REWIND: Miller on Dan Gurney’s Indy-winning Eagles

Peter Harholdt
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emailBy Robin Miller | August 27, 2021 2:59 PM ET

If I had to pick my favorite RACER magazine story by Robin Miller, this one could well be it, written in 2015 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dan Gurney’s one and only Indianapolis 500 win as an owner in 1975. Gurney’s Eagles had earned two before that with customers, but ’75’s monsoon-curtailed 59th running finally ticked the box for “The Big Eagle” and All American Racers.

When it came to the technical side of racing, Robin was happy to admit it was all pretty much over his head and reveled in telling tales of his mechanical ineptitude. But that didn’t stop him from appreciating the envelope-pushing skill, creativity and ingenuity of the folks building the machines that created Brickyard heroes. For him, the engineers, crew chiefs and midnight oil-burning mechanics were as big a part of the story as the guys behind the wheel.

He had a special respect for Gurney. For his driving exploits alone, Dan was up there on Robin’s Mt. Rushmore, but as an innovator, advocate, and all-’round human being, few came close.

That all comes through in this story. It’s not just about a car, it’s about people doing special things – Gurney, Bobby Unser, Roman Slobodynskyj, John Miller – and it’s told in a way only Robin could.

Laurence Foster, RACER Editor-in-chief



It was the perfect storm: a rulebook ripe for the picking converged on by a wily, free-thinking leader oozing with racing savvy; a top shelf driver who understood chassis and lived for taking it to the edge; a sharp, aggressive engine man who couldn’t get enough RPMs, and a quiet, unknown thinker from the aerospace industry with designs on making a big splash in Indy car racing.

That was the potent lineup at All American Racers in 1972 as Dan Gurney, Bobby Unser, John Miller and Roman Slobodynskyj created an Indy car for the ages that was copied, bought and raced with unparalleled success for five consecutive seasons.

The Eagle 7200 didn’t just break new ground, it sent a tremor through the United States Auto Club, destroyed the record book and shook the status quo to its very foundation.

“Dan built a killer car, Roman did a good job, John gave me great power, and I think we had a better team than we knew,” says Unser, who captured 10 races for AAR from 1972-’76 including the 1975 Indianapolis 500. “And of course, they had the right driver to develop it.”

Gurney’s genius for creativity was never more alive than that period of Indy car history, when aerodynamics ascended and speeds exploded. “We didn’t know what the limits were and we were peering into the unknown,” says The Big Eagle. “It was an exciting time.”

The genesis for the ’72 Eagle was the 1971 McLaren M16, a sleek-looking creation from Formula 1 guru Gordon Coppuck that riled Gasoline Alley because of its engine cover that sported a wing. USAC rules said any aerodynamic device had to be an integral part of the bodywork and Coppuck cleverly created an advantage as Peter Revson blistered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record by almost 9mph in winning the pole position.

Even though Unser took seven poles and a pair of victories in his ’71 Eagle, Gurney and Co. knew that it was back to the drawing board…

“We were competitive for pole positions and wins because John Miller and Dan were willing to stroke the dickens out of things,” says Unser with a chuckle. “But we knew we needed a new car to try and get ahead of the McLarens.”

During the winter USAC announced that free-standing wings would be allowed for 1972, provided they weren’t attached to the suspension, and Gurney put AAR on the fast track by coming up with a 1/10th scale model for a wind tunnel which produced some beneficial ideas.

Slobodynskyj, who had begun his AAR employment a couple years before as a part-timer doing detail work on gearboxes and cylinder heads, had caught Gurney’s eye in 1971.

“The 1970 Eagle had a lot of problems so I made some suggestions and Dan liked the modifications I made,” recalls Slobodynskyj. “Tony Southgate had left so I was full-time by then and Dan promoted me to head designer.

“McLaren had been a call to arms, and we knew we had to come up with something good if not better. So we pushed the limits where we could and we went for it. Those were the good old days.”
One key to the Eagle’s performance was USAC’s decision to allow rear wings that were non-integral with the bodywork for 1972. Huge leaps in speed caused USAC to reduce boost and wing size in ’74, which cut performance a little, but didn’t alter the status quo – the Eagles still dominated. Image by Peter Harholdt

Indy cars carried 75 gallons of fuel back then and Roman had a couple of major objectives.

“I wanted the polar moment to be as close to CG (center of gravity) as possible, I wanted the fuel low and as close to CG as possible, and I wanted the radiators in front of the fuel,” he explains. “Plus, I wanted to keep the roll center as stable as possible, relative to the CG. And I wanted to feed the wings as much air as possible.”

Adds Gurney: “Roman was very good at packaging things and knew a thing or two about aerodynamics. It was an unknown area, but that’s where Indy car racing was headed. And I also wanted to make sure we provided a friendly spot for the turbocharged Offy.”

