Today is Daniel Sexton Gurney’s 80th birthday. If asked to list the top 5 American race car drivers of all time, Dan Gurney is inevitably on that list.  Here’s a list of things you might not know about Dan Gurney:

Dan Gurney’s father, John, attended Oberlin College and Harvard Business School, and sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York for more than 2 decades.  After he retired from the Met in 1947, John moved his family to Riverside, California where he pursued a career as a portrait artist and a designer and builder of  furniture.
The number 48, which adorned many of Dan Gurney’s race cars, was Dan’s tribute to NFL Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles Ram, Les Richter, the one-time owner of Riverside International Raceway.
Dan Gurney is one of two drivers to achieve victory in Formula 1, Sports Cars, Indy Cars, and Stock/Touring Cars.  Mario Andretti is the other.
Dan Gurney remains the only American to achieve a Formula 1 victory in a car of his own design, and the only F1 competitor to achieve the maiden victory for 3 different constructors (Porsche, Brabham and Eagle-AAR).
In 88 Formula 1 starts, Dan had 4 wins (1962 and 1964 French Grand Prix, 1964 Mexican Grand Prix and the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix), 16 podium finishes and 133 championship points (tying him with Sterling Moss on the all-time F1 list).  In addition, Dan had 3 additional victories at non F1 races ran to Formula 1 rules (1961 Ballarat Gold Star race, 1962 Solitude GP, and the 1967 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch).
In USAC/Indy cars, Dan achieved 7 victories and 16 podium finishes in 30 races.
In NASCAR, Dan won the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside International Raceway 5 times (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1968) and had 3 additional podium finishes in 16 starts.  Dan also had owns 1 victory in 12 SCCA/Trans-Am series starts and 1 victory in 3 British Saloon Car Championship starts; to my knowledge, Dan Gurney is the only American with a BSCC/BTCC victory.
In 44 World Sports Car Championship events, Gurney had 5 overall victories (1959 Sebring 12 hrs 1959, 1960 ADAC-Nurburgring 1000km, 1962 Daytona 3 hours,  1963 Bridgehampton 500 and 1967 24 Hours of LeMans) and 5 class victories  (1961 Targa Florio, 1962 Sebring 12 hrs, 1964 24 Hours of LeMans, 1964 Targa Florio and the 1964 RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood).  Gurney also tallied 3 wins and a podium finish in 24 Can-Am Challenge series starts.  Also, Dan Gurney was the USAC National Road Racing champion in 1958.
Dan Gurney and Brock Yates won the inaugural Canonball Baker Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash in 1971, traveling from mid-town Manhattan to the Portifino Inn in Redando Beach, California in 33 hours and 54 minutes in a Ferrari 365 GTB.
After retiring from driving, Gurney and his AAR racing team would continue their winning ways with 15 USAC victories (including the 1974 drivers championship for Bobby Unser) and 51 victories in IMSA GTO, GTU and GTP racing between 1983 and 1993 (including drivers and constructors championships in 1987, 1992 and 1993).  In addition, Gurney Eagle customers would win another USAC championship (Bobby Unser in 1968) and two SCCA Formula A championships (Dr. Lou Sell in 1968 and Tony Adamowicz in 1969).
Happy birthday, Mr. Gurney!