Dan Gurney

Today is Dan Gurney‘s 80th birthday.

Normally I wouldn’t blog about such an event. – but to me it is significant. Not only is Dan a key figure in motor racing history – after all, he is credited with being the first driver to wear a full face helmet and he was the first person to spontaneously spray champagne at the end of a race in celebration at the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours (above).

He never quite set the world alight with his results, although he was the first to have won in Sports Cars, F1, NASCAR and Indy Car, he only won 4 Formula One races in his career as a driver.

For this, and his other achievements, especially in a time of such high attrition in motor racing, I just felt a little nod to him was worth it. I never saw him race, have never seen archive footage of him either, but I appreciate his place in the history of the sport I love.