1974 AAR Eagle Formula 5000

With financial support from Indycar partner Jorgensen Steel, AAR built two cars in 1974 the dual-purpose of F1 and F5000 competition. A total of four cars would be built, with three for the AAR team and one for customer Francisco Mir. The prototype car built in 1973 was never raced and was eventually sold as a show car. The three cars that did race saw very little racing after the 1974 season.

Even before the 74A made its racing debut, work had already begun on its successor, the Eagle 755. The car was intended to be completed by 1975, but it was ready near the close of the 1974, and competed in two California races in 1974. James Hunt was hired to race the 755. He managed to qualify in third position at Laguna Seca. At the end of the race, he had finished in second place. At Riverside, things were going well early on, but soon fell off pace. He had qualified in 7th place, but on lap 38 he was involved in a crash.

For the 1975 season, the car was driven by Bobby Unser. His best finish was a 6th at Pocono. Also in 1975 and 1976, the car was driven by Vern Schuppan at various events from Watkins Glen to Riverside. He was able to score many top 10 finishes with a second place at Long Beach, CA.

By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2014

Equipped with a 5-liter Chevy V8 and Hewland DG300 Transaxle, this is the first chassis built in 1974 by All American Racing (Dan Gurney) and was originally equipped with inboard front brakes (to reduce unsprung weight), but this was not successful and made the car very hard to handle.