Dan Gurney: All American Racer

All sports have heroes. But there are some individuals who transcend their sport: Muhammad Ali, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan. And few would dispute that Dan Gurney, who passed away a year ago, is entitled to be among those few.

Usually, one characteristic for membership in this club is to have delivered multiple championships, or record breaking numbers. But, interestingly, Dan did neither. Yes, he was usually at the front of a race, but he never won the Formula One World Championship; in fact he only won a handful of F1 races in his career. He also never won the race he revolutionized, the Indy 500.