Another key component was the infamous Gurney flap, which had come out of its founder’s mind following three days of going nowhere in a test at Phoenix in late 1971. A thin strip of aluminum folded at a 90-degree angle and pop-riveted to the trailing edge of the rear wing was instant magic – and downforce.

Gurney had experimented with wings on his F1 Eagle in 1968 and he struck a friendship with Bob Leibeck of Boeing, who pitched in to help with the ’72 Eagle. “We tried 20 different types of rear wings and Bobby did most of the testing, but we paid attention and found something we liked,” says the AAR founder.

Also collaborating were Champion Spark Plug’s Dick Jones and Art Lamey, along with Fred Carrillo, who built some special rods for the Miller-prepared Offenhauser. Drake Engineering produced lighter pistons for Miller’s short-stroke powerplant, and Leo Goosen developed a pair of oil scavenge pumps that also improved horsepower.

Unser also credits a special turbocharger discovered by Miller as a big boost in the project but, amazingly, the outspoken veteran from Albuquerque had no input in the design of the 7200.

“Dan had forbid me from going into the design room, but that was OK, I shouldn’t have,” he declares. “I didn’t need to because I could pick a hair out of a bowl of soup real quick. I could tell immediately whether things were right or wrong as soon as I got in the car.”

The first test at Ontario Motor Speedway in December of 1971 was either good, disappointing, or somewhere in between – depending on who’s talking.

“I think we realized it was very good before we even hit the track based on what we saw in the wind tunnel,” says Gurney. “And it was good on the track straight away; we just didn’t know how good until we got a little further into it.”

Unser recalls it being “as good a handling car as I ever drove and a keeper, but I couldn’t go quick down the straightaways. So we came back to Ontario and John Miller gave me a real engine with good power. I was hauling that thing so hard into the corners and pushing 200mph. All of the sudden we knew we had a fast racecar.”

Slobodynskyj says: “It was a dog down the straightaway, then we changed engines and the thing woke up. But it was hard to predict it was going to be as fast as it turned out.”

 

Honoring the AAR Eagle Mk III

Marshall Pruett Archives
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emailBy Marshall Pruett | September 9, 2021 12:57 PM ET

In 2016, RACER celebrated the 25th anniversary of an IMSA icon, the AAR Eagle Mk III. Ahead of IMSA’s visit this weekend to the Mk III’s birthplace in Monterey, we’ve updated the piece to reflect a few changes to the Eagle’s fabled history as it reaches the 30-year marker since the car turned the series on its head on home soil.

All American Racers’ Eagle Mk III chassis made its debut at Laguna Seca’s IMSA GTP round in 1991, and with IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ready to race at the same track, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fastest, most dominant prototype this country has ever produced.

“Wow, you’re not the only one that forgot it!” the late Dan Gurney said in 2016 of the Monterey milestone. “25 years ago? I don’t feel younger when I hear that news, but I don’t feel old.”

The Mk III’s first presence in the Monterey paddock drew the attention of most fans – and plenty of teams – before the opening practice session got underway. The 2.1-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine carried in the back of the Mk III was familiar; AAR had been using it in GTO Toyota Celicas and in its earlier GTPs, but the motor wasn’t the primary point of attraction.

Those in attendance – including this writer – marveled at its next-level aerodynamics; the sheer size and volume of the No. 99 Mk III’s high-waisted bodywork, plus the through-flow air channels running from the nose through the sidepods to the back, were unlike anything we’d seen in GTP.

“We got a ton of criticism about what we had done by the experts, which was kind of like the establishment in those days,” Gurney said. “You had to do things the way they thought it ought to be done. Or so they thought.”

“They said our air inlets on the front were too big. Just generally, they were negative about it. Most of the ‘experts’ didn’t realize what we were doing aerodynamically, and still don’t. If they had realized and saw what happened even in that first race, it was the beginning of the end for the rest of those guys.”

This Eagle looked like it was from the future, and once Juan Manuel Fangio II hit the 2.2-mile track with the Mk III, its performance confirmed our suspicions: Every other GTP car was made redundant in an instant.

Short on testing mileage, Fangio and AAR used the Laguna Seca event as more of a test held within a race. Despite the lack of knowledge on what the Mk III wanted for mechanical and aero setups, the Argentinian was able to qualify second behind Wayne Taylor in the one-lap-special Chevy Intrepid. With its track-pulverizing downforce and instant torque, the South African claimed an impressive pole with a lap of 1m14.928s.
IMSA GTP landscape changed the instant the Eagle Mk III was unloaded for the first time at Laguna Seca in 1991. Image by Marshall Pruett

Fangio wasn’t far behind with a lap of 1m15.223s to earn a front-row starting spot next to the Intrepid, but once the green flag waved, Taylor was a sitting duck.

