The pressures of racing and designing the car took their toll on Donohue. We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? He was young Roger Penskes equal. Directing other drivers, making suggestions, helping mechanicseven sweeping up around the garagewere not enough. However, the Penske Formula One car proved unsound and Donohue's best finish this year was a fifth place. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. After going to the hospital in Graz the next day, Donohue lapsed into a coma from a cerebral hemorrhage and died. Mark Donohue. He was so gentlemanly, he was boring. During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). A 25-year-old passenger in the Infiniti, a woman from Olney, was seriously hurt and taken to the hospital. On the phone, the editor said, You gotta come back in. That sense of realism often hits Mark Donohues son. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Donohue raced in several NASCAR Grand American races and a NASCAR pony car division from 1968 until 1971. But if his father, Mark Sr., a successful patent lawyer, never envisaged a racing career for his son, neither cid young Mark. And neither found what they expected. That got everybodys attention -- the polished wheels, the way our guys looked, the way the cars were prepared and obviously, the performance was good. On his second lap he approached the Vst-Hgel very fast right-hander at the end of the main straight when, at about 162 mi/h (260 km/h), a rear tyre of his March 751-Ford Cosworth suddenly blew up. Donohue, who also competed in endurance racing, IndyCar, NASCAR, Can-Am,. Why Las Vegas is key to F1's growth plans, Mercedes: New W14 sidepod design wont copy F1 rivals, Mercedes: New W14 sidepod design wont copy F1 rivals An out-of-court settlement was reached Wednesday at Providence, R.I., in the appeal of a $9.6-million Superior Court verdict awarded the estate of race driver Mark Donohue, killed during practice . He died on August 19, 1975 in Graz, Styria, Austria. The practice sessions were marred by serious accidents; Brian Henton destroyed his Lotus after sliding in an oil patch, and Wilson Fittipaldi broke his hand when crashing at the Rindt Kurve. It was always on to the next project.. By the end of the crash, the front end of the car was missing, and Mark's legs were fully outside the car, with his only injury . But where other youngsters were souping up cars to impress girls, I was only interested in the mechanics, Donohue said. David Donohue is proof positive that apples dont fall far from the tree. Aug 21, 2015, 4:28 PM. His car was almost inexplicably fast, so much so that, according to Donohues book The Unfair Advantage, race winner Al Unser sought him out after the race and said: Look, weve been competitors for a long time, and you have your way of doing things and I have mine, but when you come here and run six miles an hour faster than everyone else I gotta shake your hand.. * Most laps led. You never saw him in an argument with anybody. Donohue's rocketed 7 through four wire catchfences and several roadside billboards. At the age of twenty-two,[citation needed] while a senior at Brown, Donohue began racing his 1957 Corvette. When Donohue took the Ferrari to Le Mans, the car attained only 205 mph on the straight versus the Porsche 917s 235 mph. My friends began warning me., Racing was becoming an obsession, but in 1965, he realized: Maybe I can make a living out of something like to do. Both Olvey and Trammell got their start in trackside medical response in similar fashion: Answering a bulletin board call for med students to help out at the Indianapolis 500 - Olvey in about 1969, Trammell in 1972. He turned his last race, the first International Race of Champions finalin which top driver from all forms of racing competed into an easy victory Feb. 15, 1974, and then concentrated on his new duties as president of Penske Racing. Harry Gant was a champion in 1985, Ricky Rudd was a champion in 1992 and Mark Martin became a five-time champion; all three failed to secure NASCAR championships. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Racing was Donohues obsession. who retired from one of the greatest careers in auto racing history at age 36, unretired at 37 and died Tuesday night at 38 of brain injuries suffered in a crash before the Austrian. Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked . It served as the first NASCAR victory for aspiring team owner Roger Penske, a proverbial snowball sent rolling down a path thatd alter the entire American auto racing landscape. How Gulf deal has boosted Williams's F1 commercial strategy, Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return, Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return In 1970 new Javelin team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue would breathe new life into the AMC team. He was on for a second appearance at the Glen, but a practice accident saw Mark being replaced by David Hobbs. In the final race of the season, Javelins finished in first, second and third place, with George Follmer becoming the only other Javelin driver to win besides Donohue. But supervising the Penske efforts in stock car and Indianapolistype racing did not agree with Donohue. [4] He was survived by his wife and two sons from his first marriage. This was not merely a celebrity autobiography, but a detailed, step-by-step record of the engineering approach he took to getting the absolutely highest performance from every car he drove, always looking for that elusive "unfair advantage". As a person, he was always fun to be around, but I always admired that work ethic he displayed when it was time to race., Donohue was known as Captain Nice. To some, however, Donohue seemed distant and was later nicknamed Dark Monohue., Donohue was a good guy, said long-time racing journalist Robin Miller, who was a young reporter for The Indianapolis Star when Donohue raced at Indy. As an American driver, he had done it all. Donohue finished fourth at Daytona and won the Trans-Am class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue would begin to experiment with their Camaros. We think we've made a major discovery. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. Donohue was considered a leading Trans-Am driver of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Police have not yet released his identity. With his marriage to Sue falling apart, Donohues personal life was in turmoil. If he didnt test a car before a race, he didnt have his Peanuts security blanket and would fret that his edge was lost.. The tangible steps Alpine has taken to meeting its humble F1 2023 targets, Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery, Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In his career, Donohue started 311 races and won 119 of them, a winning average of 38 percent. The setup he designed for his car didnt have as much speed as teammate Gary Bettenhausens setup. Auto Race Car Driver. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. His first marriage ended in divorce and some friends blamed racing. 66 Penske Racing entry went on to win at Indianapolis in 1972 to give Roger Penske the first of his 17 Indy 500 wins. Five weeks after winning the 500, Donohue was testing his Can-Am Porsche 917-10 at Road Atlanta when the car got airborne at 160 mph. The key factors behind F1s Premier League-style managerial revolving door, The tangible steps Alpine has taken to meeting its humble F1 2023 targets, The tangible steps Alpine has taken to meeting its humble F1 2023 targets The track chosen for the speed record attempt was the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Hed eventually swap leads with Richard Petty, but took the reins of the race for good for the final 75 circuits, lapping the entire field in the process. Donohue chronicled his entire racing career in the book, The Unfair Advantage (co-written with noted motorsports and engineering journalist Paul Van Valkenburgh). He did it at Talladega, Ala., in the turbocharged Porsche he drove to the 1973 CanAm title. Two weeks ago, he took the 1973 CanAm car out of mothballs and set a world speed record for a closed course of 221.160 miles an. Try a week on us. Donohue won in 1972, driving for Penske. He went on to assist TVR's David Hives in designing the Series 400 Griffith and then working on the ill-fated Bob Cumberford-designed, Intermeccanica-(Torino, Italy) produced Series 600 Griffith. Not true. See the article in its original context from. His Porsche 917-30 was so dominant it was called the Can-Am Killer, as he won seven of eight races and the 1973 Can-Am Championship. This account has been suspended due to strange activity. Several minutes later Donohue regained consciousness and spoke with his rescuers, who took him to Knittelfeld hospital. Not that Donohues career or his one win in NASCAR needed validation, but IROC has long crystallized what fans thought of the talent in drivers who never outwardly succeeded in the Cup Series. The real engineers were Don Cox [from GM] and Helmut Flegl [from Porsche]. It was largely Flegl who created the Porsche 917-30, whose 1100 horsepower, the SCCA bitched, was killing the Can-Am series. Ford immediately signed Donohue to drive one of their GT-40 Mk II race cars campaigned at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Holman & Moody racing team. The 1975 season turned out to be a difficult one for Donohue and Penske. Most of Donohues wins (28) came in Trans-Am, the United States Road Racing Championship (12) and Can-Am (10). At the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue's career, along with Roger Penske's Formula One aspirations, took a tragic turn. Of 55 Trans-Ams he entered, he won 29. Anyone can read what you share. When she brought us in to see the finish, I dont think she knew he had won. In 1967 he became the USRRC champion, winning six out of eight races. I saw him race at Lime Rock in an Elva, and (longtime Penske friend and later president of the IROC series) Jay Signore said I should watch this guy. