AUTOWEEK MAIN 05-20-02 A 21 5/9/02 11:22 AM Page 1 THE GURNEY ALLIGATOR Gurney’s ’Gator is not just another motor- cycle. Startling in both appearance and The Gurney Boys and specification, it features a radically low solo seating position, a single hopped-up Honda cylinder and a price tag of $35,000. Their Naughty ’Gator Idiosyncratic? Sure. Dan Gurney did not become famous for his orthodoxy. The American was never content to be one of HE’S LEGENDARY FOR HIS EAGLE RACE CARS. SO WHY the finest racing drivers in the world, often IS DAN THE MAN REINVENTING... THE MOTORCYCLE? mentioned in the same breath with the great Jimmy Clark and named to F1 teams BY PETE LYONS for the Gurney Alligator—a hand-built, by the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Brab- high-performance street bike produced by ham. Gurney won three Grands Prix, and is office walls are festooned Gurney and his family in the same shops, placed as high as third in the world cham- with mementos of race cars and and by some of the same hands, that once pionship (1961) with established factories. races and racing friends, but one built F1- and Indy-winning Gurney Eagles. Yet he stepped off a seemingly assured picture of a street-going motor- Thus one April evening Justin, now 30 career ladder to make a marque of his own. Hcycle tells you a lot about Dan Gurney the (and this time wearing a helmet), burst out In 1964 Gurney and then-partner Carroll man. Snapped in the early ’70s, it captures of a giant plastic foam “Alligator Egg” aboard Shelby founded All American Racers in him blasting along on a CB750 Honda, then the 001 bike during a hatching ceremony Santa Ana, California, to build Eagle open- the King Kong of Superbikes. In a baby at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. wheelers for FIA, USAC and SCCA racing. sling on Gurney’s back is his six-month-old Gurney, who recently turned 71 but doesn’t Eagles became a major force in Indy compe- son Justin, little fists gripping dad’s shoul- behave like it, assisted the birth wearing tition, with three victories at the Speed- ders. Both boys’ hair is blowing free in the surgeon’s garb along with that famous grin. way and many more elsewhere. AAR also wind, and identical grins split their faces. For once, product outshone presentation. built contenders in F5000, Can-Am and Think whatever PC thoughts you will Trans-Am. Later, Toyota-Eagles dominated about it, you see the real Dan Gurney on the endgame of the old IMSA GTP series. that bike. What’s more, “Justino” survived That engine manufacturer then chose AAR the ride to become not only a keen rider to carry it into CART, though results were on his own, but stylist and project manager disappointing to both parties. AUTOWEEK MAY 20, 2002 21 AUTOWEEK MAIN 05-20-02 A 22 5/9/02 11:24 AM Page 1 THE GURNEY ALLIGATOR Gurney himself continued winning races eyes. “You mean: You old fogy, why do personal reason: the challenge of reaching a the multitube chassis backbone, based on through his last year in the cockpit, 1970. you keep pushing...?” The steely retort long-visualized goal. “It’s a bit like a part- knowledge absorbed during his friendship But probably his personal highlight came actually is answer enough; the man simply ing shot,” he admits. He daydreams about with Colin Chapman. AAR veterans includ- on the 18th of June, 1967—one magic week is made that way. But he does have a specif- building a sports car someday, but right ing the legendary Phil Remington fabricate after co-driving a Ford to first at Le Mans— ic rationale for what he’s doing. now he’s intent on this sport bike project. that frame, the extruded aluminum rear when he scored his fourth GP victory with It starts with the loss of his engine spon- He loves motorcycles, and the Alligator is suspension swing arm and most other parts, his very own Eagle on Belgium’s fearsome sor, which took AAR out of racing. That very much his motorcycle. He thought it though the front forks and brake package Spa-Francorchamps circuit. was a bitter blow at the time, but although up. He helped design and build and test five come straight from Honda’s ultra-fast 954. Thirty-five years later, that remains a Gurney has been mentoring son Alex’s prototypes. He persisted with his idea for Front and rear lights are from another unique American accomplishment. It’s career, he has no interest in returning his 26 years, he paid for it and