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. Password He did the job for Roger, no question. The car did a series of cartwheels, and Donohue broke both legs. The 917/30 generally is considered one of the most powerful and most dominant racing machines ever created. The bungalow is where team manager Chuck Cantwell and the teams public relations director Dan Luginbuhl worked along with secretary Maryann ODonnell. Donohue raced at Indianapolis each year following,[15] finishing second in 1970 and 25th in 1971. Together, they took on Trans-Am, then turned their attention to the Indianapolis 500. But there was always that missing link, as he called itgrand prix. Racing was Donohues obsession. I know their first conversation after the race, he didnt say (that he had won). With his marriage to Sue falling apart, Donohues personal life was in turmoil. Browse 481 mark donohue stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. He was killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. Donohue's rocketed 7 through four wire catchfences and several roadside billboards. His first marriage ended in divorce and some friends blamed racing. We may earn money from the links on this page. It became official last September. 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]. Walt Czarnecki, Team Penske vice chairman and among the operations early members, has a deep admiration and respect for what Donohue meant to the Penske organization. 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 email you entered is not registered with us. He tried to get a car dealership; that didnt work. He wanted to show he could do it all again. It would have really been great watching those two together in the later years if it had gotten that far. 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. 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. 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.. In 1967 and 1968, Trans-Am schedule included two of the most prized endurance races in the world, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. The search for Mark Donohue concludes in the upscale community of Summit, New Jersey just outside of New York City. 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. If he didnt test a car before a race, he didnt have his Peanuts security blanket and would fret that his edge was lost.. By clicking on 'Join' button, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return, IndyCar St. Petersburg: Dixon leads Herta in incident-packed opening practice, IndyCar St. Petersburg: Dixon leads Herta in incident-packed opening practice 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. Coffay fled the scene. I got to know Mark and hired him to run our Can-Am car. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links. It was hard to believe because Donohue and team owner Roger Penske were then the cleverest guys in racing. In 1970 new Javelin team owner Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue would breathe new life into the AMC team. 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. Donohue won in every type of race car he climbed into except for one -- the Formula 1 March 751 that ultimately cost him his life. The Griffith company closed its doors in November, 1966. Driver who fled fatal Olney crash gets 20-year sentence. 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]. The Newtown Square facility was a small, 4,000 square-foot garage out back with a small bungalow in front of the shop. 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. [5][19] Donohue is buried at St. Teresa Cemetery in Summit, New Jersey. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Donohue finished in 12th place at the Canadian Grand Prix, but failed to finish at the United States Grand Prix. . 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. I got into racing because it seemed like an easy thing to do. See the article in its original context from. It was. 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. I did everything I could to keep up. In all, he won 57 major races and more than $1million. On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 917-30 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Directing other drivers, making suggestions, helping mechanicseven sweeping up around the garagewere not enough. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? 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. 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. 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. Le Mans proved frustrating for Donohue. "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. But his edge was rarely lost. 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. Its been 43 years since Donohues death, but he remains Penske Racings cornerstone. We think we've made a major discovery. Clark, J. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. In 69 Mark repeated his Trans-Am championship, winning six of 12. That is where Mark Donohue often slept when he worked his way to near exhaustion at the race shop. Fellow racer and former teammate Sam Posey called Donohue, a gunslinger who also happened to have designed the gun.. 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 We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. As ADAM COOPER recalls, though, it ended in tragedy. Despite this, Donohue still dominated the series, even though he suffered three DNFs during the season due to mechanical problems with the M6A. Neither Donohue or Penske forgot that remark, even after Donohue drove an astounding race and finished third. 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 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. I always said driving wasn't really a dangerous situation. Donohues father was a patent attorney. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue following Donohue's IROC win in 1974. As Roger Penske said, Mark wasnt flashy, but he put the numbers on the board.. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. It comes up quickly and, at more than 90 degrees, is the slowest corner on this course. In the final race of the season, Javelins finished in first, second and third place, with George Follmer becoming the only other Javelin driver to win besides Donohue. 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. Mark Donohue racked in 59 career wins for Team Penske in several different series. He approaches things the same way. He just decided it was time to get out, and he wanted to do the Formula 1 program, Penske said. The singleseat, opencockpit Formula One cars used in grand prix racing have been called torpedoes. Hamilton: F1 retirement talk from Button and Hill not "helpful, How Gulf deal has boosted Williams's F1 commercial strategy, How Gulf deal has boosted Williams's F1 commercial strategy 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. 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. After an initial run of four laps, Donohue entered the pits for a routine check-up and a few adjustments. Losing a driver is something you cant replace. 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. 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. That long association resulted in the ultimate triumph for an American driver in 1972, when he won the Indianapolis 500. He never regained consciousness. Mark Robert Bonhag, 56, of the Highland, Md., area was driving north on New Hampshire Avenue in the . Were far from having too much horsepower, he asserted. ', On Wednesday morning, August 20, 1975, the phone rang in my dingy beige apartment in Burlington, Ontario. 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 https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/21/archives/mark-donohue-returns-to-die.html. Stay close to the outside curbing, brake hard, and turn in . 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. A motorist was killed early Tuesday in a single-car crash in Montgomery County, police said. Its a goal he had and a goal he checked off. 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. Carrying the number 66, Donohue qualified 13 th for the California 500, but a burned piston ended his day early, on lap eight. 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 Mark Donohue returning from retirement to lead Roger Penske's Formula 1 team looked like a perfect match. Im sure David really missed out on a lot. 66 McLaren/Offenhauser that Mark Donohue drove to win the 1972 Indy 500. It affected the whole team. Donohue raced in several NASCAR Grand American races and a NASCAR pony car division from 1968 until 1971. Donohue did not start the first race of the year at Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City due to problems getting the engine to start.
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