Dan Gurney

Dan Gurney

Gurney in 1970
Born	(1931-04-13) April 13, 1931 (age 85) Port Jefferson, New York, US
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1959–1968, 1970
Teams	Ferrari, BRM, Porsche, Lotus, Brabham, Eagle, McLaren
Entries	87 (86 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	4
Podiums	19
Career points	133
Pole positions	3
Fastest laps	6
First entry	1959 French Grand Prix
First win	1962 French Grand Prix
Last win	1967 Belgian Grand Prix
Last entry	1970 British Grand Prix

Dan Gurney
Gurney's 1963 Riverside 500 car.
Born	Port Jefferson, New York
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
16 races run over 10 years
Best finish	Unranked
First race	1962 Daytona Duel 1 (Daytona)
Last race	1980 Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
First win	1963 Riverside 500 (Riverside)
Last win	1968 Motor Trend 500 (Riverside)
Wins Top tens Poles 5 8 10

Daniel Sexton Gurney (born April 13, 1931) is a retired American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958.

The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, but moved to California as a teenager.

Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney is the first of three drivers to have won races in Sports Cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy Car (1967) (the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya). In 1967, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with A.J. Foyt, he spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium. Apart from starting this tradition, he also was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. At the 1968 German Grand Prix he became the first driver ever to use a full face helmet in Grand Prix racing.

Dan Gurney's father, Jack Gurney, was a graduate of Harvard Business school with a master's degree. He was discovered to have a beautiful voice and changed his career path to become a prominent singer with the Metropolitan Opera in New York who retired in 1947 and moved the family to Riverside, California when Dan was a teenager. Dan's three uncles were each MIT engineers. His grandfather was F.W. Gurney who was responsible for the invention of the Gurney Ball Bearing. After moving to California, young Dan quickly became caught up in the California hot rod culture. At age 19, he built and raced a car that went 138 miles per hour (mph) (222 kilometres per hour [km/h]) at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He then became an amateur drag racer and sports car racer. He served in the United States Army as an artillery mechanic during the Korean War.