November 26, 1967
(Photo: The Henry Ford via photopin cc)
Dan Gurney, drives an Eagle to victory in the Rex Mays 200 Indycar race at Riverside, California, USA. He becomes the first driver to win in the four major racing disciplines of Indy cars, Stock cars, Formula One, and Sports cars.
He has been a driver, a car manufacturer, and a team owner at racing's highest levels since 1958. Gurney also won races in the Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney was the first driver to win 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.
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