy projects when work was slow even if they were personal. He was in the shop everyday even as last Monday. I started working at AAR in 1998 during the Champ Car days from there i started working with Dan building 70HP fuel injected Honda XR650l air cooled motors for his Alligator motorcycles. We would think of different Cams and Crank percentages and piston speeds get it made and tested on the dyno within two weeks. I learned so much from him.
I cant type anymore. Sorry.
Posts: 261
Joined: 12/29/2014
Location: Eagle, ID USA
Deek22 wrote:
Absolutely devastated. Been my boss for 19 years. His passion for motorsports has led our company from 4 wheels to 2 wheels to 3 wheels, space and beyond. He allowed us to work on crazy projects when work was slow even if they were personal. He was in the shop everyday even as last Monday. I started working at AAR in 1998 during the Champ Car days from there i started working with Dan building 70HP fuel injected Honda XR650l air cooled motors for his Alligator motorcycles. We would think of different Cams and Crank percentages and piston speeds get it made and tested on the dyno within two weeks. I learned so much from him.
I cant type anymore. Sorry.
My condolences. Rex.
Posts: 261
Joined: 12/29/2014
Location: Eagle, ID USA
Posts: 261
Joined: 12/29/2014
Location: Eagle, ID USA
Bigfoot wrote:
Dan Gurney's shop built the carbon-fiber hand-cycles that David Bailey and Doug Henry used in last year's Race Across America. With all of the custom work and man-hours devoted to building these two machines, they were valued at about $70.000 each.
Bailey and Henry, of course, teamed up with Jeff Ward and Micky Dymond. With Ward and Dymond on standard bicycles, the 4-person team powered themselves the 3,089 miles from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland in seven days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes…an average speed was 16.33mph. They finished second in their category (four-person 50-59 team), about four hours behind a team all competing on regular bikes.
Bailey was obviously thrilled at his RAAM outcome and about his Gurney Racing machine. Asked at the finish if he sees more ultra-cycling events in his future he said, “I’m going to keep those options open. I’ve got an incredible bike now, and I’m not going to just let it sit and collect dust. I’m going to ride it and stay fit enough because it’s good for my lifestyle. Doug said, “This is a lifestyle change. Thanks for getting me into this.’ That’s one of the things I really wanted to promote. Besides helping injured riders for Road2Recovery, just people in general. If we can get anybody out to ride, that’s a good thing. I don’t think I’ve ever come back from a ride, short or long, and thought, ‘Well that was a waste of time.’ I always feel better.”
At that moment Bailey was called away to join his teammates in spraying some champagne to celebrate. “And by the way,” he said, just before rolling away, “Dan Gurney started that tradition at LeMans back in ’67. They handed the champagne to him and A.J. Foyt, and Gurney decided to spray it and now everybody does. And now I’m going to go and do just that.”
Posts: 1201
Joined: 3/17/2015
Location: VA, USA
Posts: 4152
Joined: 9/21/2011
Location: Sacramento, CA USA
Posts: 33139
Joined: 7/10/2006
Location: Aliso Viejo, CA USA
Administrator
Posts: 1068
Joined: 11/6/2009
Location: Steamboat Springs, CO USA
Deek22 wrote:
Absolutely devastated. Been my boss for 19 years. His passion for motorsports has led our company from 4 wheels to 2 wheels to 3 wheels, space and beyond. He allowed us to work on crazy projects when work was slow even if they were personal. He was in the shop everyday even as last Monday. I started working at AAR in 1998 during the Champ Car days from there i started working with Dan building 70HP fuel injected Honda XR650l air cooled motors for his Alligator motorcycles. We would think of different Cams and Crank percentages and piston speeds get it made and tested on the dyno within two weeks. I learned so much from him.
I cant type anymore. Sorry.
Horrible horrible news. One of the best jobs I ever had was working with you guys. Still not sure I made the right choice to leave. I have so much respect for Dan Gurney, AAR and everything it stands for and has accomplished throughout the years. Such an amazing human. So sorry.
Posts: 2513
Joined: 12/9/2006
Location: Ontario, CA USA
Posts: 2513
Joined: 12/9/2006
Location: Ontario, CA USA
Posts: 8519
Joined: 11/3/2010
Location: AUS
RIP legend... I just lost my Nan today. She passed away in her sleep at home in Belgium. She was 91.
She's reunited with my pop, dad, and one of my uncles now.
Posts: 500
Joined: 3/23/2011
Location: Gigantic, COK
Deek22 wrote:
Absolutely devastated. Been my boss for 19 years. His passion for motorsports has led our company from 4 wheels to 2 wheels to 3 wheels, space and beyond. He allowed us to work on crazy projects when work was slow even if they were personal. He was in the shop everyday even as last Monday. I started working at AAR in 1998 during the Champ Car days from there i started working with Dan building 70HP fuel injected Honda XR650l air cooled motors for his Alligator motorcycles. We would think of different Cams and Crank percentages and piston speeds get it made and tested on the dyno within two weeks. I learned so much from him.
I cant type anymore. Sorry.
RIP Dan Gurney
I remember those 1998 CART cars and the "Eagle" chassis as a kid, they looked cool. Toyota was getting into the series then and I think Dan's team was their main effort.
Posts: 195
Joined: 4/3/2017
Location: Grinnell, IA USA
Posts: 3262
Joined: 6/24/2014
Location: Charlotte, NC USA
Dan Gurney gave Brian Lunniss a home when he left two wheels for four. Godspeed, Dan.
Positively, absolutely 110% obsessed with anything MOTO.
