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All American Racers

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All American Racers
BaseRye, East Sussex, UK and Santa Ana, California, USA[1]
Founder(s)Dan Gurney
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1966 Belgian Grand Prix
Races entered25
EnginesClimax, Weslake
Constructors'
Championships		0
Drivers'
Championships		0
Race victories1
Podiums2
Pole positions0
Fastest laps2
Final entry1969 Canadian Grand Prix
All American Racers
Career
Debut1979 Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150 (Phoenix)
Latest race1999 Marlboro 500 (Fontana)
Races competed134
Drivers' Championships0
Indy 500 victories0
Race victories1
Pole positions1

All American Racers is an American-licensed[2] auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California.[3] Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well as international Formula One events with cars named Eagle. The Formula One team, based in the United Kingdom and using British-built Weslake engines was named Anglo American Racers. Under team manager Bill Dunne they set up shop in Rye, East Sussex.[4] The team were adjacent to Harry Weslake's engine development plant and half a mile from Elva cars.[5] They participated in 25 Grands Prix, entering a total of 34 cars.

The first Eagles were created after AAR entered a Goodyear-backed Lotus 38 in the 1965 Indianapolis 500 and Gurney hired former Lotus designer Len Terry to develop their own car for 1966. The resulting Ford-powered Eagle T2G was codeveloped with the Eagle T1G for Formula 1. After exiting Formula One in 1968 and concentrating on Champ Car, Eagle turned to sports car racing in the 1980s, partnering with Toyota to develop the Celica and later sports prototypes for the IMSA GT Championship.

The company built the Ben Bowlby-designed DeltaWing that was run by Highcroft Racing at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Formula 1

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An Eagle Mk1, in early, four-cylinder Climax-engined T1F form. The car wears the Imperial blue paint, the national racing colour of the United States.

In order to run the Formula 1 operations, Gurney established the Anglo American Racers team, based in Rye, East Sussex, UK, though the cars were built in Santa Ana, California, USA by the All American Racers team. The Eagle T1G car, powered by an obsolete Coventry Climax engine, debuted at the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix and scored its first points with a fifth place three weeks later at the French Grand Prix. For the 1967 season Richie Ginther was signed as a second driver. The Climax engine was replaced by a new 3-liter Weslake V12 engine designed by Aubrey Woods and built in Great Britain by Weslake.

At the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix Gurney achieved the first "all-American" victory in a Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy´s triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. Excluding the Indianapolis 500, this is the only win for a USA-built car as well as one of only two wins of an American-licensed constructor in Formula One.[3][6]

The Eagle-Weslake was a beautiful and efficient car, one example of which was constructed in titanium and exotic alloys. More than this, the Eagle was designed to make the tall Gurney fit comfortably at the wheel. Their efforts produced a V12 that was smooth and powerful. At Monza, an insight into the future of engine design was seen for the first time. The engine had four valves per cylinder at a narrow included angle (thirty degrees) that allowed a single cover to enclose both the close-spaced camshafts on each bank. The sixty-degree-vee layout had a larger bore than stroke (72.8 X 60mm). Gurney's program ran out of money in 1968 and by the end of the year he returned to the United States to concentrate his efforts on the more successful Indycar program, in which Bobby Unser had won the Indianapolis 500 and the 1968 Indycar Championship. A non-works version briefly appeared with privateer Al Pease in the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix, but Pease became noticed for all the wrong reasons and made history as the only F1 driver ever disqualified for being too slow.

USAC & CART Champ Car

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The Eagle driven to 6th place in the 1969 Indianapolis 500 by Joe Leonard
1972 Gurney-Eagle Indycar chassis driven by Mark Donohue
1968 Indianapolis 500-winning chassis, driven by Bobby Unser

