On This Day

Sunday 23rd January 1966

54 years ago

Dan Gurney won his fourth consecutive Riverside 500 to set a Grand National record. Gurney's streak would be broken the following year, but he would win again at Riverside in 1968. All five of Gurney's career Grand National victories occurred at Riverside. He also won races in the Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, and Trans-Am Series. Gurney was the first of three drivers to have won races in Sports Cars (1958), Formula One (1962), NASCAR (1963), and Indy Car (1967) (the other two being Mario Andretti and Juan Pablo Montoya). In 1967, after winning the 24 hours of Le Mans together with A.J. Foyt, he spontaneously sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium. Apart from starting this tradition, he also was the first to put a simple right-angle extension on the upper trailing edge of the rear wing. This device, called a Gurney flap, increases downforce and, if well designed, imposes only a relatively small increase in aerodynamic drag. At the 1968 German Grand Prix he became the first driver ever to use a full face helmet in Grand Prix racing