AAR Gurney BLAT Eagles Question

[pje]

I was always intrigued by the Gurney Eagle BLAT (boundary layer adhesion technology) cars. I can still remember watching the 1981 Milwaukee race and seeing Mike Mosley come from last place to first as a promoter’s option entry, to almost lapping the entire field in winning the race and becoming the last true stock block powered car to win an Indy car race.
So, it came of great interest to see all the photos posted on various Facebook sites over the weekend showing all the cars taking part in the historic Indy car event in Milwaukee. The car that most interested me (outside of Mark Donohue’s 1973 Eagle) was this 1980 car that I was not really familiar with, especially the paint scheme.



In going through some of my own references and talking with Kevin, I came to understand that his 1980 Theodore Racing Eagle was an early version of this car. It only appeared in 5 races that year as AAR lost the Teddy Yip sponsorship and the last race the car was entered in was the 1980 Ontario 500, where in was painted in this scheme.



This car is supposed to be #8001 and I presume that it was the only chassis built, but I’m not sure. Also, on the restored car is a complete enclosed engine cover with oval scoops like the 1981 Pepsi Challenger, which I don’t believe it ever raced with in 1980. But I sure like the way it looks.
Can any of you Eagle experts educate me as to the history of the 1980 car? Are there any online sites that focus on the restoration of this car, #8001? Feel free to add anything you want about these BLAT Eagles.

Paul Erlendson

[lance]

Original version was tested with a Cosworth and then was switched over to a stock block. The car was originally not to have a rear wing but one was added before it raced.

[lance]

Apparently my brain is failing along with the rest of my body, I deleted my comments on the 83 Eagle as they were incorrect, apologies to all.

[ohnothimagen]

Paul,
I could be wrong, but I believe the car did have the blue and rainbow paint scheme at the end of the 1980 season. I'm not sure if it was like this for the final race, but I believe it may have carried those colors for a gala event on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach. There are photos of it being hoisted by crane up onto the ship, but you really only see the underside of the car. I will try to dig through some of my AAR stuff at home and see what I can find.
Rex

[pje]

From what I’ve been able to put together so far from my own research and talking with a fellow on Facebook who says he worked for AAR as a body man back then, I think I’m beginning to understand the car’s evolution.
It ran only 5 races during the 1980 season. The first race was at Ontario where it ran in the light blue Jorgensen Steel livery the weekend of April 13. I think. The reason I say that is, the photo talked about showing the car hoisted up onto the Queen Mary, took place just before the USGP West, which was March 30. The photo is shown in the Gurney Eagle book by John Zimmermann. It’s a b&w photo with a lot of shadow, but it looks more like the Teddy Zip Theodore Racing scheme.
It next ran at Indy in the scheme shown on Kevin’s model.
Its next outing was at the Pocono 500 on June 22. I’ve watched about half the race coverage on YouTube, but have not seen a close up of the car to see how it was painted.
At some point AAR lost the Teddy Yip sponsorship and they reverted back to the light blue scheme. I think.
It ran two more races in 1980, the Milwaukee 200 on August 10 and then finished up at the California 500 at Ontario on August 31. I believe by then, the paint had been changed back to light blue. But, I have no evidence of that.
Stu found a photo of the car at its first outing at Ontario, which would probably be the easiest way to do Kevin’s model in the blue scheme. For me to build the car as it is today would be a kit bash using both Kevin's and Lance’s 1982 car and I doubt that he has a body lying around.

Paul Erlendson

[ohnothimagen]

Paul, you beat me to it! Glad you found the info you needed.

Rex

[alterrenner]

Wow! Talk about a source of knowledge!
To think, all this time I thought BLAT was a brand of beer!

--Frank

[jeff34]

Jun 19, 2019 22:01:13 GMT -5 pje said:

I was always intrigued by the Gurney Eagle BLAT (boundary layer adhesion technology) cars. I can still remember watching the 1981 Milwaukee race and seeing Mike Mosley come from last place to first as a promoter’s option entry, to almost lapping the entire field in winning the race and becoming the last true stock block powered car to win an Indy car race.
So, it came of great interest to see all the photos posted on various Facebook sites over the weekend showing all the cars taking part in the historic Indy car event in Milwaukee. The car that most interested me (outside of Mark Donohue’s 1973 Eagle) was this 1980 car that I was not really familiar with, especially the paint scheme.



In going through some of my own references and talking with Kevin, I came to understand that his 1980 Theodore Racing Eagle was and early version of this car. It only appeared in 5 races that year as AAR lost the Teddy Yip sponsorship and the last race the car was entered in was the 1980 Ontario 500, where in was painted in this scheme.



This car is supposed to be #8001 and I presume that it was the only chassis built, but I’m not sure. Also, on the restored car is a complete enclosed engine cover with oval scoops like the 1981 Pepsi Challenger, which I don’t believe it ever raced with in 1980. But I sure like the way it looks.
Can any of you Eagle experts educate me as to the history of the 1980 car? Are there any online sites that focus on the restoration of this car, #8001? Feel free to add anything you want about these BLAT Eagles.

Paul Erlendson