Where Eagles Dare

Dan Gurney's 1972 Eagle Indy car was fast – unbelievably fast – and it was for sale, too. With the orders flooding in, it would dominate for four seasons.

It was the perfect storm: a rulebook ripe for the picking converged on by a wily, free-thinking leader oozing with racing savvy; a top shelf driver who understood chassis and lived for taking it to the edge; a sharp, aggressive engine man who couldn't get enough RPMs, and a quiet, unknown thinker from the aerospace industry with designs on making a big splash in Indy car racing.

That was the potent lineup at All American Racers in 1972 as Dan Gurney, Bobby Unser, John Miller and Roman Slobodynskyj created an Indy car for the ages that was copied, bought and raced with unparalleled success for five consecutive seasons.

The Eagle 7200 didn't just break new ground, it sent a tremor through the United States Auto Club, destroyed the record book and shook the status quo to its very foundation.

"Dan built a killer car, Roman did a good job, John gave me great power, and I think we had a better team than we knew," says Unser, who captured 10 races for AAR from 1972-'76 including the 1975 Indianapolis 500. "And of course they had the right driver to develop it."

Gurney's genius for creativity was never more alive than that period of Indy car history, when aerodynamics ascended and speeds exploded. "We didn't know what the limits were and we were peering into the unknown," says The Big Eagle. "It was an exciting time."

The genesis for the '72 Eagle was the 1971 McLaren M16, a sleek-looking creation from Formula 1 guru Gordon Coppuck that riled Gasoline Alley because of its engine cover that sported a wing. USAC rules said any aerodynamic device had to be an integral part of the bodywork and Coppuck cleverly created an advantage as Peter Revson blistered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record by almost 9mph in winning the pole position.

Even though Unser took seven poles and a pair of victories in his '71 Eagle, Gurney and Co. knew that it was back to the drawing board...

Get the full version of this article in The Great Cars IV Issue of RACER magazine, on sale now. Take a video tour of the issue below...