Dan Gurney RIP

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...

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.

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...

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.”