He was a partner, he was a friend and a critical piece of the foundation of our race team.. Late in 1973, when Penske decided to build a Formula One car for the 1975 season, Donohue knew what would happen. I think at that point we started to bring the sport to a higher level, Penske said. He flew under the radar a lot, but he was always there. A lot of the things we saw on todays cars are things Mark thought about and brought to the surface., Mark Donohue stood out more ways than one when he was dominating the Can Am Series in the early. Then they put both cars in the race, number 15 and 16, one car being 250 pounds lighter. Instructions on how to reset your password have been sent to your email. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. He approaches things the same way. The email you entered is not registered with us. 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 Mark Donohue did not take a traditional route to racing or to Penskes side. It would have really been great watching those two together in the later years if it had gotten that far. We need an obit.. 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. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. 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). Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked unconscious. I don't think I could have handled that.. He tried to be a team manager; that didnt work. Auto Race Car Driver. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? "They posted me to the infield, taking care of people who got too much sun or had too much to drink," Olvey said. Donohue was obsessed with finding any possible advantage through engineering -- and loopholes in the rules. In 1974, he quit driving and became president of Penske Racing. A track marshal was killed by debris from the accident, but Donohue did not appear to be injured significantly. Browse 481 mark donohue stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. 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. Directing other drivers, making suggestions, helping mechanicseven sweeping up around the garagewere not enough. He thinks the same way. See the article in its original context from. Its as if his father is in his presence. His body will be flown to the United States tomorrow and the funeral will take place Monday in Summit, N. J., where Donohue grew up and first got caught up in the hotrod phenomenon. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 1 P.M. in St. Teresa's Church. 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. Mark was an engineer from Brown University, Penske said. 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. 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. 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 . But he was still, a great driver. At the age of twenty-two,[citation needed] while a senior at Brown, Donohue began racing his 1957 Corvette. Fellow racer and former teammate Sam Posey called Donohue, a gunslinger who also happened to have designed the gun.. 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. Watts.) How famous was Mark . Donohues degree from Brown in Mechanical Engineering got him a job designing filters for air conditioners -- not quite what he had in mind. Revson's death made it almost inevitable that Donohue would come out of retirement. When David Donohue was young, he never really got to know his father -- Mark Donohue. The Newtown Square facility was a small, 4,000 square-foot garage out back with a small bungalow in front of the shop. 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. We started with a Lola 4-wheel drive, and in 1971 we got a McLaren. On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 917-30 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. 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. Donohue died in the one aspect of auto racing he Had not conqueredgrand prix. Once, Penske rented a Formula One car for Donohue and in 1971, in his first start in one of these singleseat, opencockpit racing cars, he finished third in the Canadian Grand Prix. 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. He had been a national amateur champion and the Sports Car Club of America driver of the year in 1965. Thank you. 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. 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. He died on August 19, 1975 in Graz, Styria, Austria. The pressures of racing and designing the car took their toll on Donohue. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked . In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. 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. 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]. In all, he won 57 major races and more than $1million. Clark, J. "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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They changed the grille and taillight to the 1968 model, and then painted both cars identically. He was hit on the side of his helmet with debris as his car, which had suffered a punctured tire, went out of control in prerace practice and crashed through four rows of wire catchfences and some billboards along the Oesterreichring race course. 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. Mark Neary Donohue Jr. (March 18, 1937 August 19, 1975), nicknamed "Captain Nice,"[1][2] and later "Dark Monohue,"[2] was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories.[3][4][5][6]. Racing was Donohues obsession. Although photographs of Donohue with the more aerodynamic 1974 Matador coupe exist and are published, he did not drive it in competition. He knew racing drivers couldn't come back. The car did a series of cartwheels, and Donohue broke both legs. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Together, they took on Trans-Am, then turned their attention to the Indianapolis 500. I imagine it must feel like watching another man in bed with your wife. ', On Wednesday morning, August 20, 1975, the phone rang in my dingy beige apartment in Burlington, Ontario. 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. We went to Phoenix and tested it with the wings off and then put the wings on and couldnt believe how fast it was. Sometimes, I would leave early and take my own car to the airport because I didnt want to put up with him. Anyone can read what you share. 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. It was always on to the next project.. He gave us a lot of credibility and was the keystone of our racing. I dont remember him changing a bit.. Jackie Stewart interviews Mark Donohue prior to an IROC race in 1974. He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. I'd always thought that I'm not as good a driver as I am capable of figuring out how to make the car the quickest, he once said. 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. The No. [citation needed] Hansgen arranged for Donohue to become his teammate in 1965, co-driving a Ferrari 275 at the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race,[2] which they finished in 11th place. 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. Complete Canadian-American Challenge Cup results, Inskip Family History & Competition Engineering staff. 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. He did the job for Roger, no question. 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. Donohue's racing tradition is carried on by his son, David Donohue, a successful road racer in his own right. Driver who fled fatal Olney crash gets 20-year sentence. 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. 66 Penske Racing entry went on to win at Indianapolis in 1972 to give Roger Penske the first of his 17 Indy 500 wins. Penske, along with Donohue's wife, Eden, and father, Mark Sr., were at Donohue's bedside. [5][19] Donohue is buried at St. Teresa Cemetery in Summit, New Jersey. It was hard to believe because Donohue and team owner Roger Penske were then the cleverest guys in racing. The two had a tremendous respect for each other and put their own personal egos aside to win races. Portrait of American racing driver Mark Donohue as he poses with his car after winning the Indianapolis 500 race, Speedway, Indiana, May 1972. . 