When Mark Donohue died in Austria 40 years ago this week, motor racing lost not only a hugely successful driver, but also someone who would surely have enjoyed a long and productive career on the other side of the sport. Cars that Donohue raced include: AMC Javelin, AMC Matador, Chevrolet Camaro, Eagle-Offy, Elva Courier, Ford GT40 MK IV, Ferrari 250LM, Ferrari 512, Lola T70, Lola T330, Lotus 20, McLaren M16, Porsche 911, Porsche 917/10, Porsche 917/30, Shelby Cobra, and Shelby Mustang GT350R. * Most laps led. They were embarrassed, and like the streak of success following the 71 Indianapolis 500, they returned to Riverside in 1973 with a heavy chip on their shoulders. Back then it was tape-delayed, and she was watching the race on TV. I had just put in 30 consecutive hours of writing, editing, and laying out race reports for CAR Weekly, which we sometimes spelled Weakly because there were only five of us and we possessed merely the slimmest notion of what we were doing. The book documents his career from his first races to his final full season of racing the year before he was killed. I get all of these tiny little stories from everybody where my dad grabbed this guy as a kid and sat him in the car -- and that motivated him enough to go to engineering school. . It would have been really fun to watch the two of them because they are so much alike. It was, as they say in racing, a freak accident. During his stay at Griffith Mark drove the Griffith-owned Shelby 289 Cobra making his mark on the SCCA circuit. He was so key in the operation when he was there its something we had to rebuild. He won Indy and we juiced him up and he was out there giving a speech and he was so funny that his sense of humor came out and everybody loved it. GRAZ, Austria, Aug. 19 (AP)Mark Donohue, who ended an eightmonth retirement as an auto driver last year because he couldn't keep away from racing, died tonight of injuries suffered Sunday at. They made four NASCAR Cup Series starts in 1972 and while they displayed commendable speed Donohue never qualified worse than 11th, including a third-place start at Riverside they failed to finish three of the four races and earned a best finish of 15th at Atlanta. My involvement in racing has been like a jigsaw puzzle, David Donohue told Autoweek. It affected the whole team. He could drive a car in the 24-hour race at Daytona, a Trans-Am Car, an Indy car and a NASCAR car. The two drivers disagreed on many aspects of racing and car setup, but as a team were able to muster a fourth-place finish in the endurance classic.[13]. We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. That is something I would have never had if I didnt go to races. I got to know Mark and hired him to run our Can-Am car. Donohue was a . Mark Donohue (1937-1975), pictured here with wife Eden and nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American race driver who is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp Can-Am Penske Porsche 917-30 and as the 1972 Indianapolis 500 winner in a Team Penske-entered McLaren.Sadly, he perished in an accident during practice for the 1975 Austrian Formula One Grand Prix. Carrying the number 66, Donohue qualified 13 th for the California 500, but a burned piston ended his day early, on lap eight. He knew racing drivers couldn't come back. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. He was young Roger Penskes equal. Foyt and Emerson Fittipaldi, among others tangible proof that, stock-car equipment being even, Donohue was a world beater. The out-of-control car left the track at high speed, tore some 60 meters of the catch-fence on the left side of the track and crashed against the guard-rail, vaulting over it. He approaches things the same way. He won the Can Am championship in 197, the TransAm title in 1968, 1969 and 1971. At first, the former Indianapolis 500 winner was thought to have just a mild concussion. Donohue, no matter what he accomplished, couldnt rest. His lone NASCAR race win was just part of his narrative, but that victory another hurdle in auto racing cleared in partnership with Penske helped ignite a flame thats lasted over 50 years across different genres of the sport and in turn elevated the quality and intelligence of American racing. 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. There, he was Godthat was his way of distinguishing himself. His divine touch extended to his street cars; a friend once described riding in Donohues Porsche 911 as a Wall of Death thing most of the time., The relentless pursuit of perfection eventually took its toll. Instructions on how to reset your password have been sent to your email. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? Worse yet, when Donohue wasnt racing, he was working 18- to 20-hour days at the teams small race shop, located in a garage in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, and later, a more modern facility in nearby Reading. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. Its something that Ive looked at since I was really young as a kid, Donohue said. . Try a week on us. He had one religion: testing. The victory was the first for Penske in the Indy 500. In 1961, Donohue bought the Elva and battled with another young racing star, Peter Revson, for the SCCA divisional championship. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. An investigation determined tire failure caused Donohue's fatal crash, and the family won a $12 million settlement. The pressures of racing and designing the car took their toll on Donohue. Her . We may earn money from the links on this page. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The bumpy, rain-soaked course around J.F.K. He died two days later. David followed his father into sports car racing for Porsche. We need an obit." Warming up for the Austrian Grand Prix, my hero, Donohue, 38, had spun his March at 150 mph and struck his head on a metal bar supporting a sign. Mark Donohue. A Montgomery County man who crashed his car and fled from the wreck, leaving three of his friends dead or dying, on Thursday was sentenced . Stay close to the outside curbing, brake hard, and turn in . Clark, J. He tried to be a team manager; that didnt work. The front of the car was torn away, leaving Donohue, still strapped to his safety seat, with his legs dangling outside the car. I used to hate riding with him to the airport, said Don Cox, a former chief engineer at Penske Racing when Donohue was with the team. Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway . What I realize now is that I wouldnt have succeeded in my other businesses if Mark hadnt completely taken over the race team., In the Penske garage at Indy in 71, someonecertainly not Donohue or Penskeerected a sign that said: Those of you who think you know it all are particularly annoying to those of us who do., .css-dhtls0{display:block;font-family:GlikoS,Georgia,Times,Serif;font-weight:400;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-dhtls0:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-dhtls0{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-dhtls0{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 61.25rem){.css-dhtls0{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.2;}}Elana Scherr: On the Count of Three (Wheels), Elana Scherr: Dodge Challenger Challenge Accepted. The trip to the airport was like the Mille Miglia. I always said driving wasn't really a dangerous situation. I dont remember him changing a bit.. Mark obviously brought an air of professionalism. He said so himself many times. But this was a safe driver, a man who knew his limits, his car's limits and didn't go over the edge, as they say in racing. The driver of the Honda was killed. Think about the championships we won together, the first Indy 500 victory for the team, three Trans-Am championships. He was on for a second appearance at the Glen, but a practice accident saw Mark being replaced by David Hobbs. In all, there were 57 major victories and more than $1million in purses for this pleasant, intelligent man who gave up a career in mechanical engineering because racing is what he wanted to do. In 1971, of the ten races that the Over 2.5L Class cars participated in, Donohue won seven of them, including the final six races in a row, with AMC winning the Manufacturers' championship for the first time ever. Losing a driver is something you cant replace. What controls the frontline in the latest F1 design tech battles, Why Autosport is changing how it ranks F1 drivers from 2023 onwards, Why Autosport is changing how it ranks F1 drivers from 2023 onwards Its as if his father is in his presence. He was very quiet, very unassuming, Mario Andretti told Autoweek. It was always on to the next project.. Please try again. It became official last September. Every dime I had I put into cars, he said. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. A Pennsylvania native by the name of Mark Donohue, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, pedaled a red-white-and-blue AMC Matador to his only Cup Series victory in six career starts. By then, he had remarried to a model from Atlanta named Eden. Donohue won in 1972, driving for Penske. IndyCar St. Petersburg: Dixon leads Herta in incident-packed opening practice, Bahrain GP: F1 technical images direct from the pitlane, Bahrain GP: F1 technical images direct from the pitlane You never saw him in an argument with anybody. Mark Donohue drove the Porsche 917-30 Can-Am after making various aerodynamic and suspension modifications. Mark Donohue is killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. His instant F1 success led to no further involvement in the category, Mark instead concentrating on his blossoming Indy career, winning the big one in 1972. . His 59 wins remain the most of any driver for Team Penske. His retirement was short-lived, however, as he was lured back to full-time competitive driving by Penske when he formed a Formula One team, Penske Cars Ltd, to compete in the final two events of the 1974 Formula One World Championship, and to continue competing in 1975 with the new Penske PC1. [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. Neither Donohue or Penske forgot that remark, even after Donohue drove an astounding race and finished third. Donohue chronicled his entire racing career in the book, The Unfair Advantage (co-written with noted motorsports and engineering journalist Paul Van Valkenburgh). [4] He was survived by his wife and two sons from his first marriage. Both Donohue and Penske changed teams to American Motors Corporation in 1970 and won their third championship in 1971. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links. The thing that impressed me most about Mark is how serious he was about racing, vehicle preparation and all of the things that we know that contribute to success, Czarnecki said. Coffay fled the scene. I didnt expect that at all, David Donohue, 51, said. 