The Shelby American (Fall 2021)

In 1966 the NASCAR ban on “non- stock” engines caught up with Ford and their SOHC 427 that they planned to run on the big tracks in ’66. By April, when a “compromise” was reached to add a weight penalty to any Ford running a cammer 427, Ford pulled out of NASCAR. With that de- cision Ford put a number of their NASCAR drivers out of work and some were used to test for the World Sportscar Championship series (read LeMans) in the GT40. Marvin Panch and Dick Hutcherson were among those lucky few and they tested at Danville, Kingman and Riverside in April and May 1966. Soon thereafter, Panch left Ford for Plymouth, but Hutcherson ended up with the ride of his life at LeMans. What a scene it must have been for him: going faster than he ever had before, sitting on the right hand side of the car, now on a road course, over-taking cars at more than 100 mph relative speed differ- ence, running for 24-hours, with no track lights, in the rain. Balls of steel come to mind. In the end, Dick Hutcherson would make 103 NASCAR starts including 21 poles, 14 wins and 64 top-5 finishes. He has the second lowest average fin- ish of all drivers with at least 100 starts, just behind Lee Petty. Hutcher- son retired after the 1967 season (after finishing 3rd in the driver standings) to become David Pearson’s crew chief, leading Pearson to the NASCAR Championship in 1968 and 1969. In an unusual aside, he ap- peared in the Elvis Presley movie Speedway in 1968. Hutcherson left Holman-Moody in 1971 to form Hutcherson-Pagan which became a successful chassis and parts truck builder for NASCAR teams in- cluding A.J. Foyt and Darrell Waltrip. Hutcherson “unretired” in 1976 for a second go at LeMans, this time in a NASCAR Ford Torino that retired in the 11th hour with an oil leak. After Eddie Pagan died in 1984, Hutcherson continued to run the company until he retired; the company is still a supplier to NASCAR. Dick Hutcherson died of a heart attack on a drive home from Florida. He was 73. P/1047 MK II: Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant drivers. P/1047 was delivered to SAI on January 17, 1966 and finished in MK II trim for LeMans. Gurney gridded the car 1st (3:30.6, 142.6 mph) and he and Grant were on the lead lap or were leading for most of the first 17 hours before a broken weld on a water neck caused the car to retire, while leading, mid-morning on Sunday. This was Gurney’s ninth consecutive trip to LeMans, he would make one more go in 1967. (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) Gurney was born in Port Jefferson, Long Island, the first of two children born to John Gurney, a star baritone with the Metropolitan Opera and Roma Sexton, a former art student. His grandfather, Frederick Gurney, had founded one of the first ball bear- ing companies in the United States in Jamestown, New York in 1902. Dan spent his high school years on Long Is- land and often visited the local dirt tracks to watch the action. A seed was planted and came to life when Dan’s parents retired and moved west in 1948. They bought an orange grove in Riverside, California and Dan, who was 17, took to the local dirt roads and streets to hone his counter-steer skills with a series of motorcycles and jalop- ies. A couple of mostly distracted years at Menlo Junior College took him to early 1952 and his first marriage; they took their honeymoon in a chopped and raked ’32 5-window Ford that he had built. That year also brought a draft notice and a stint as an anti-air- craft battery mechanic with the US Army in Korea. Not long after his dis- charge, Dan scraped up enough extra money for a used Triumph TR 2 and entered his first race, the Torrey Pines Road Races in October 1955, finishing third in class. The die was cast. By the time Dan retired from ac- tive racing 15 years later he had raced in 312 events in 20 countries, in 51 dif- ferent makes (and more than 100 models thereof). He won 42 poles and 51 races, plus another 47 podium ap- pearances. Aside from the 42 pole po- sitions, he started another 58 races from the first row. It is said no driver has ever driven more different cars in different types of races. Some of his career highlights: •7 F1 victories, including 4 World Championship events. •One of those victories came at Spa in 1967 one week after winning LeMans in a GT40 MK IV with A.J. Foyt. He was the third American to win a F1 race and the first and still only Amer- ican to win a F1 race in a car of his own design and construction. •5 NASCAR wins, including four in a row from 1963 to 1966, plus 1968, all in Ford Galaxies and all at Riverside. The SHELBY AMERICAN Fall 2021 69 P1047. Dan Gurney