The Mk III came close to winning the first time out at Laguna Seca as Fangio built a staggering lead of more than 50 seconds by the close of the contest, but those chances were derailed by a pit lane violation during a splash-and-go that resulted in a one-lap stop-and-hold. Another violation leaving the pits – after serving the first penalty – led IMSA to tack another 35 seconds onto the No. 99 after the checkered flag. Fangio was credited with an unrepresentative seventh.

A one lap stop and hold, plus another 35 seconds and he finishes 7th?
IMSA is known for screwing over racers who do well.
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...w-you-out.html

Fangio did manage to lead 54 of the 84 laps and set the fastest lap during his fiery charge after the first penalty – a 1m15.741s – as Davy Jones went on to win in the TWR Jaguar XJR-16. To fully grasp the raw nature of the Eagle Mk III on its 1991 premiere, AAR returned for the Laguna Seca GTP race in 1992 with a full season of development under its belt and shattered the track record with a pole lap of 1m11.294s set by PJ Jones. That’s damn near four seconds faster – 3.929s to be precise – from where the MK III started in 1991.

And to appreciate the Mk III’s frightening speed, the pole for IMSA’s visit to Monterey in 2015, set by Wayne Taylor’s son Jordan in the No. 10 WTR Corvette DP, was a 1m18.718s. Jones’ 1992 pole, a full 7.424s below 2015’s DP benchmark, says more about the changes in prototype technology and relative tire quality than the caliber of driving talent.

IMSA’s modern track record at Laguna Seca, a 1m15.035s lap set by Jordan’s older brother Ricky Taylor in 2019 with an Acura ARX-05 DPi on Michelin rubber, effectively halved the difference, cutting it to a deficit of 3.741s.

On the Mk III’s return to Monterey in 1992, it had Europe’s most fearsome prototype to contend with as TWR brought the all-conquering Jaguar XJR-14, with its Cosworth/Formula 1 engine and revolutionary aerodynamics, to attack the Eagle.

The XJR-14 vs Mk III battle wasn’t even close: AAR’s machine pounced on TWR’s best car without mercy, capturing nine wins from 15 races and the GTP title with ease. Jaguar, along with every other factory program, ran and hid after 1992. AAR returned for 1993 with the same two-car team and swept GTP while setting 10 lap records at 11 tracks on the calendar.

“The Jaguar was a terrific car,” Gurney said, “but it wasn’t quite terrific enough. But it was one whale of a good car. And it had exceeded the Formula 1 lap time at Silverstone, we were told. So no doubt it was very good. And the TWR people were a great group. One of the things about the Jag was that it seemed to like really smooth racetracks like a Formula 1 car does. And our car liked those, but it wasn’t bothered by the rough ones. That really made a difference. We had a bigger sweet spot in terms of ride height and angle of attack, and all that stuff. That was really special. What we ended up realizing is our car was even better than we thought it was.”
Along with the innovative aero, the Mk III’s suspension started a new chapter in prototypes with tight packaging front and rear that was more commonly found on open-wheelers. Image by Marshall Pruett

The Mk III’s aero played the greatest role in the car’s GTP dominance, but as Gurney explains, Drino Miller’s ferocious little Toyota engine wasn’t just along for the ride.

“Drino did a lot of our development work,” he said. “I was told that he blew up three dynamometers working on that thing!”

From cleaning out the GTP class by the end of 1992 to rewriting IMSA’s history books and closing the GTP era at the end of 1993, the Eagle Mk III turned American sports car racing upside down with a simple and unassuming debut more than a quarter-century ago in Monterey. And despite the car’s age, Gurney didn’t shy from sending a reminder about the Eagle’s long-standing presence in today’s IMSA series.

“I must say that with PJ driving, the Mk III still holds the lap record at the Daytona 24 Hour circuit,” he said of the WeatherTech Championship’s season-opening event. “We set that in 1993.”

With the loss of Gurney in 2018, he missed the passing of the Daytona lap-record torch to Mazda as Oliver Jarvis finally improved upon the Mk III’s standard of 1m33.875s. It took 26 years to achieve, but the Englishman was finally able to beat the old Eagle with a new lap record of 1m33.685s.

All those years, and all the sweeping advancements in technology, to inch ahead of the Mk III by a mere 0.190s. IMSA at Monterey in 1991 was the start of something that was truly special.

