Word: gurney
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...every 500 winner has used Firestone tires, a fact that nettles Firestone's competitors no end-especially The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. This year, Goodyear persuaded nine drivers to use its tires, including two of the three fastest qualifiers: A. J. Foyt and California's Dan Gurney, who won a spot in the first row by clocking 159 m.p.h. in yet another Lotus-Ford. Last week the company discovered to its horror that its specially made tires were "chunking"-spewing out quarter-size pieces of rubber. Goodyear officials blamed it all on a faulty tire-making machine...
...both Foyt and Gurney faced the choice of making repeated pit stops for tire changes-or risking blowouts and accidents. For Foyt, there was no choice at all. "Racing comes before my wife and family," he said, and a friend added: "A. J. would run with one wheel on top of the wall if he had to-to beat Jimmy Clark." Scotland's Clark, naturally, was unaffected by the fuss. There he was, smack-dab in the middle of the front row-with Firestones...
...leaped into their Ford-Cobras, punched the starter buttons-and sat there feeling silly when nothing happened. An Italian Grifo sports car ran off the track, injuring two spectators, and a French Abarth-Simca piled head-on into a palm tree. But Hall's only problem was Dan Gurney, the "rabbit" of the Ford team, whose job was to battle the Texan for the early lead, try to make him burn out his engine. Hall gave better than he got: gunning his Chaparral round the course at 104 m.p.h., he smashed the track record by a fantastic 3.5 m.p.h...
...track conditions at Florida's Daytona International Speedway. In the time trials, Mexico's Pedro Rodriguez won the pole position by clocking 113.7 m.p.h. in his V12 Ferrari prototype, and Shelby decided he needed a little strategy too. His plan: turn California's Dan Gurney loose in a Lotus-Ford sprint car as a "rabbit" to lure the Ferraris into a car-killing speed duel...
Champagne & Beer. "Fine, fine," murmured Shelby as Gurney's Lotus-Ford blasted round and round the 3.81mile track, trailed by the lone remaining team Ferrari and a phalanx of Fords. He flashed a signal to the GTs and Cobras: EZ-slow down. On the 137th lap, the last Ferrari's clutch failed. Job done, Gurney's Lotus also pulled into the pits, with a sick engine...