Dan Gurney made his mark in international racing as a celebrated driver, team owner and car builder. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Racing legend Dan Gurney via taped interview: I have no doubt whatsoever that an American effort can be competitive. An American effort can be more than competitive, it can be winning. At this point in time, there is a huge yearning for an American effort. I feel that Bernie and Max are still powerful and they have vision for that particular vision from a global standpoint and that’s what they feel would be a huge asset and I think they will be as supportive as they possibly can be.

Kenny Anderson has confirmed his own credibility and I feel that is very important. The fact that he built probably the world’s best automotive wind tunnel, a full scale wind tunnel, that was halfway to the moon practically and the fact that he pulled it off did a great deal for me. His thoughts and his involving American technology is a very important thing and I have every confidence in the team he is putting together.

Peter Windsor is a very appealing young man … they used to say Tommy Lasorda would bleed Dodger blue, well (Peter) bleeds Formula One red and you can feel it. It’s a genuine thing. He is a very good student of it. I just feel like he is a huge asset to the team and the knowledge he has built up and the credibility he has maintained is all very, very positive.

No one can tell you how often opportunity is going to knock, but if you are ready when that moment comes, you can step up and say, ‘We’re going to go for it and we can do it here in this country without a shadow of a doubt.’ Over there, they are watching us all the time and they come over and pluck whatever ideas they like, but that doesn’t mean we’ve told them everything.”

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