Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Mark Donohue. 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. [4] He was survived by his wife and two sons from his first marriage. Acid-dipping car bodies was prevalent with competing Trans-Am teams also. Driver who fled fatal Olney crash gets 20-year sentence. Maybe it was some Austrian rock, but whatever it was, one of Donohue's tires blew at 160 miles an hour. Mark Donohue did not take a traditional route to racing or to Penskes side. You never saw him in an argument with anybody. He knew, maybe all along, that he would come back. Walt Hangsen, a former SCCA champion and road racing veteran who even make a pair of F1 starts, helped Donohue get a ride in John Mecoms Ferrari 250LM at Sebring in 1965. A fire at the Sunoco refinery near the airport dominated the front pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer, but the sports section belonged to Mark Donohue, a racecar driver who had blown a tire during a practice run before the Austrian Grand Prix and died from complications related to the accident two days later, August 19, 1975. With Roger Penske, you are always going to have good equipment. David Donohue drives his dad's 1972 Indy 500-winning car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016. It is there at Saint Teresa Cemetery and Mausoleum that Donohue is buried alongside his mother and father. Instructions on how to reset your password have been sent to your email. [2] Donohue announced that he would retire from racing after the 1973 Can-Am season. Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske-owned Chevrolet Camaro. It was an epic stomping; he led over 361 miles that day, and in perusing the finishing order Bobby Unser finished fourth while West Series drivers Ray Elder, Jimmy Insolo, Jack McCoy and Richard White, all of whom made regular stops at Riverside, finished third, fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively it was clear this was a race decided by the interlopers, the kind of race we no longer see in modern-day NASCAR, where drivers have been cross-trained and educated on technology and data to the point each race contains 38 different versions of the Donohue prototype. When you see the car in real life, it becomes so much more real.. He needed something he could do well., Alas, Penske Racings first F1 car, the PC1, was so mediocre that Donohue persuaded Penske to replace it with a customers March 751, a curious crack in the myth that was Mark. ), (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap). Secrets of the mysterious 1975-77 Camaro Racemark GT And so, last Sunday, while warming up his car at the Oesterreichring, a hill five hours by train from Vienna in the middle of nowhere, he had an accident. The singleseat, opencockpit Formula One cars used in grand prix racing have been called torpedoes. The lightweight car was featured on an episode of Dream Car Garage on Speed TV in 2005. That sense of realism often hits Mark Donohues son. Donohues dad was often racing in the United States or Canada for a fledgling operation called Penske Racing. Mark was an engineer from Brown University, Penske said. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. The pressures of racing and designing the car took their toll on Donohue. 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. Mark Donohue racked in 59 career wins for Team Penske in several different series. Although photographs of Donohue with the more aerodynamic 1974 Matador coupe exist and are published, he did not drive it in competition. He answered, "It will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear.". Found a bug?SuggestionsCopyrightNeed help?Business DevelopmentGeneral inquiry, PopScreen - Video Search, Bookmarking and Discovery Engine. 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. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. The book told how Donohue learned to exploit the antilock braking system and the powerful turbocharged engine of several prototype Porsches, as well as how he learned from various mishaps, including a near-fatal crash. The 38yearold Donohue underwent a threehour operation at a hospital here Sunday to remove a blood clot from his brain. ', On Wednesday morning, August 20, 1975, the phone rang in my dingy beige apartment in Burlington, Ontario. He flew under the radar a lot, but he was always there. To those who knew him best, he had a tremendous sense of humor and enjoyed pulling pranks. There was also Earl McMullen and Bill Cox, who worked for the teams sponsor, Sun Oil. [citation needed] He graduated from Brown in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. This. Coffay fled the scene. Donohue was considered a leading Trans-Am driver of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Aug 21, 2015, 4:28 PM. Donohue had stepped out of driving retirement . . Several minutes later Donohue regained consciousness and spoke with his rescuers, who took him to Knittelfeld hospital. August 19th marks twenty-five years ago that Mark Donohue passed away from brain trauma, which was caused from an accident while practicing for a Formula 1 event. The Newtown Square facility was a small, 4,000 square-foot garage out back with a small bungalow in front of the shop. Oops! He was so key in the operation when he was there its something we had to rebuild. 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. Mark Donohue's tragic comeback - Autosport The hotrod phenomenon came East from California and caught me up in it, he once explained. Donohue was able to obtain two fifth places in the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp and in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but scored five DNF's in the first 11 races of the season.A few days before going to Zeltweg for the Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled to be contested on 17 August 1975, Penske and Porsche attempted to set the world closed-course record. 