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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. Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske-owned Chevrolet Camaro. At Donohue's bedside were his wife of eight months, Eden; his father, Mark Sr., a retired patent lawyer, and Roger Penske, for whom he drove since 1966 and a close personal friend. Mark won the 1972 Indianapolis 500 when David was just five. He was so gentlemanly, he was boring. ), (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap). . Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway. I got to know Mark and hired him to run our Can-Am car. [5][19] Donohue is buried at St. Teresa Cemetery in Summit, New Jersey. He obsessively lived at the shop, working as many as 20 hours a day. As an American driver, he had done it all. 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. They continued to use the "lightweight" car in 1968, at the Sebring 12-hour race. 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. We were the college kids with the crew cuts and the polished wheels, Penske said. It would have really been great watching those two together in the later years if it had gotten that far. Sometimes, I would leave early and take my own car to the airport because I didnt want to put up with him. The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023, The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023 Some of his most notable accomplishments included being the Indy 500 rookie-of-the-year, Trans AM champion and a winner in The 24 Hours of Daytona all in 1969. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, in New York while being honored at a luncheon. 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. Goldberg Segalla, LLP, Albany (Mark Donohue of counsel), for respondents. And given enough time just one more year, maybe he wouldve become Americas first world champion.. David Donohue drives his dad's 1972 Indy 500-winning car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016. He would greet those who didnt know him with a smile, but he was so focused and obsessed with making the race car go fast, he was distant. Hangsen was killed testing a car for the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. The book documents his career from his first races to his final full season of racing the year before he was killed. I realized then that if I wanted to do better in this business I had to spend more time on my car, he said. 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. His son, David, told me: The legend was that my dad and Roger conquered all. He did it at Talladega, Ala., in the turbocharged Porsche he drove to the 1973 CanAm title. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Mark Donohue at the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix, Today, we have specialists, but Mark was such a versatile guy, he drove everything for us.. Auto Race Car Driver. He died two days later. When Penske decided late to enter Formula One full time, Donohue had a difficult decision to make. Donohue's racing tradition is carried on by his son, David Donohue, a successful road racer in his own right. Mark told me, Sometimes you just have to get it done., That was my take, too, says Michael Argetsinger, who has just written a riveting biography called Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed (David Bull Publishing, $39.95). [2], At Hansgen's funeral, Roger Penske spoke to Donohue about driving for him. David Donohue is proof positive that apples dont fall far from the tree. Back then it was tape-delayed, and she was watching the race on TV. On the phone, the editor said, You gotta come back in. Oops! Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. Despite this, Donohue still dominated the series, even though he suffered three DNFs during the season due to mechanical problems with the M6A. How famous was Mark . Hansgen died while testing the GT40 in preparation for Le Mans so Donohue partnered with Australian Paul Hawkins. Password I know their first conversation after the race, he didnt say (that he had won). Its something that Ive looked at since I was really young as a kid, Donohue said. 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. 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 the Austrian Grand Prix. Though he walked away from the resulting crash, he fell into a coma the next day and, shortly after, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue would begin to experiment with their Camaros. U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current. During the day, being the state of health still worrying, he was airlifted to the Universittsklinik of Graz where he was operated by Dr. Fritz Heppner. 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 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. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp "Can-Am Killer" Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1972. And I know that Roger loved him. He did it through sheer force of will. Showing Editorial results for mark donohue. 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. During its production life, there were 192 Series 200 Griffiths built, 59 of the Series 400 and only 10 of the Series 600. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). Donohue. In an interview then, he talked of his disappointing grand prix showing. We went to Phoenix and tested it with the wings off and then put the wings on and couldnt believe how fast it was. Donahue qualified fourth and passed Bobby Allison for the lead on Lap 10. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. He joined Roger Penske, a former sports car rival who had set up his own team, the following year as a fulltime professional. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? 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. 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. Make sure you track out all the way for Turn 7. Penske and Donohue did not stop acid-dipping after this, however. 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 [12] In his first race for Penske, at Watkins Glen in June 1966, Donohue qualified well but crashed the car at the top of a hill, destroying it. Mark Donohue. But in eight months of retirement, the quiet, wellspoken kid from the other side of the tracks learned that the hobby that had become an obsession still haunted him. There were victories in stockcar racing against Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and the other Southern drivers; in the TransAm series, where three times he captured the season title competing against the best sedans the Detroit factories could produce; in the 24 hours of Daytona, against the best international sports cars endurance pilots, and in the initital Pocono 500 in 1971 against A. J. Foyt, Bobby and Al Unser, Mario Andretti and the other stars from the United States Auto Club championship circuit. 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 was killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. We may earn money from the links on this page. Brad Keselowski is second with 54 wins in NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup Series racing. In 1961, Donohue bought the Elva and battled with another young racing star, Peter Revson, for the SCCA divisional championship. Stroll was "protecting" injured wrist during Bahrain GP practice, Alonso "not thinking" about Bahrain pole despite topping Friday times, Alonso "not thinking" about Bahrain pole despite topping Friday times He was so key in the operation when he was there its something we had to rebuild. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. To be sure, it seems what we now know as The Penske Way gained steam with Donohue as its pied piper. It meant immediate surgery. He never regained consciousness. 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 Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker. After coming out of retirement with his former boss, Penske, Donohue returned to Formula One, entering into the final two races of the 1974 Formula One season. Please try again. 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. We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. Two weeks ago, however, he showed he had not lost his skill at getting a race car around a track when he set a world speed record of 221.160 miles an hour for a closed course. We had the tragic crash in practice and he seemed like he was all right, but he ended up losing his life. On his second lap, while at about 260 km/h a rear tire of his March 751 Ford suddenly blew, the out of control car went through the fence for about 180 feet, over a guard-rail and into a ravine. Mark felt he had to devote all his time to the team. Donohue began the 1975 Formula 1 season as a 38-year-old rookie and the oldest driver on the grid. Donohue drove the Javelin to three victories, with AMC finishing second overall in the Manufacturers' Championship. 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. He died two days later. Then they put both cars in the race, number 15 and 16, one car being 250 pounds lighter. Allison, the runner-up finisher, will forever be in awe of what he witnessed from Donohue, with whom hed eventually work while driving for Penske. He began to spend more than time. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. 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. 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 Event the win at the 1972 Indianapolis 500 created more sleepless nights, because the win did not come on his own terms. 66 McLaren/Offenhauser that Mark Donohue drove to win the 1972 Indy 500. During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. And Mark Donohue couldn't live with retirement. The track chosen for the speed record attempt was the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. In 1974, Mark Donohue took a year off from driving at the height of his racing career to write "The Unfair Advantage," a candid and revealing book about his journey through the world of auto racing -- from amateur SCCA races in his own '57 Corvette to winning the Indy 500 in Roger Penske's McLaren M16. 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. In August 1975, while practicing for the Austrian Grand Prix in a March 751, a tire failed, causing Donohue to lose control of the car. That put Bettenhausen in the lead before a pinhole leak in the Bettenhausen cars cooling system with 12 laps to go put Donohue in the lead and the first of Penske Racings record 16 Indy 500 victories. 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. This. During a post-race inspection, race stewards discovered that the car was 250 pounds lighter than the 2,800-pound minimum weight requirement. At about 09h45 he left the pits again for another testing run. 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 returning from retirement to lead Roger Penske's Formula 1 team looked like a perfect match. But where other youngsters were souping up cars to impress girls, I was only interested in the mechanics, Donohue said. 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. 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 The Griffith company closed its doors in November, 1966. Racing was Donohues obsession. What we learned from Friday practice at F1's 2023 Bahrain GP. He went over 180 miles per hour for the first time and it wasnt on the chart, so nobody knew how fast he went. We will get back to you in 24 hours. The lightweight car was featured on an episode of Dream Car Garage on Speed TV in 2005. 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. I was at Lime Rock, Connecticut, Donohue said. Then, in 1977 a chicane, named Hella-Licht, was installed at that point of the track, bringing the length of the circuit to 5.941 kilometers.Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. was survived by his second wife Eden, the couple had only recently married; and his two sons from his previous marriage, Michael and David. He was, I feel, the finest road race driver this country has ever produced, Allison told Hemmings Motor News years later. (Photo: Bob DOlivo / The Enthusiast Network via Getty Images). So in a televised interview after the incident, race driver Mark Donohue told the story of his horrific practice crash at Road Atlanta with carefully chosen words. During his stay at Griffith Mark drove the Griffith-owned Shelby 289 Cobra making his mark on the SCCA circuit. The No. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. A motorist was killed early Tuesday in a single-car crash in Montgomery County, police said. 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. Mark obviously brought an air of professionalism. During testing at Road Atlanta, Donohue recommended larger brake ducts, believing that more cooling would slow the brakes' degradation during a race. Midway through the 1975 F1 season, Penske abandoned the troublesome PC1 and started using the March 751. The winner of the 1972 Indianapolis 500 and the Can Am in l973. A headache resulted, however, and worsened. I think at that point we started to bring the sport to a higher level, Penske said. I imagine it must feel like watching another man in bed with your wife. He was a sweet gentleman in every race. Coming out of turn seven at about 150mph (240km/h), the rear bodywork flew off the car, which became extremely unstable, lifted off the ground, and tumbled down the track. Czarnecki saw the brilliance, humor and darkness -- all part of Donohues character. Donohue won in 1972, driving for Penske. 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. Mark Donohue was killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. His true passion was racing. Instead, Donohue retired. Truth is, they often didnt know if something would work., Thirty-three years after the big crash, Penske told Argetsinger: Mark was my best friend [this, despite Donohue once spearing his boss with an AMC Javelin in the pits, tossing Penske 15 feet]. Donohue. Try a week on us. He gave us a lot of credibility and was the keystone of our racing.