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links. For the remainder of the 1970 season, Donohue ran a different Lola, with Chevy power, finishing second (again behind Al Unser) at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July. The Penske team leader, Heinz Hofer, said Donohue had told him after the crash that the left front tire had been punctured as he was traveling about 160 m.p.h. Donohue was able to muster fifth-place finishes at the Swedish Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix, but the new Penske PC1 chassis proved problematic, as evidenced by three retirements in the first six races. Mercedes: New W14 sidepod design wont copy F1 rivals, FIA grants Hamilton medical exemption to wear nose studs, FIA grants Hamilton medical exemption to wear nose studs To those who knew him best, he had a tremendous sense of humor and enjoyed pulling pranks. Sponsored by Ancestry. Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske-owned Chevrolet Camaro. As one of the best test drivers and developers in the business, he would get the car ready, then Penske would have to turn it over to a younger hotshot. But the intended hotshot, Peter Revson, was killed in a grandprix accident in March, 1974. (key) (Bold Pole position. U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current. In 1961, Donohue bought the Elva and battled with another young racing star, Peter Revson, for the SCCA divisional championship. Every dime I had I put into cars, he said. Brad Keselowski is second with 54 wins in NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup Series racing. FIA grants Hamilton medical exemption to wear nose studs, Hamilton: F1 retirement talk from Button and Hill not "helpful, Hamilton: F1 retirement talk from Button and Hill not "helpful He did it through sheer force of will. Donohue went on to win 10 of 13 races, a Trans-Am series record which would stand until Tommy Kendall went 11 for 13 in the 1997 Trans-Am championship, winning the first 11 races that year in his All-Sport liveried Mustang. No one knew, but Mark Donohue had just 10 days to live. Mark returned [a year later] because he realized he wasnt good at anything else. Please try again. He was my original partner in racing, Penske told Autoweek. [9] That year, Donohue also won two divisional championships: in SCCA B Class in a GT350 and in SCCA Formula C in a Lotus 20B. Penske's new Penske Racing complex in Mooresville, North Carolina is decorated with various murals of Donohue and his racing cars, most notably the AMC stock car and the various Porsche prototypes that Donohue drove through his career. The four-race schedule consisted of three races at Riverside and a finale on Daytonas road course. The two had a tremendous respect for each other and put their own personal egos aside to win races. Its always great that history is reviewed and remembered and adds more to the prominence and significance of the event to bring it all together. The 1972 Indy win was a classic race for the man who not only drove the race car but also served as its engineer and mechanic back at Penske Racing. We need an obit.. By clicking on 'Join' button, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. Browse 481 mark donohue stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. With the Corvette money, he also bought a trailer to hold the car and a station wagon to tow the trailer.. The Penske grand prix car proved a disappointment and Donohue's best finish this season was a fifth place in the British Grand Prix. "Donohue is no angel out there on the track Parnelli Jones", "Donohue, on the Way Out, Views Things From Top; Calendar of Motor Sports", "1965 Sebring 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance Race Profile", "1966 24 Hours of Le Mans Results and Competitors", "1967 24 Hours of Le Mans Results and Competitors", "Mark Donohue Named '500' Rookie of Year", "Mark Donohue set Indy speed record in 1972", "1973 Winston Western 500: Donohue Dominates", "Hall of Fame Members (Mark Donohue Jr.)", "Mark Donohue, Sports Cars, Class of 1990", Mark Donohue's IROC and NASCAR stats at racing-reference.info, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Donohue&oldid=1136103335, Brown University School of Engineering alumni, International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees, SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2014, Pages using small with an empty input parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, run as the Daytona 3 Hour Continental (196263), 24 Hours of Daytona (196671/ 1973/ 1975present), This page was last edited on 28 January 2023, at 19:22. During its production life, there were 192 Series 200 Griffiths built, 59 of the Series 400 and only 10 of the Series 600. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 197374, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs. He was really the first person that I knew in racing that not only had the driving skills, but also the technical knowledge. He won three times in IndyCar competition and won the 1973 NASCAR Cup Series race at Riverside Raceway in Riverside, California, driving an AMC Matador.
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