During the USAC years, the Eagle chassis was very successful in the late 1960s and 1970s. Eagles won 51 Champ Car races, including the 1968 and 1975 Indy 500's won by Bobby Unser and the 1973 race won by Gordon Johncock. During this two-decade period, Bobby Unser, who drove Eagle cars for most of his teams, joined AAR as the sole driver, winning the 1975 Indianapolis 500. Unser also claimed 22 wins and 52 podiums with Eagle cars. After Unser's departure from the team for Team Penske, All American Racers started to lose their edge in IndyCar competition. Mike Mosley won a few races for the team before being dismissed at the end of 1982. By 1984, AAR merged with Mike Curb's team to form Curb-All American Racers. After a two-year partnership with Curb, Gurney and Curb parted ways, and this marked the beginning of the end of AAR's time in IndyCar.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

The All American Racers team was inactive in single-seaters from 1987 to 1995 and returned in 1996 again building their own chassis and using new Toyota engines. However, this new effort, a combination of new and untested equipment, did not prove to be successful, never winning a race and collecting only occasional top-tens. The team ceased active racing after the 1999 CART season.[16]

CART/USAC drivers

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IMSA GT

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Gurney's team was contracted by Toyota in 1983 to enter the IMSA GT Championship with specially-modified Toyota Celicas.

In 1988, the team moved up to the GTP category with two chassis – a modified Toyota 88C Group C car and a team-designed Eagle HF89 purpose-built for IMSA competition.

AAR experienced its greatest success in GTP competition with the Eagle MkIII, introduced in 1991. Powered by a turbocharged 2.1-liter Toyota inline-4 developing up to 800 horsepower and generating 10,000 pounds of downforce at 200 mph, the MkIII won 21 of the 27 races in which it was entered – a record so dominant that it has been blamed for the collapse of the GTP series.[17][18]

Trans-Am

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AAR created a special Trans-Am Series version of the Plymouth Barracuda, running in the 1970 season with drivers Dan Gurney and Swede Savage.[19] A homologation special production edition was offered in 1970.[20]

Racing results

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Complete Formula One World Championship results

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Anglo American Racers

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine(s) Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points WCC
1966 Eagle T1G Climax S4
Weslake V12 		G MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 4 7th
United States Dan Gurney Ret 5 Ret Ret 7 Ret Ret 5
United States Phil Hill DNQ
United States Bob Bondurant DSQ Ret
1967 Eagle T1G Weslake V12 G RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX 13 7th
United States Dan Gurney Ret Ret Ret 1F Ret Ret RetF 3 Ret Ret Ret
United States Richie Ginther DNQ
New Zealand Bruce McLaren Ret Ret Ret
Italy Ludovico Scarfiotti Ret
1968 G RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX 0* 12th
Eagle T1G Weslake V12 United States Dan Gurney Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret
McLaren M7A Ford V8 Ret 4 Ret —[a]

Non-works entries

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(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1967 Castrol Oils Ltd. Eagle T1G Climax S4 G RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX
Canada Al Pease NC
1968 Castrol Oils Ltd. Eagle T1G Climax S4 G RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX
Canada Al Pease DNS
1969 John Maryon Eagle T1G Climax S4 F RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX
Canada Al Pease DSQ

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6
1967 Eagle T1G Weslake V12 ROC SPC INT SYR OUL ESP
United States Dan Gurney 1
United States Richie Ginther 10