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. He died from severe head injuries sustained August 16 in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix at Graz, Austria. August 19, 1975 in Graz, Styria, Austria (car accident) Birth Name: Mark Neary Donohue Jr. Mini Bio (1) Mark Donohue was born on March 18, 1937 in Haddon Township, New Jersey, USA. The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023, The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023 Amongst his friends, he liked practical jokes and liked catching people out on things. Donohue was fiercely motivated and was one of the first drivers to bring a sense of mechanical engineering to his craft. Prof. Fritz Heppner, head of the neurosurgical department at Graz Hospital, said irreparable damage had been done to that part of the brain that controls involuntary body functions. We were in Lime Rock and I was in a motorhome and my mom came out and woke my brother and I up so we could watch the end of the race. The search for Mark Donohue concludes in the upscale community of Summit, New Jersey just outside of New York City. With Roger Penske, you are always going to have good equipment. He joined Roger Penske, a former sports car rival who had set up his own team, the following year as a fulltime professional. What can be better in life, a better ideal?, In 1966, Penske told him: Try it for a year, you're still a young man, and if it doesn't work out you can always go back to engineering.. The two had a tremendous respect for each other and put their own personal egos aside to win races. We were there to go racing.. Brad Keselowski is second with 54 wins in NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup Series racing. (key) (Bold Pole position. 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. Even with only three caution flags, the race lasted 12 minutes shy of five hours, a brutal exercise for the majority of the right-turn-averse stock car regulars, but nothing a veteran of the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring hadnt already experienced. . Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? Aug 21, 2015, 4:28 PM. The original Penske Racing team included Penske, Donohue, chief mechanic and crew chief Karl Kainhofer. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. The $9500 price was a 50-percent premium over the fully optioned Camaro Racemark started with. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. I think at that point we started to bring the sport to a higher level, Penske said. He was a winner at the 24 Hours of Daytona and in stock cars. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, in New York while being honored at a luncheon. Although photographs of Donohue with the more aerodynamic 1974 Matador coupe exist and are published, he did not drive it in competition. 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 It includes information and additional photography that was not available before the first edition was published. David followed his father into sports car racing for Porsche. 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 Instead, Donohue retired. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske during a break in the Indy-car action at Michigan International Speedway n 1974. The book was published shortly before Donohue's death. "Going down the back straightaway, the wing, which produced a tremendous amount of downforce at high speeds, came off the back of the car," Donohue claimed. He tried to get a car dealership; that didnt work. The driver must accept the risks involved, which I didand I spent my time in the hospital as a result.. But supervising the Penske efforts in stock car and Indianapolistype racing did not agree with Donohue. 66 Penske Racing entry went on to win at Indianapolis in 1972 to give Roger Penske the first of his 17 Indy 500 wins. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/21/archives/mark-donohue-returns-to-die.html. 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 Grand Prix. Twelve identically prepared cars is the mantra forever engrained in those who followed the International Race of Champions, and IROCs inaugural season, ranging from the fall of 1973 to the winter of 1974, was one of Donohues finest showings. Riverside was over 2.6 miles long and the duration of the race 500 miles meant this particular event was more of an endurance contest. The highlight of his entire career was winning the . In 1969, Penske brought his team -- and the Penske way -- to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. You can go away and the void that you leave gets filled quickly, but when you come back, you are greeted with open arms. It was August 9, 1975. Complete Canadian-American Challenge Cup results, Inskip Family History & Competition Engineering staff. However, like most race drivers in the various top racing series around the world, he had lived an outright lot of life. They sent the legal weight car through the technical inspection with the number 15 and again with the number 16 on it. Donohue was about to have his race victory taken away for cheating, but Roger Penske stepped in. One track marshal was killed by the crash and another seriousy injured. This remains the last time a ringer captured a win in a Cup Series road course race, but the victory took on a far greater meaning in hindsight. A mechanical engineering graduate from a wealthy New Jersey background, Donohue won everything in sight on the US scene, in every major category.
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