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. 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. Please try again. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. One night I was in Philadelphia and was following Mark to the old shop in Newtown Square. 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. After an initial run of four laps, Donohue entered the pits for a routine check-up and a few adjustments. I was the chief engineer because I was the only engineer, Cox recalled. This. We had a polished yellow tile floor in our garage in Gasoline Alley and took everything out at night and cleaned the floor. 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. Choose a Username Available! 4445. Czarnecki saw the brilliance, humor and darkness -- all part of Donohues character. Mark Donohue died last night. 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. 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. The trip to the airport was like the Mille Miglia. 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. By clicking on 'Join' button, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. Upstairs was a small room with a bed that had an outside private entrance. Neither Donohue or Penske forgot that remark, even after Donohue drove an astounding race and finished third. To those who work at the cemetery, Donohue is simply known as The Race Car Driver to visitors looking for his gravesite. 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. Strange and smart, but very driven., The drive set Mark Donohue apart and made him the winningest driver in Team Penske history. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. [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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. DON HUNTER, BILL OURSLER, THE MANUFACTURERS, Elana Scherr: On the Count of Three (Wheels), Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Donohue disagreed. When she brought us in to see the finish, I dont think she knew he had won. He won the Can Am championship in 197, the TransAm title in 1968, 1969 and 1971. 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. In 1969, Penske brought his team -- and the Penske way -- to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. Carrying the number 66, Donohue qualified 13 th for the California 500, but a burned piston ended his day early, on lap eight. Donohue raced at Indianapolis each year following,[15] finishing second in 1970 and 25th in 1971. In the four-race series, Donohue won the first and third of three races at Riverside and the final race of the year at Daytona. 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. The front of the car was torn away, leaving Donohue, still strapped to his safety seat, with his legs dangling outside the car. He died two days later. He was just that way. Mark Donohue was an enigma. Donohues father was a patent attorney. During a practice session for the race, Donohue lost control of his March after a tyre failed, sending him into the catch fencing at the fastest corner on the track, Vest Hgel Kurve. Donohue chronicled his entire racing career in the book, The Unfair Advantage (co-written with noted motorsports and engineering journalist Paul Van Valkenburgh). You never saw him in an argument with anybody. There was little question then that Donohue, who would testdrive the new car and help supervise its development, would come out of retirement. And neither found what they expected. Brad Keselowski is second with 54 wins in NASCAR Xfinity and Monster Energy Cup Series racing. 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. And I know that Roger loved him. The bumpy, rain-soaked course around J.F.K. 500-mile (800km) SCCA endurance event, which he won. 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. He also gave us our first NASCAR win. It became official last September. We brought some technology. 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 If we're right, by next season we could be the dominant team in Formula One.. In the 1971 Indianapolis 500, Donohue started second and led 52 of the first 66 laps before breaking a gearbox. (Photo: Bob DOlivo / The Enthusiast Network via Getty Images). 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. From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. The 38yearold Donohue underwent a threehour operation at a hospital here Sunday to remove a blood clot from his brain. Coffay fled the scene. 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. With Donohues methodical approach and his commitment to work for Penske fulltime that counted for a lot Penske said. Donohue co-drove in the No. He was really the first person that I knew in racing that not only had the driving skills, but also the technical knowledge. Its a goal he had and a goal he checked off. The Penske overturned into a ravine, just a few meters beyond an underpass in which several people were standing.Debris from Donohue's car, particularly a wheel, hit a policeman, Richard Httner from Baden, who sustained critical head injuries, and three marshals - seriously injuring two of them, Gottfried Crnic and Manfred Schaller. He knew, maybe all along, that he would come back. I realized then that if I wanted to do better in this business I had to spend more time on my car, he said. He died from severe head injuries sustained August 16 in practice for the Austrian Grand Prix at Graz, Austria. 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]. He is known for Formula 1 (1950) and The Trans-Am Challenge (1972). Toy cars at the gravesite of Mark Donohue in Summit, New Jersey. 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. 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. [4] He was survived by his wife and two sons from his first marriage. In 69 Mark repeated his Trans-Am championship, winning six of 12. As Roger Penske said, Mark wasnt flashy, but he put the numbers on the board.. "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. The team was third at Daytona and second at Sebring. In 1970 new Javelin team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue would breathe new life into the AMC team. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske during a break in the Indy-car action at Michigan International Speedway n 1974. The only engineering Donohue went back to concerned race cars. In February of '65 Donohue was named as comptroller at Griffith Motors but was soon spirited away from Griffith by Roger Penske early in 1966. 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. His first marriage ended in divorce and some friends blamed racing. He said so himself many times. Donohue took three victories and the series championship, besting the likes of Petty, Allison, David Pearson, A.J. He was, I feel, the finest road race driver this country has ever produced, Allison told Hemmings Motor News years later. He joined Roger Penske, a former sports car rival who had set up his own team, the following year as a fulltime professional. The 917-30 is referred to as the "Can-Am killer" [18] as it dominated the competition, winning all but two races of the 1973 Can-Am championship (which is an untrue statement, because OPEC killed the Can-Am series in 19751976). He was the thinking man's driver, maybe because, unlike most of his rivals, he had an Ivy League education and maybe because looking at that cherubic face, which was several years younger than his racescarred body, there was no other way to explain how this kid was winning. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. Forgot password? [2], At Hansgen's funeral, Roger Penske spoke to Donohue about driving for him. And given enough time just one more year, maybe he wouldve become Americas first world champion.. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue would begin to experiment with their Camaros. 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. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that all memorial donations be sent to the Auto Racing Fraternity Foundation, 13539 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, Queens.
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