24h Le Mans
Throughout this month, we will bring you a very special Advent calendar dedicated to remarkable stories and anecdotes from the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Today, here is a look back at the 1967 podium ceremony marked by the first Champagne spray in the history of motorsport!
Dan Gurney's inspiration may have been an unexpected incident at the 1966 24 Hours when, in an effort to celebrate the win of Colin Davis and Jo Siffert's Porsche 906 in the 2-liter prototypes class, the Champagne cork suddenly popped out, showering everybody in the immediate vicinity.
The 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans is now considered one of the greatest in the history of the race thanks to the climax of the Ford/Ferrari duel with the American marque's second consecutive win as Henry Ford II watched on. Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt formed the only all-American driver line-up to win Le Mans, and at the wheel of an American car on top of that. They also surpassed the 5,000 km cap for the first time during the race in front of a crowd of some 300,000 spectators.
Either Gurney was overwhelmed with joy and/or he remembered the incident with the cork in 1966, but he proceeded to spray frenziedly everyone around him on the podium with Champagne: his teammate, his team manager Carroll Shelby, the photographers…even Henry Ford II and his wife!
Dan Gurney (who passed away in 2018): "It was a very special moment at the time, I was not aware I was starting a tradition that continues in winner's circles all around the world to this day." A.J. Foyt (now 86 years young) told his teammate at the time: "That's the boss you're spraying (Henry Ford II, Ed.)!"
What became of the pioneer bottle that kicked off this great tradition? For several decades it was the property of Flip Schulke, photographer for the American magazine LIFE present on the podium in 1967. He had just enough time to snap a shot before getting out of the way of the Champagne spray!
Once the extraordinary podium ceremony was over, Gurney signed the bottle and gave it to Schulke. He then used it as a lamp base in his house in Florida before deciding to take the bottle to California and return it to Gurney, feeling ultimately it belonged to the driver. It was a wonderful gesture in tribute to the initiator of a great motorsport tradition…born almost accidentally at the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO ARCHIVES): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 1967 24 HOURS OF LE MANS. Above, the winning Ford Mk IV. Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt (in a Ford shirt on the left) passes the bottle from the first Champagne spray with Jo Siffert (at right), the unwitting initiator of the tradition in 1966. To his right, Henry Ford II's wife did not miss out on the fun!