Dan Gurney, Eagle, IMSA,

 

First Gurney Eagle F1 car set for Gooding Amelia Island sale

Mathieu Heurtault/Gooding & Company
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emailBy Vintage Motorsport | February 5, 2023 10:00 AM ET Follow @http://twitter.com/VMMagazine

Santa Monica-based Gooding & Company will offer the first-ever All American Racers Gurney Eagle (1966 Mk 1) at its upcoming Amelia Island Auction, set for March 2-3 on the grounds of the Omni Amelia Island Resort.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to bring the masterpiece that is the AAR Eagle to auction. Dan Gurney’s ambitions of building his own Formula 1 car were brought to fruition with this beautiful machine, which stands among the most important cars of its type ever built,” said Gooding & Company Specialist, Hans Wurl.

This 1966 AAR Gurney Eagle Mk 1 was the first of just four Formula 1 Eagles ever produced, fitted with a 2.7-liter variant of the venerable Coventry Climax FPF. Chassis 101 was entered in several major European and American Grands Prix, setting the precedent for future iterations of the Gurney Eagle. In this period, it was driven by some of the greatest names in motorsports, including Dan Gurney, Bob Bondurant and Phil Hill. In 1967, chassis 101 was sold to Canadian racer Al Pease, who entered it in 10 races, including the 1967, 1968, and 1969 Canadian Grand Prix.

The Eagle then went on to Tom Wheatcroft, a pioneering collector of F1 cars, who tracked chassis 101 down and made it a centerpiece of his Donington Grand Prix Collection for over 38 years.

 

RARE: Dan Gurney's Chevy Impala Race Car Returns After 63 Years | Barn Find Hunter

Hagerty
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Dec 20, 2024

Justin Gurney, son of racing legend Dan Gurney, invited Tom to receive and unveil his father's long-lost 1961 409ci Chevy Impala. Dan raced this car only once before selling it out of frustration. The racing authorities (FIA) refused to allow him to compete against a class of British saloon cars, claiming, "It didn't meet regulations," even though it was built perfectly to the rules. Follow along as Tom and Justin see the car for the first time and explore all the documentation that came with it.

 

1961 Chevrolet Impala: Dan Gurney’s American Export

Petrolicious
894K subscribers
139,485 views Apr 9, 2019

The words “Chevy Impala" don’t tend to have motorsport connotations for most people, but that didn’t stop Dan Gurney from ordering one from the factory in police specification with an aim to take it racing in England. He’d been watching Jaguars dominate the British saloon car series and thought he could put the big Chevy above them on the podiums, so after rebuilding the motor

to his liking Mr. Gurney sent his Impala across the Atlantic and proceeded to whoop the competition… for almost one full race. The Impala was leading in its debut before a wheel failure, and upon its return to the grid in the next race was banned from the series. It’s a lesser-known project from a man who earned a laundry list of racing success, but thanks to its current owner Ed

Foster, its brief but inspiring underdog story is still being shared today. See the photoshoot and read more here: https://petro.li/GurneyImpalaGallery Drive Tastefully® http://Petrolicious.com

 

Dan Gurney’s Chevrolet Impala: The Car's Return (1/4)

Goodwood Road & Racing
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38,807 views Sep 6, 2018 #GoodwoodRevival

A stunning Chevrolet Impala raced by Dan Gurney in 1961 has been restored and is returning to Goodwood for the first time. Hear about its journey. #GoodwoodRevival

 

Dan Gurney’s Chevrolet Impala: The Restoration (2/4)

Goodwood Road & Racing
756K subscribers
21K views 6 years ago #GoodwoodRevival

Join the restoration of the Chevrolet Impala Dan Gurney raced, bringing American power to British saloon car racing. #GoodwoodRevival

 

Dan Gurney’s Chevrolet Impala: Road to Silverstone (3/4)

Goodwood Road & Racing
756K subscribers
16,739 views Sep 20, 2018 #GoodwoodRevival

Watch the journey Dan Gurney's classic Chevrolet Impala took from restoration to the legendary Silverstone race track, where it returned to complete its final two laps. #GoodwoodRevival Official Website: https://www.goodwood.com/grrc/ SUBSCRIBE for more great Goodwood Road & Racing videos here - http://bit.ly/GoodwoodTV Buy your Goodwood Racing tickets - www.goodwood.com/tickets/

 

Dan Gurney’s Chevrolet Impala: The Goodwood Revival (4/4)

Goodwood Road & Racing
756K subscribers
25,283 views Sep 28, 2018 #goodwoodrevival

Get a unique look at Revival weekend along with the Impala Dan Gurney brought to take on the British saloon cars of the '60s. #goodwoodrevival Official Website: https://www.goodwood.com/grrc/ SUBSCRIBE for more great Goodwood Road & Racing videos here - http://bit.ly/GoodwoodTV Buy your Goodwood Racing tickets - www.goodwood.com/tickets/

 

I saw one of your old Cougar race cars from the Trans Am Series

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...y-special.html


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