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 Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway. We had the tragic crash in practice and he seemed like he was all right, but he ended up losing his life. Donohue went on to win the first-ever 500-mile USAC Champ Car Series race at Pocono in 71 and claimed victory at Indianapolis in his return in 1972. Every time David Donohue sees that car, he sees his father. That is something I would have never had if I didnt go to races. 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. Auto Race Car Driver. And, according to Cox, Roger certainly did his part in coming up with next projects.. He busted a gut when we got back to the shop. Then there was Marks other side. He was good in Trans-Am, Indy cars, Can-Am and Formula One. Had there been a Drivers' Championship in place at the time, he would have won three of them (his last in 1971) while driving Camaros in 1968 and 1969, and an AMC Javelin in 1971, all for Roger Penske Racing. 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. Please try again. Donohue was a . 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. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. It meant immediate surgery. That got everybodys attention -- the polished wheels, the way our guys looked, the way the cars were prepared and obviously, the performance was good. Event the win at the 1972 Indianapolis 500 created more sleepless nights, because the win did not come on his own terms. It was an iconic car, iconic colors for the day and it really brings back memories. Brian Redman drove it once in 1974, and that was it for the car as far as Penske campaigning it. . Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. They also acid-dipped the body on the Camaro and had to caution people not to lean against it, for fear it would dent. Try a week on us. But his thinking man's approach to racing, while successful on the track, was difficult off. He was my original partner in racing, Penske told Autoweek. Continuing the practice of reducing weight allowed them to place weights of certain sizes strategically in specific locations within the car, thus helping to balance the car while being driven on the limit. Unfair Advantages: The Life and Times of Mark Donohue They discovered that using a drag racing trick of dipping a car in an acid bath would eat away small amounts of metal, which in turn made the car incrementally lighter, and allowed it to be driven faster. His 59 wins remain the most of any driver for Team Penske. 1975, resulting from an accident two days earlier during practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. Donohue. He is known for Formula 1 (1950) and The Trans-Am Challenge (1972). The Griffith company closed its doors in November, 1966. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue's career, along with Roger Penske's Formula One aspirations, took a tragic turn. The book documents his career from his first races to his final full season of racing the year before he was killed. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Hansgen died while testing the GT40 in preparation for Le Mans so Donohue partnered with Australian Paul Hawkins. Penske's first race shop in Newtown Square, Pa. All of these tiny little stories you get to put all of these puzzle pieces together and get a much better picture of my father. Mark Donohue Fatal Crash (Alternate Footage) Browse more videos Playing next 5:35 Airplane Crash Compilation 2015 SHOCKING FOOTAGE - Most Epic Plane Crashes Caught on Camera Fatal Ab Tak 4:59 Airplane Crash Compilation 2015 SHOCKING FOOTAGE - Most Epic Plane Crashes Caught on Camera Fatal punjabi & islamic tv 5:35 Donohue and Hawkins completed only twelve laps due to differential failure and finished 47th. Mark Donohue was one of the daredevil drivers of the 1970's. He exuded boyhood charm, was a speed demon behind the wheel, and was a legend of US racing, with wins at Daytona, the Indy 500, and Trans-Am Champion. We need an obit.. On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 91730 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. 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. Porsche, Penske, and Donohue quickly started the development of the 917-30, complete with a reworked aerodynamic "Paris" body and a 5.4-liter turbocharged flat-12 engine whose output could be adjusted from about 1,100 to 1,500 bhp[citation needed] by turning a boost knob in the cockpit. His true passion was racing. Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked . https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/21/archives/mark-donohue-returns-to-die.html. J. Funk and J. L. In 1969, Penske brought his team -- and the Penske way -- to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. Mark Donohue began racing at the age of 22 in a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette . The Penske grand prix car proved a disappointment and Donohue's best finish this season was a fifth place in the British Grand Prix. The Unfair Advantage, at Indy - Mark Donohue's 1970 Lola T-153 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. