Auto racers, have this celebration thing mastered. After sweating it out in a fire retardant suit and a steamy cockpit for a couple of hours, they let loose by spraying bottles of expensive champagne at each other.
The setting was France, and the tradition was initiated by an American. In 1967, Daniel Sexton Gurney, one of the greatest American drivers ever, first let the champagne fly.
Back then, the big news was the battle between the powerful Fords and the sophisticated Ferraris in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race.
A squadron of six Fords was assembled to knock the Italian team off its throne. Gurney was teamed with A. J. Foyt, who was better known as an oval-track master than a road racer, and they garnered no respect from their teammates. In fact, the duo was nicknamed “Chalk and Cheese.”
“I think A. J. and I were voted the least likely to succeed,” Gurney says.
In the end, however, they were the last Ford remaining in the race, and they toppled the fabled Ferraris with a record average speed of 136 mph.
“I was so stoked that when they handed me the Magnum of MOËT ET CHANDON, I shook the bottle and began spraying at the photographers, drivers, Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby and their wives. It was a very special moment at the time, I was not aware that I had started a tradition that continues in winner’s circles all over the world to this day.”
What happened to the bottle?
Among the friends on the podium was distinguished LIFE photographer Flip Schulke, who managed to avoid being sprayed because Dan had pulled him up on stage before he aimed the bottle at those in front. “When it was over, Gurney handed me the bottle and autographed it”. Schulke kept it for a decade and another decade and another. “Then a few years ago, I went back to visit him in Southern California and gave it back,” says Schulke. “After all, he is the one who should have it.”
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