THE DRIVERS, PART I.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Ask anyone who has been involved in racing what they remember most about the sport - besides the memorable cars and races - and they will always talk about the people and the personalities involved. It's these stories that fuel the memories, because racing is far from a one-dimensional pursuit. It's a passionate endeavor that consumes the people involved to a degree that outsiders just can't comprehend. And it's these memorable characters who have left an indelible mark on the sport. Drivers who were fierce competitors, flawed heroes and incredible, gifted talents. Their legacies are what make the sport of motor racing so fascinating. In the next few issues I will recall some of my favorites.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, May 1960. Jim Rathmann raced in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series in the 1949-1950 and 1952-1960 seasons. He won the 1960 Indianapolis 500, and he also competed in the two "Race of Two Worlds" events in Monza, Italy, winning the 1958 race. Rathmann was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007, in Detroit.
The mercurial James Hunt was a tremendously talented driver who pushed norms and rattled the establishment every chance he got, and his memorable pairing with Lord Hesketh and the Hesketh Racing Team in the beginning of his F1 career remains one of the most colorful chapters in the sport. Hunt was immortalized in the Ron Howard-directed film Rush from 2013, which chronicled Hunt's titanic battle with his rival Niki Lauda during the 1976 F1 season, in which Hunt won the World Championship driving for McLaren. It would be Hunt's only World Championship, as his career faded after that. James died of a heart attack on June 15, 1993, at the young age of 45.
(Photo by Dave Friedman)
Daytona International Speedway, February 1966. Dan Gurney sits in the No. 97 Shelby American Ford Mk II that he shared with Jerry Grant during practice for the Daytona 24 Hours. If there was a Mount Rushmore of American racing drivers, there is no question that Dan would be on it. Trying to encapsulate Dan's career and influence over the sport in a paragraph is simply impossible. Gurney won in F1, Indy car, Can-Am, Trans-Am and NASCAR, delivering momentous wins every step of the way. Dan delivered Porsche its only win as a F1 constructor in 1962; he dominated NASCAR at Riverside in the 60s, winning five times; he won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in his AAR Eagle T1G-Weslake V12, a car of his own design. One week later, Gurney engineered the Ford Mk IV victory at Le Mans, devising the race strategy that he and co-driver A.J. Foyt strictly adhered to for the victory. Gurney stepped in to fortify Team McLaren in 1970, one week after its founding leader - Bruce McLaren - had been killed testing his McLaren Can-Am car at Goodwood. Gurney promptly won the first two races for McLaren in the 1970 Can-Am season. Dan would go on to make All American Racers a perennial force to be reckoned with in American racing, with notable wins in Indy car and sports car racing (for Toyota). He notably invented an extension for the rear wing of Indy cars - known as the "Gurney flap" - which increased downforce without creating too much aerodynamic drag; and Dan was also the first to wear a full-face helmet in Grand Prix racing. Dan made 86 Grand Prix starts, which ranks third among American F1 drivers, winning four times (second only to Mario Andretti). In what might be the ultimate tribute to Dan's driving talent, the father of Jim Clark came up to Gurney at his son's funeral and confided that Dan was the only driver Clark had ever feared on the track. Dan died on January 14, 2018, at the age of 86. A true legend of the sport in every sense of the word.
Michael Andretti had to live with the enduring legend of his father, Mario, which loomed over his own driving career, but he delivered a spectacular career of his own. Michael competed in 317 Indy car races, winning 42 times. He started from 32 pole positions and won the CART Championship in 1991, although he never won the Indy 500 after dominating many races - and leading the most laps in Indy 500 history - at the Speedway. Michael's foray into F1 in 1993 with Team McLaren - as a teammate to Ayrton Senna - was fraught with problems, and his best finish was a third at Monza, before returning home to the U.S. to race in CART. Michael has gone on to lead Andretti Autosport, which is one of the most successful racing teams in IndyCar.
(Photo by Dave Friedman)
Ken Miles was the brilliantly gifted engineer-driver who was almost singularly responsible for the early success of Shelby American. He developed the 289 FIA Cobra, the Cobra Daytona Coupe, the 427 Cobra, the Shelby GT 350R Mustang and the Ford Mk II. His story was immortalized in the 2019 film Ford vs. Ferrari, and even though the film was chock-full of inaccuracies and questionable instances of "artistic license" it gave full due to Miles' contributions to the Shelby legacy. It's not a stretch to say that without Miles, the Shelby story would have been vastly different - and less successful. Miles was killed while doing the development testing of the Ford J-Car prototype at Riverside International Raceway, on August 17, 1966, at the age of 47. The Ford J-car became the Ford Mk IV, which won the only two races the car was ever entered: the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring and the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans.