Through it all Gurney felt a kinship with hot rodders because of the innovative engineering he saw and appreciated. He mentioned Alex Xydias and the SO-CAL streamliner, and names such as Potvin and Pop Evans. "I read everything I could about all this stuff, even when we were coming to California," he said. "I worshiped the ground those guys walked on. They were role models for me. When you're a competitor and you want to do well, you have to learn how to be a decent engineer."
This SCTA timing tag shows Dan Gurney's time at Bonneville Speed Week. The car was Skip Hudson's 1929 Model T roadster.
Gurney believes that his inherent feel for technology is strongly tied to his family heritage. His grandfather, Frederick W. Gurney, invented the radial-thrust angular-contact bearing, and started the Gurney Bearing Company in Jamestown, New York, in 1902. F.W.'s technical genius was passed on to his children, three of whom became graduate engineers. A fourth, Dan's father, earned a degree in physics from Oberlin College. He then graduated from Harvard Business School, but became an opera singer after being discovered while singing in the Harvard Glee Club.
Gurney's role models in California were not like the family members who came out of universities. The hot rodders he respected were very intelligent, practical technicians, who went beyond theory and accomplished things rarely considered possible in the laboratories of academia. Phil Remington is one of those exceptional technicians. He hand-fabricated cars in the 1940s and ran them at the dry lakes. "Rem" has been with Gurney at All American Racers since the late 1960s.
Ak Miller is another big name in Gurney's pantheon of heroes. "We were always very fiercely proud of guys like Ak Miller, and all the things he did," Gurney said. "I mean really substantial things, including engineering and driving." Not to mention his personality. "He was one of the most entertaining guys," Gurney added. "He could tell jokes endlessly." Miller ran the Mexican Road Race and the Mille Miglia in cars he built himself. It is apparent that Gurney regrets that he came along too late to participate. "They had to stop the Mexican Road Race by the time I got a chance ... and the same with the Mille Miglia," he lamented.
All American Racers introduced the latest version of the Alligator motorcycle in 2006. Its S & S V-twin engine will have 111 or 124ci. Gurney is at right. Hot rodding legend Phil Remington in the shop apron (center) has been with All American Racers since its founding decades ago. Before that, he was with Carroll Shelby during the Cobra years. Also pictured (from left) are Butch Wilson, Justin Gurney, Bob Marker, Remington, Steve Kilgore, Stevo Jacobs, Howard Monise, and Dan Gurney.
Gurney is still living his dream, still pursuing innovative engineering concepts with projects such as his Alligator motorcycle, an extension of his passion for two-wheel freedom. He is also busy writing his autobiography with his wife, Evi, who he met at the Porsche factory in Germany when he was on the racing team.
Gurney has fond memories of his hot rodding history. He compares it to the story of Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch. "You can do anything you want, but please, please don't throw me into the briar patch," he recites. "Of course, California was the briar patch as far as I was concerned. And that's where we ended up. So it was a fabulous thing to happen, and I never lost the romance of it all."