now, dammit, Honda, but the carbon fiber bodywork is being deliberately recalled by the dark company to the fray. he means finally to manufacture and sell it. laid up and baked in a corner of AAR that metallic blue and pearl color scheme of “I feel as though we’ve escaped,” he Doing so climaxes a fascination for used to make Eagle GTP and Champ Cars. Gurney’s Alligators, same as his F1 Eagle, recently wrote to friend John Surtees, “and bikes incurred in boyhood. “One of the first The air-cooled one-cylinder starts life as and by the 36 limited-edition “Grand Prix” I do not want back into an arena which has books I ever read was called The Speedwell a new Honda 650 with electric-start made ’Gators he’s planning to turn out initially. been taken over by bureaucrats and rich Boys on Motorcycles,” Gurney remembers, for an enduro bike. Subcontractor Drino Miller punches it out to as much as 710 cc, adds hotter cams and replaces the stock “One of the first books I ever read was called The Speedwell Boys on Motorcycles. carb with fuel-injection. Output is better My infatuation with racing cars and motorcycles occurred almost in concert.” than 75 horsepower. Competitive four- Eagle Over Spa cylinder bikes offer more power, but weigh smiling. “My infatuation with racing cars If you coddled kids of today want to know why Gurney messed up his start, losing seven more than the Alligator’s 320 pounds and and motorcycles occurred almost in con- Big Dan Gurney is such a hero to us old-timers, positions before the first corner, and spent the their riders catch more wind. Without admit- cert.” As a teen he had both, and freely one clue is what he did one June day 35 years first stage of the 245-mile race driving catch-up. ting he’s tried it, Gurney reckons his bike modified them. “Those were great days, ago. He won a European Grand Prix in his own He was closing on second-place Stewart when should do 140 mph. He’s confident it’ll go when you were allowed to do that.” F1 car—one he’d helped design and produce in Clark dropped out of the lead with a bad plug. 0 to 60 mph quicker than anything on the One modification he made on a dirt bike his own factory in California. Only once before But at the same point Gurney made a quick stop road. (“It explodes off the line!”) He also led directly to the Alligator. Tall, Gurney had a like feat been accomplished, and in the to report low fuel pressure. When he dashed out claims exceptional braking performance often felt unstable on steep hills, as though 1921 French GP Jimmy Murphy wasn’t the owner/ again, Stewart’s advantage with the 16-cylinder and reassuring handling, both thanks to his weight were about to pitch the short- builder of “his” American-made Duesenberg. BRM was 16 seconds. the low center of gravity. He is careful to coupled machine over its downhill wheel. Nor has any American car won a third GP. Gurney in a hurry was one of motor racing emphasize the importance of never letting So he tried taking the seat off. “I’m sitting Not even Gurney’s. history’s great sights. Tall in the cockpit, face a one’s forward-jutting foot snag on the road a little lower, and it felt better. I thought, Way back in 1967, all bright things seemed frozen mask of concentration but fists a blur on or a curb, to prevent potential injury. ‘How about if we went as far as we can...’” possible. Americans loved road racing. Phil Hill the wheel, he directed the car with an uncanny Gurney admits he’s probing a tiny niche The result was a 1976 experiment now had won the world championship, and now Dan blend of fluid delicacy and utter determination. market. Customers? “Someone who wants dubbed The Grandfather. Based on a 350 Gurney seemed a good bet to follow him. His new Swooping through woods and farmland, touching to buy the Ferrari of Singles... that loves Honda dual-purpose model, its wheelbase Eagle was world-class, quick and aesthetically 196 mph in places, the Anglo-American Eagle once ‘More Smiles per Mile’... has a naughty was lengthened so the rider could sit down gorgeous too, a shapely missile of titanium and again caught and this time passed the all-British element in his character, and one that can low behind the engine. “We liked it a lot,” magnesium packing a British-made Weslake V12 BRM. The effort earned Gurney the lap record at afford to pay 35,000 bucks for a bike.” Gurney says, “but pretty soon it was not thought to be the most powerful in F1.