Mark Donohue racked in 59 career wins for Team Penske in several different series. Donohue was the driver of Penskes first Brickyard effort in 1969. To those who knew him best, he had a tremendous sense of humor and enjoyed pulling pranks. No one knew, but Mark Donohue had just 10 days to live. Alonso "not thinking" about Bahrain pole despite topping Friday times, Why Las Vegas is key to F1's growth plans, Why Las Vegas is key to F1's growth plans He was good in Trans-Am, Indy cars, Can-Am and Formula One. The Penske grand prix car proved a disappointment and Donohue's best finish this season was a fifth place in the British Grand Prix. In the 1971 Indianapolis 500, Donohue started second and led 52 of the first 66 laps before breaking a gearbox. 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. 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. ', On Wednesday morning, August 20, 1975, the phone rang in my dingy beige apartment in Burlington, Ontario. Donohue was obsessed with finding any possible advantage through engineering -- and loopholes in the rules. 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 Donohue finished fourth at Daytona and won the Trans-Am class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. 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. We used to clean our garage out every night, and that was something people didnt understand.. Mark Donohue - Wikipedia Please try again. I don't think I could have handled that.. My definition of too much horsepower is when all four wheels are spinning in every gear., Burge Hulett, Donohues lifelong friend, told Bedard: Mark was actually a bit of a doofus, awkward everywhere except behind the wheel. Mark Donohue began racing at the age of 22 in a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette . Motorist killed in Montgomery County crash, police say Then they put both cars in the race, number 15 and 16, one car being 250 pounds lighter. racing was concerned, he had done it all. Mark Donohue Fatal Crash (Alternate Footage) - video Dailymotion Strange and smart, but very driven., The drive set Mark Donohue apart and made him the winningest driver in Team Penske history. 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. The original Penske Racing team included Penske, Donohue, chief mechanic and crew chief Karl Kainhofer. Donohue took three victories and the series championship, besting the likes of Petty, Allison, David Pearson, A.J. 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. The Unfair Advantage, at Indy - Mark Donohue's 1970 Lola T-153 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. 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 Video of the Day: Donohue breaks closed-course record Seeing another man driving your car, a car you know so well. Mark Donohue races to the win at the the 1972 Indy 500. Instructions on how to reset your password have been sent to your email. An experienced race driver named Walt Hansgen (who worked for Inskip Motors in New York & Rhode Island) recognized Donohue's ability[2] and befriended him, eventually providing an MGB (through Inskip Motors in Providence, RI and prepped by their race shop Competition Engineering)[8] for Donohue to race at the 1964 Bridgehampton During a post-race inspection, race stewards discovered that the car was 250 pounds lighter than the 2,800-pound minimum weight requirement. Coffay fled the scene. (He was operated on at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta by Drs. But if his father, Mark Sr., a successful patent lawyer, never envisaged a racing career for his son, neither cid young Mark. 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. DON HUNTER, BILL OURSLER, THE MANUFACTURERS, Elana Scherr: On the Count of Three (Wheels), Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. That sense of realism often hits Mark Donohues son. Donahue qualified fourth and passed Bobby Allison for the lead on Lap 10. 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. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue's career, along with Roger Penske's Formula One aspirations, took a tragic turn. Revson's death made it almost inevitable that Donohue would come out of retirement. He was helped by Emerson Fittipaldi, Bob Evans and Hans-Joachim Stuck, who arrived to the scene of the accident and parked their cars. Donohue won in 1972, driving for Penske. Mark Donohue. DUI accident in the history of this county," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said at a news conference. 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. 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. Choose a Username Available! And neither found what they expected. At first, the former Indianapolis 500 winner was thought to have just a mild concussion. The lightweight car was featured on an episode of Dream Car Garage on Speed TV in 2005. We started to look at data Mark was an engineer at Brown (University), and that was certainly part of it, but we were committed. 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. Anyone can read what you share. In fact, Mark often wasnt the engineer at all. 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 won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. We need an obit.. He knew racing drivers couldn't come back. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? Its been 43 years since Donohues death, but he remains Penske Racings cornerstone. Czarnecki saw the brilliance, humor and darkness -- all part of Donohues character. I can hardly wait to get back to work with our car, he said. It was, as they say in racing, a freak accident. So they fiddled with it in non-meaningful ways, then Mark went back out. He gained 11.5 secondsthe quickest Ferrari in the field and fourth overall. He finds the same things funny. 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. Mark won the 1972 Indianapolis 500 when David was just five. Please try again. Mark Donohue spent many late nights in the bungaloo in front of the original Penske garage in Newtown Square, Pa. Marks wife, Sue, raised young David and his older brother Michael. At the age of twenty-two,[citation needed] while a senior at Brown, Donohue began racing his 1957 Corvette. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Today, he works. Our car experts choose every product we feature. A mechanical engineering graduate from a wealthy New Jersey background, Donohue won everything in sight on the US scene, in every major category. By clicking on 'Join' button, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. . He was, I feel, the finest road race driver this country has ever produced, Allison told Hemmings Motor News years later. 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. The Porsche engineers obliged, but the new ducts interfered with the bodywork closure pins that attached body panels to the car. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 197374, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs. During testing at Road Atlanta, Donohue recommended larger brake ducts, believing that more cooling would slow the brakes' degradation during a race. 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. We went to Phoenix and tested it with the wings off and then put the wings on and couldnt believe how fast it was. Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. (born March 18 1937 in Haddon Township, New Jersey, United States - died August 19 1975 in Graz, Austria) was an American racing driver who most notably drove in Formula One and sports cars. That didnt satisfy his competitive spirits, so he decided to take on Formula One. Racing was Donohues obsession. Mark Donohue Fatal Crash | PopScreen In winning the first IROC championship, Donohue beat the best racing drivers of that era from all of the major championships, such as Denny Hulme, Richard Petty, A. J. Foyt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Peter Revson, Bobby Unser, and Gordon Johncock. 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. 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. He answered, "It will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear.". His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). Make sure you track out all the way for Turn 7. . No one piece tells you what the puzzle is. During its production life, there were 192 Series 200 Griffiths built, 59 of the Series 400 and only 10 of the Series 600. David Donohue drives his dad's 1972 Indy 500-winning car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28 km) high-banked oval was 221.120 mph (355.858 km/h). To appreciate what Donohue and Penske accomplished that day, lets consider three important points: Its safe to say Donohue, an Ivy League-educated engineer, was Penskes muse when it came to auto racing; the burgeoning team owner offered Donohue a driving job at a funeral for Donohues friend, Walt Hansgen, his co-driver in sports cars whod helped guide young Donohues career to that point. - Remembering Mark Donohue - FormulaSpy Its something that Ive looked at since I was really young as a kid, Donohue said. It became official last September. Every time David Donohue sees that car, he sees his father. Penske, along with Donohue's wife, Eden, and father, Mark Sr., were at Donohue's bedside. Back then it was tape-delayed, and she was watching the race on TV. I was the chief engineer because I was the only engineer, Cox recalled. [2][6], Donohue won the SCCA national championship in an Elva Courier in 1961. Auto Race Car Driver. Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske-owned Chevrolet Camaro. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. If we're right, by next season we could be the dominant team in Formula One.. Drs. Stephen Olvey and Terry Trammell in Motorsports Hall of Fame of Hed drive the truck, hed drive the race car, he would work on the car. And I know that Roger loved him. 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 Iconic 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 Raced by Mark Donohue Is Up for 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. Think about the championships we won together, the first Indy 500 victory for the team, three Trans-Am championships. 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]. The 2023 Genesis G90 Shows Sedans Still Matter, Horner: FIA 'Got a New Couch' From His Team's Fine, Why Ford and GM Truck Production Has Stopped, Alonso, Aston Martin Put Red Bull on Notice, Autoweek Racing on TV: February 27-March 5, Racer helped build the foundation for Roger Penske's racing success, Newman/Haas Racing Is Selling 42 Indy Cars Oct. 29, Three-time Indy 500 Starter Rasmussen Dies at 85, How Dixon's Simple Mistake Cost Him Indy 500 Win, Move Over ABBA, Sweden Has a New Racing Superstar, Jimmie Johnson's Indy 500 Experience Ends in Crash, Ayla Agren Is Montoya's Eyes in the Sky for 500, 11 Closest Indianapolis 500 Finishes in History, Larry Foyt Out to Get A.J. He was young Roger Penskes equal. Mark Donohue is killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. That took a couple of years. Im sure David really missed out on a lot. Acid-dipping car bodies was prevalent with competing Trans-Am teams also. 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 Brian Redman drove it once in 1974, and that was it for the car as far as Penske campaigning it. [11] Earlier that year, co-driving with Hansgen, Donohue finished third at the 24 Hours of Daytona and second at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Mark Donohue's Fatal Crash - sterreichring 1975 (42 years ago) It includes information and additional photography that was not available before the first edition was published. 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. 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. He began to spend more than time. However, the Penske Formula One car proved unsound and Donohue's best finish this year was a fifth place. Penske warned that any disqualification would have the potential of motivating Chevrolet to pull all support for the Trans-Am series. 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. Donohue and Hawkins completed only twelve laps due to differential failure and finished 47th. He is known for Formula 1 (1950) and The Trans-Am Challenge (1972). By then, he had remarried to a model from Atlanta named Eden. It was August 9, 1975. Donohue was considered a leading Trans-Am driver of the late 1960s and early 1970s. 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. Painkillers affected his memory, and he began drinking heavily to deal with the pain. 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. They won the race, finished third overall, and went on to win 10 out of 13 races that year. 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 had a polished yellow tile floor in our garage in Gasoline Alley and took everything out at night and cleaned the floor. He could drive a car in the 24-hour race at Daytona, a Trans-Am Car, an Indy car and a NASCAR car. Le Mans proved frustrating for Donohue. Donohue recently had arrived in Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix at the sterreichring race track following the successful closed-course speed record attempt at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama just a few days earlier. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. The supposition is that a support post from one of the advertising signs caught Donohue's helmet. Le cavalier du diable - Film d'pouvante sur Tl 7 Jours

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