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. My involvement in racing has been like a jigsaw puzzle, David Donohue told Autoweek. Why Autosport is changing how it ranks F1 drivers from 2023 onwards, The key factors behind F1s Premier League-style managerial revolving door, The key factors behind F1s Premier League-style managerial revolving door When he came out, he was a different person. He said, Just follow me. Following Mark Donohue on a two-lane road with no street lights was an exercise. Both Donohue and Penske changed teams to American Motors Corporation in 1970 and won their third championship in 1971. Late in 1973, when Penske decided to build a Formula One car for the 1975 season, Donohue knew what would happen. Mark returned [a year later] because he realized he wasnt good at anything else. Search instead in Creative? The setup he designed for his car didnt have as much speed as teammate Gary Bettenhausens setup. John Phillips: For Mark Donohue, 1100 hp was 'Far From Too Much' Instead, the Racemark GT had Bedard, also a racer, showering praise. Bahrain GP: F1 technical images direct from the pitlane, What we learned from Friday practice at F1's 2023 Bahrain GP, What we learned from Friday practice at F1's 2023 Bahrain GP 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. PART II: Penske's L&M Porsche, The Untold Story of Can Am's Most Famous It comes up quickly and, at more than 90 degrees, is the slowest corner on this course. 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 Of 55 Trans-Ams he entered, he won 29. 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. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, while being honored at a luncheon following his retirement. Mark Donohue - Wikipedia This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. However, like most race drivers in the various top racing series around the world, he had lived an outright lot of life. Mark Donohue (1937-1975) - Find a Grave Memorial That day at Indy, Bobby Unsers Eagle dominated the contest before Unser dropped out. That didnt satisfy his competitive spirits, so he decided to take on Formula One. When Donohue took the Ferrari to Le Mans, the car attained only 205 mph on the straight versus the Porsche 917s 235 mph. George Follmer, Donohue's old Trans-Am teammate, took over testing the 917-10 for Donohue, who said: It just doesn't feel right. A mechanical engineering graduate from a wealthy New Jersey background, Donohue won everything in sight on the US scene, in every major category. In 1967, Penske contacted Donohue about driving Penske's brand new Lola T70 spyder in the United States Road Racing Championship. 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. Despite this, Donohue still dominated the series, even though he suffered three DNFs during the season due to mechanical problems with the M6A. 1968 would be a banner year for Donohue in the Trans-Am series, as he successfully defended his 12 Hours of Sebring victory by partnering with Craig Fisher and driving his Penske Chevrolet Camaro to victory. 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. The bumpy, rain-soaked course around J.F.K. Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery. In addition, the horrific events at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 and the subsequent death of his friend, Swede Savage, pushed him to quit. He had been a national amateur champion and the Sports Car Club of America driver of the year in 1965. After considering the potential consequences, the race stewards allowed Donohue's victory to stand, but the rules for the 1968 season incorporated a change whereby all cars would be weighed during the technical inspection before the race. The guy that is most like Mark that Ive ever met is David, said Don Cox. The Unfair Advantage by Mark Donohue | Goodreads 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 . Donohue co-drove in the No. Upstairs was a small room with a bed that had an outside private entrance. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). We were there to go racing.. Mark Donohue & Manfred Schaller's Fatal Crash @ sterreichring 1975 (Aftermath) FatalMotorsportChannel 26.2K subscribers Subscribe 24K views 4 months ago Mark Donohue and Roger Penske had. I can hardly wait to get back to work with our car, he said. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 197374, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs. He died two days later. David Donohue is proof positive that apples dont fall far from the tree. During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. 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. Except I knew it wouldnt last, recalls Penske Racings timer/scorer Judy Stropus. The four-race schedule consisted of three races at Riverside and a finale on Daytonas road course. David followed his father into sports car racing for Porsche. Donohue won. this email address already registerd with us. Between 1971 and 1972, Penske Racing (along with Donohue as the primary test and development driver) was commissioned by Porsche to help develop the 917-10 to compete in the Can-Am series. Autoweek participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. And Mark Donohue couldn't live with retirement. Donohue died in the one aspect of auto racing he Had not conqueredgrand prix. Donohue began the 1975 Formula 1 season as a 38-year-old rookie and the oldest driver on the grid. He knew racing drivers couldn't come back. In the 1971 Indianapolis 500, Donohue started second and led 52 of the first 66 laps before breaking a gearbox. In an interview then, he talked of his disappointing grand prix showing. Her . Jayski's Mark Donohue Tribute - Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site A friend once described riding in Donohue's Porsche 911 as a 'Wall of Death thing most of the time. That took a couple of years. Donohue demolished Al Unser's IMS track record of 170.221mph with a 181.2mph practice lap on May 12, a day that still makes Penske chuckle. Mark Donohue races to the win at the the 1972 Indy 500. The No. First to go was his marriage, says Argetsinger. The driver must accept the risks involved, which I did and I spent my time in the hispital as a result., See the article in its original context from. Their performance on the track also quickly turned heads. After an initial run of four laps, Donohue entered the pits for a routine check-up and a few adjustments. He was sleeping at the shop, and he couldnt say no to Rogercouldnt decline more development, more cars, more projects., Weary and still recuperating from leg injuries sustained in an awful crash at Road Atlantawhich briefly left him allegedly abusing alcoholDonohue announced his retirement at the end of 73. Ferraris chief engineer Mauro Forghieri glared at it and said, Theyll never let you run that wing at Le Mans. Mark replied, Well, I wouldnt want to run this wing at Le Mans, would I?, Partly because we were both engineers, Mark and I hit it off, recalls Patrick Bedard. Drs. Stephen Olvey and Terry Trammell in Motorsports Hall of Fame of He turned out to be a real partner of mine. A visit to the gravesite on a gray, cold, foggy March day revelaved little toy race cars on the gravestone, along with a plastic checkered flag -- a testament the life of Mark Donohue. Goldberg Segalla, LLP, Albany (Mark Donohue of counsel), for respondents. But there was one phase of racing that he had never really taken part in, what he called his personal missing link. This was in the Formula One cars, perhaps this dangerous sport's most dangerous, which run on the grand prix circuit. It was hard to believe because Donohue and team owner Roger Penske were then the cleverest guys in racing. The 1967 Z-28 won its last race by lapping the entire field of cars, causing suspicion throughout the paddock. Prior to a race, he would sit in the back of the transporter by himself in the dark and think about the race, Czarnecki said. He wanted to show he could do it all again. We may earn money from the links on this page. In auto racing, though, even thinking man's drivers can get killed by punctured tires. Donohue previously had debuted in Formula One on September 19, 1971, with a Penske-sponsored McLaren at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park, finishing on the podium in third place. Since his remarriage eight months ago, those same friends found Donohue relaxed and cheerful, something he had not been while retired. Then, in March, 1974, Peter Revson, Penske's first choice as driver for the Formula One car that was to make its debut later in the season, was killed in an accident practicing for the South African Grand Prix. [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. Donohue, equipped with a mechanical-engineering degree from Brown University, approached car setup not with pet theories or traditional wisdom but with a slide rule, an overarching grasp of how physics strives to thwart a race cars mission, and 300 push-ups daily. 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. On 09 August he reached an average speed around the 2.66 mile high-banked oval, of 221.120 mi/h (about 355 km/h), this has been a World record for several years.Donohue and the Penske team then made the trip to Austria. Our car experts choose every product we feature. See the article in its original context from. Going racing meant anywhere and everywhere, and the two chose to tackle stock cars. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske had planned an hard assault to the 1975 Formula 1 Championship, but the season soon turned out to be difficult. The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023, The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023 Mark Donohue's Fatal Crash - sterreichring 1975 (42 years ago) Born in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Donohue grew up in Summit,[7] graduated from the Pingry School in Hillside, and entered Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. We will get back to you in 24 hours. 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. He won three national sports car championships as an amateur before he turned professional in 1966, first as the late Walt Hansgen's codriver, then for the rest of his life with Penske. Donahue qualified fourth and passed Bobby Allison for the lead on Lap 10. I got into racing because it seemed like an easy thing to do. He was young Roger Penskes equal. When Penske decided late to enter Formula One full time, Donohue had a difficult decision to make. 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. We were the college kids with the crew cuts and the polished wheels, Penske said. I think the people at Indy thought we were the college guys with the crew haircuts and the polished wheels. Mark Donohue. Hangsen was killed testing a car for the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. It became official last September. In all, he won 57 major races and more than $1million. "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. 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.. I know their first conversation after the race, he didnt say (that he had won). 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. During its production life, there were 192 Series 200 Griffiths built, 59 of the Series 400 and only 10 of the Series 600. The track chosen for the speed record attempt was the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Its something that Ive looked at since I was really young as a kid, Donohue said. It is said that Donohue's head struck either a catch fencing post or the bottom of the wood frame for an advertising billboard located alongside of the racetrack. Thank you. The driver must accept the risks involved, which I didand I spent my time in the hospital as a result.. Drexel University 1973 Lexerd (Yearbook), pp. 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. The original Penske Racing team included Penske, Donohue, chief mechanic and crew chief Karl Kainhofer. He was one of the best American roadracers in history, but his biggest triumph was on the oval at Indianapolis, where in 1972 he won the 500.
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