Complete CART PPG Indy Car World Series results

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(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1979 PHX ATL INDY TRT MCH WGL TRT ONT MCH ATL PHX
Eagle 79 Cosworth DFX V8 t G United States Mike Mosley 36 6 17 17 3 13 DNS 2 20 12 14 34 14 10
1980 ONT INDY MIL POC MDO MCH WGL MIL ONT MCH MXC PHX
Eagle 80 Cosworth DFX V8 t G United States Mike Mosley 48 19
Chevrolet V8 32 23 17
1981 PHX MIL ATL MCH RIV MIL MCH WGL MXC PHX
Eagle 81 Chevrolet V8 G United States Mike Mosley 48 1* DNS 18 DNS 26 24
Australia Geoff Brabham 19 9
United States Rocky Moran 6
1983 ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MDO MCH CPL LAG PHX
Eagle 83 Chevrolet V8 G United States Jeff Wood 98 22 8
1984 LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL
Eagle 84SB Pontiac V8 G United States Mike Chandler 88 16 DNQ
United States Kevin Cogan 8
98 20 9 18 20 22
United States Pete Halsmer 14
United States Ed Pimm 26 13 22 22 19 10 12 19
1985 LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA
Eagle 85GC Cosworth DFX V8 t G United States Tom Sneva 2 8 20 2 6 11 3 21 8 15 5 21
Lola T900 24 7 19 19
United States Tony Bettenhausen Jr. 97 29
United States Ed Pimm 98 21
Eagle 85GC 12 9 19 DNS 5 11 20 9 8 3 14 9 12
1986 PHX LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC MDO SAN MCH ROA LAG PHX MIA
Eagle 86GC Cosworth DFX V8 t G Netherlands Jan Lammers 98 9 14 DNQ
1996 MIA RIO SFR LBH NAZ 500 MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG
Eagle Mk-V Toyota RV8A V8 t G Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio II 36 21 17 15 25 25 22 19 18 14 13 28 14 20 8 19 28
United States P. J. Jones 98 Wth 24 9 24 23 20 16 25 18 13 27
1997 MIA SFR LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG FON
Reynard 96i Toyota RV8A V8 t G Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio II 36 20 20 26 15
Reynard 97i Toyota RV8B V8 t 20 23 21 10 22 21 19 11 25 10 12 15 27
Reynard 96i Toyota RV8A V8 t United States P. J. Jones 98 28 26 16 21
Reynard 97i Toyota RV8B V8 t 16 21 14 14 20 25 21 28 17 14 25 17 10
1998 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SFR FON
Reynard 97i
Reynard 98i
Eagle 987 		Toyota RV8C V8 t
Toyota RV8D V8 t 		G United States Alex Barron 36 18 24 14 DNS 12 14 DNS 20 14 15 28 15 16 24 19 20 12 19 13
United States P. J. Jones 98 20 30 11 19 13 12 14 25 16 21 19 24 20 22 21
Italy Vincenzo Sospiri 22 15 15 23
1999 MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MCH DET MDO CHI VAN LAG HOU SRF FON
Eagle 997 Toyota RV8D V8 t G United States Alex Barron 36 15 17 23 9 23 16 14
Brazil Gualter Salles 27 13 20 25 15 11 18
Brazil Raul Boesel 12 17
Italy Andrea Montermini 11 24 23 15

Notes

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  1. ^ Results scored in a McLaren-Ford did not count towards Eagle-Weslake's points total.

References

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  1. ^ "Case History". Corktree.tripod.com. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  2. ^ "Eagle". StatsF1. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Saga of Audacity: Eagle F1". Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2012.
  4. ^ Competition Press & Autoweek, March 26, 1966, Page 3.
  5. ^ Competition Press & Autoweek, April 23, 1966, Page 6.
  6. ^ Penske achieved a victory at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix having raced with an American licence, but the car was built at the British base in Poole. Though American-owned, the British-based Shadow achieved a victory at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix having raced with a British licence.
  7. ^ "REWIND: Miller on Dan Gurney's Indy-winning Eagles". August 27, 2021.
  8. ^ "RETRO: The wild tale of 1982's Eagle Aviation Flyer IndyCar". May 26, 2022.
  9. ^ "1969 Eagle Weslake Ford 'Santa Ana' Indy Car | S167 | Indy 2022".
  10. ^ "1968 Eagle Indy Car".
  11. ^ "1982 AAR Eagle Indy Car".
  12. ^ "1972 AAR Eagle 7200 Indycar".
  13. ^ "Eagle 1969 Indy car-by-car histories". September 24, 2022.
  14. ^ "Eagle 1966 Indy car-by-car histories". February 5, 2023.
  15. ^ "Eagle 1972 Indy car-by-car histories". January 27, 2023.
  16. ^ "Eagle 987 Champ Car | Dan Gurney's All American Racers".
  17. ^ Toyota Eagle MkIII Archived July 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Mulsanne's Corner
  18. ^ Eagle MkIII GTP Archived February 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, quoted from RACER magazine
  19. ^ "Trans Am - The Early Years of American Sedan Racing". Car Craft. February 2009. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  20. ^ "AAR 'Cuda". Mopar Muscle Cars. January 27, 2011. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
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