John Gunn, an independent entrant who contested some of North America’s most prestigious auto racing championships during a career that lasted 20 years, has died of heart failure at his Florida home at the age of 71. Gunn began racing on the Club level in 1965, winning the SCCA’s SEDiv F Production title in an Alfa Romeo Spider. Two years later he won another divisional title in G Sports Racing with a Lotus 23, then placed 2nd in that class at the season-ending Runoffs. In 1968, Gunn co-drove a Ferrari 250 LM to 1st place in the Sports category, 8th overall, at the Daytona 24 Hours, then returned the next year with a Chevron B8-BMW to run 6th overall and win the under-2-liter sports class.
His professional career truly began in 1969 when he acquired a Lola T142-Chevrolet Formula A car and entered that year’s Continental Championship. He would contest subsequent FA/F5000 seasons with an Eagle, a Surtees, a March, and a Lola T332, while also running a Lola T260 in the final years of the original Can-Am. He became a fixture in the new era Can-Am from 1977 to 1985, notching the best finish of his pro career with 2nd place in the 1977 Can-Am at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant with his rebodied T332.
In later seasons Gunn ran a succession of 934 and 935 Porsches in both the Trans-Am and IMSA’s Camel GT, where he also entered a Rondeau and the Phoenix JG1, a car of his own design. He even tried NASCAR once, driving a Chevrolet at the Riverside round in 1981. He is remembered as a tenacious competitor who never gave up despite a comparative lack of resources compared to the larger teams.
