All American Racers (AAR) has been in the racing business since 1965 when Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby , who were involved in a very successful and victorious relationship as a driver and team owner of Shelby Cobras and Shelby Fords, joined forces to establish a race car company together in Santa Ana, California with the backing of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Prior to that point, Dan had a small shop in neighboring Costa Mesa, which was integrated into the new venture. While the two founders were still looking for an appropriate name for their new company, the then-president of Goodyear, ex-basketball champion Victor Holt, suggested All American Racers. It was at that time that Goodyear started their big involvement in auto racing on both the Formula 1 circuit (Dan was the first driver to race a Grand Prix car equipped with Goodyear tires) and the Indianapolis 500, which up to that point was mostly a Firestone arena. The cars AAR was designing and building were called Grand Prix or Indy Eagles, one of the many distinguishing features being a "beak" at the front of the car. Roger McCluskey became the first driver to achieve a victory in an Eagle at Langhorne, Pennsylvania in 1966. Eagle racing cars soon became very popular on both sides of the Atlantic and were driven by the hot drivers of the era like Jochen Rindt, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Ritchie Ginther, Lodovico Scarfiotti, James Hunt, Swede Savage, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Al Junior, Mark Donohue, Joe Leonard, Gordon Johncock, Jerry Grant and many more. The crowning achievement in Formula 1 was Dan's victory at the Grand Prix of Belgium in 1967. It was the first victory by an American driver in an American car since 1921 and the only one in modern Grand Prix history. No one has since duplicated this effort and is unlikely to do so as it has become far too expensive for an individual and a small, independent race car company to do so. Apart from fielding Formula 1 and Indy Car racing teams, AAR also entered at various times the U.S.-Sportscar, Trans-am, Can-am, Formula A and Formula 5000 as well as IMSA championships with GTU and GTO Toyota Celicas and GTP with Toyota Eagles. From its inception, AAR intended to build cars for its own racing teams and also for sale to customers. The first big reward came with a victory at the 'Indy 500' and the USAC National Championship in 1968 with Bobby Unser. The AAR teams won 8 championships through the years, gathering 78 overall victories including the 'Indy 500' and 82 pole positions. Eagle customers did equally well, winning championships in Indycars, Formula Ford and Formula A categories. Twenty-one of the 33 cars on the grid at Indianapolis in 1973 were Eagles. Overall, AAR has built over 150 race cars. In 1970, upon retiring from driving, Dan bought out Carroll Shelby and has been sole owner, CEO and Chairman of All American Racers ever since. Under his guidance, AAR has been continuously modernized and expanded. The 75,000 sq. ft. factory encompasses five buildings. These house a state-of-the-art CAD design department, quality assurance, vehicle dynamics, data acquisition and analysis department, a development team and race shop, CNC machine shop, two 5-Axis mills, fabrication shop, 40% scale wind tunnel, water tunnel, an 800 degree/200psi electrically heated TEC autoclave and a complete composite material department where all race car bodies and chassis are built. Through the decades, AAR has employed between 20 and 140 people. Apart from building chassis, the company has been involved in building motorcycle prototypes, constructed Plymouth Barracudas for the Trans-am series and adapted Lola sports cars for the Can-am Championship. In 1983, AAR entered into a long term relationship with Toyota who startedtheir involvement in big league motor racing at around that time. First the team entered the GTU category of IMSA Sports Car Championship, winning 10 races and progressing from there to the GTO class capturing the Drivers Championship (Chris Cord) and the Manufacturers Championship in 1987. Subsequently, AAR designed and built the GTP Toyota Eagle, a car which would become legendary for its looks, speed, reliability and winning streaks: 17 consecutive victories during 1992 and 1993, two Drivers and two Manufacturers Championships, and wins in the endurance classics of Daytona and Sebring. Up to 1988, All American Racers had its own engine department. Engines developed and built included Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler, Drake Offenhauser, Coventry Climax, Ford Cosworth, Toyota GTU and GTO and, on a trans-continental basis, work on the 12 cylinder Gurney-Westlake Grand Prix engine. In 1996, after two years of preliminary development work, AAR entered the CART PPG Cup Championship after a 10-year absence from that circuit with a two car team (Eagles/Reynard powered by Toyota) with drivers Juan Manuel Fangio II and P.J. Jones. Throughout its 32-year history, AAR has occupied a special niche among race car companies. Not only does the company provide a link to the "glory days" of racing, but at the same time, manages to be on the cutting edge of technology: looking back to the past with fondness, but keeping an eye firmly on the future. The combination of Dan Gurney as a driver and owner, and his perseverance in building his own race cars, often against great odds, (Eagles for years were the only American made racecar on the scene), has won many loyal fans around the world spanning two generations. A lot of engineers, mechanics, designers and team managers, now on the CART circuit, went through the AAR "university" when they were young and starting out - a tradition which continues today.