Check out this newsreel footage of the Gurney/Foyt victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967. It’s pretty great.
To this day, Ford’s win at Le Mans in ’67 with A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney is America’s greatest victory in international motorsports. At that moment, Gurney and Foyt were the two reigning megastars of American racing—Ruth and DiMaggio—and Ford was flexing its muscles around the world in sports cars, F1, Indy, NASCAR, and drag racing. It was a golden age of auto racing and we will never see its like again.
At a little less than three minutes in length, this film is more than worth the time. If you recall all the great still photos from the race—Foyt and Gurney in loose, easy conversation at trackside, the big red 427 Ford GT Mark IV thundering down the Mulsanne, the champagne-soaked victory lap—this video is like watching all these magical instants in time strung together in serial animation form. Simply wonderful. Have a look.
For a recent piece at MCG on the Le Mans-winning Ford GT Mark IV, click here.
The feel-good movie of the year! Yes it’s only three minutes long, but when you watch it twenty plus times…
I watched the video multiple times as well. Magic! I love the white Torino stripes on the red Ford GT.
the GT-40 won Lemans 4 years in a row 1966 & ’67 w/a detuned 427(390 hp). ferarri whined so much, a new rule was imposed, restricting engines to 305 ci.
so Ford used their new 302/ w Gurney / Westlake heads & beat Ferrari in’68 & ’69.