1981 AAR Eagle Indianapolis Monoposto

Dan Gurney began his Formula 1 career in 1959 driving for Scuderia Ferrari. In his first four races, he was able to achieve two podiums. This was followed by a miserable 1960 season, driving a BR P48 for Owen Racing Organization. So he joined Porsche's Grand Prix effort. At the 1962 French Grand Prix at Rouen, Guren drove the newly introduced 804 to his first World Championship victory and captured the first Formula 1 win for Porsche.

At the end of the season, Porsche withdrew from Grand Prix competition, leaving Brabham without a job. So Jack Brabham hired Gurney to become a part of his Brabham Racing organization. Between 1963 and 1965, Gurney captured two wins and 10 podium finishes for Brabham including the manufacturer's first World Championship win.

One of the individuals Dan Gurney would meet during his racing career would be Carroll Shelby. The two met as early as 1962, and discussions often lead to the idea of building an American Formula 1 car. In 1965, Shelby convinced Goodyear to sponsor a new USAC team led by Dan Gurney. Gurney's team was called the All American Racers and based out of an industrial building in Santa Ana, California.

The newly formed AAR's initial focus was on building an Indy 500 contender. But since no US car and driver combination had ever won a major European Grand Prix since Jimmy Murphy's Duesenberg took the French Grand Prix in 1921, the team was compelled to follow their Formula 1 ambition. In 1965, Gurney began work on his first single-seat racing cars, which he dubbed the Eagles. The Eagle MK1 and Eagle MKII were designed in parallel, with the MK1 intended for Formula 1 competition while the MKII was built to compete in the USAC circuit.

Len Terry helped design and build the Indy Grand Prix car. His resume included work on the Indy 500-winning Lotus 38. His design for the AAR car was a full-length riveted aluminum monocoque chassis fitted with a beak nose which had been inspired by the Eagle name. Upon completion, the car was painted in a patriotic blue and white livery.

In 1968, Bobby Unser drove an Eagle to its first win, and in 1973, Gordon Johncock finished 1st at the Indianapolis 500. Bobby Unser and AAR returned to the top of the podium in 1975. By the early 1980s, Dan Gurney's All American Racers had a strong reputation at the fabled Brickyard in Indianapolis. The 1981 year signaled a change for the AAR Eagles, when the turbocharged engines were replaced with naturally aspirated engines, from either Chevrolet or Cosworth.

This example, chassis number 8104, is a Chevrolet-powered racecar that was delivered new to John Menard, who campaigned it in the CART series. Its first race was at Watkins Glen in 1981, where it was driven by Herm Johnson, the 1977 Formula Super-Vee champion. The next race was in Mexico City, where Johnson placed 8th, and he rounded out the season by finishing 9th in Phoenix. After racing again at Phoenix and Atlanta early in the 1982 season, the car's last professional competition would be at the 1982 Indianapolis 500, where it wore #28 and was driven by Herm Johnson. The car qualified at a speed of 195.929 mph and was placed 14th on the grid for the start. At the end of the race, Johnson had worked his way up to 9th.

In 1989, the car was purchased by Thomas Mittler, of South Bend, Indiana, who lent the car to the Studebaker National Museum for display during the 1990 Studebaker festival. During Mittler's ownership, the car was always kept on static display and was never raced.

By 1993, the car became part of the Pond Collection and campaigned under the banner of Bob Pond Racing. It was driven in the final round of the American IndyCar Series at Willow Springs International Raceway by former Shelby American employee and Nissan factory driver John Morton. Morton finished in 2nd place overall on Saturday, and in the subsequent race the following day, Morton placed 1st overall, in what would be its final race under the Bob Pond Racing banner.

By Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2014