Twice before he had had serious accidents and he walked like a man who had had his knees shattered and put back together again. He was just 22 years old when he had won his first race, a local hill climb. 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. 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. Today, he works for Porsche Cars North America as client relationship manager. But this was a safe driver, a man who knew his limits, his car's limits and didn't go over the edge, as they say in racing. Mark felt he had to devote all his time to the team. 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. The lightweight car was featured on an episode of Dream Car Garage on Speed TV in 2005. This. 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. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. DUI accident in the history of this county," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said at a news conference. 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. Drexel University 1973 Lexerd (Yearbook), pp. It was, as they say in racing, a freak accident. Its as if his father is in his presence. As ADAM COOPER recalls, though, it ended in tragedy. It was at Hangsens funeral that Roger Penske approached Donohue to drive for him. Or, signing some autographs. REWIND: Miller on Mark Donohue | RACER - RACER | Racing News He won many races for us and the first IROC championship with the Porsche. 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. He was my original partner in racing, Penske told Autoweek. We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. Czarnecki saw the brilliance, humor and darkness -- all part of Donohues character. 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. Donohue was able to muster fifth-place finishes at the Swedish Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix, but the new Penske PC1 chassis proved problematic, as evidenced by three retirements in the first six races. His fathers absence from the family took its toll, and eventually the marriage dissolved into divorce. Donohue raced in seven of the eight races that year, winning six (at Las Vegas, Riverside, Bridgehampton, Watkins Glen, Pacific Raceways, and Mid-Ohio) and finishing third at the Laguna Seca Raceway round behind Lothar Motschenbacher and Mike Goth. Donohue, 38, Dead Of Racing Injuries - The New York Times Conversely, Mark had one of the greatest senses of humor of anybody I ever met. 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). A mechanical engineering graduate from a wealthy New Jersey background, Donohue won everything in sight on the US scene, in every major category. After an initial run of four laps, Donohue entered the pits for a routine check-up and a few adjustments. Mark obviously brought an air of professionalism. He died two days later. Seeing another man driving your car, a car you know so well. Mark Donohue was 38 and a sports car champion and 1972 Indianapolis 500 winner. Mark contracted polio when he was 6, but he fully recovered. 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. Not true. Ford had developed a new GT, the Mark IV. The supposition is that a support post from one of the advertising signs caught Donohue's helmet. Le Mans proved frustrating for Donohue. He thinks the same way. 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. That sense of realism often hits Mark Donohues son. Please try again. Through racing and after more than four decades after the tragic death of his father, David Donohue believes he has found Mark Donohue. Password Begrudgingly, Donohue used Bettenhausens setup for the race. 1 Killed in Multi-Car Crash in Olney, Police Say Donohue (along with Penske) were pioneers in many rights, some as notable as the use of a skidpad as a tool for developing and perfecting race car suspension designs and setups. 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. One track marshal was killed by the crash and another seriousy injured. [2], Donohue was hired on March 29, 1964, by Jack Griffith [Griffith Motors, Syosset, N.Y./Plainview, N.Y.] as design engineer for the Griffith, formerly TVR Grantura Mk III, powered by a Ford 289 cid (4.7l) V8 engine. The winner of the 1972 Indianapolis 500 and the Can Am in l973. He was so gentlemanly, he was boring. 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]. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue following Donohue's IROC win in 1974. He died two days later. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. Mark Robert Bonhag, 56, of the Highland, Md., area was driving north on New Hampshire Avenue in the . In the 19721973 season, driving an AMC Matador for Penske Racing in NASCAR's top division, the Winston Cup Series, Donohue won the season-opening event at Riverside. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 91730 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. George Follmer, Donohue's old Trans-Am teammate, took over testing the 917-10 for Donohue, who said: It just doesn't feel right. 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. 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. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker. The driver must accept the risks involved, which I didand I spent my time in the hospital as a result.. Mark Donohue. He became a great friend of mine, Penske said in an IMS tribute to Donohue. Donohue took three victories and the series championship, besting the likes of Petty, Allison, David Pearson, A.J. 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. Hansgen died while testing the GT40 in preparation for Le Mans so Donohue partnered with Australian Paul Hawkins. The only person to beat Donohue was his former Penske Trans-Am teammate, George Follmer. How Gulf deal has boosted Williams's F1 commercial strategy, Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return, Why F1's nearly man is refreshed and ready for his return 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. He tried to get a car dealership; that didnt work. In 1967, Penske contacted Donohue about driving Penske's brand new Lola T70 spyder in the United States Road Racing Championship. Unfair Advantages: The Life and Times of Mark Donohue 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. He busted a gut when we got back to the shop. Then there was Marks other side. Donohue's rocketed 7 through four wire catchfences and several roadside billboards. 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. 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. 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. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. The search for Mark Donohue concludes in the upscale community of Summit, New Jersey just outside of New York City. 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. Don Cox would later join the team in 1969 after working as an engineer for General Motors. The 1967 Z-28 won its last race by lapping the entire field of cars, causing suspicion throughout the paddock. Today, he works. 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. In fact, Mark often wasnt the engineer at all. 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. Thank you. Hangsen was killed testing a car for the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. The four-race schedule consisted of three races at Riverside and a finale on Daytonas road course. In 1967 he became the USRRC champion, winning six out of eight races. 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. Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked . 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 latter passed away at 09h20 on Tuesday 19 August 1975, while being treated at a Knittelfeld hospital.Donohue was hit in the head by one of the catch-fence supporting posts and was knocked unconscious. Donohue was the driver of Penskes first Brickyard effort in 1969. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. He approaches things the same way. Acid-dipping car bodies was prevalent with competing Trans-Am teams also. 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. 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 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. Showing Editorial results for mark donohue. I always said driving wasn't really a dangerous situation. 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. Donohue. Donohue qualified his Penske midway the grid, and took it to the morning warm-up session before the start of the race. 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. Both Donohue and Penske changed teams to American Motors Corporation in 1970 and won their third championship in 1971. . It became official last September. It is core to the myth of Mark that he was just an okay driver but a genius engineer. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28km) high-banked oval was 221.120mph (355.858km/h). I realized then that if I wanted to do better in this business I had to spend more time on my car, he said. Event the win at the 1972 Indianapolis 500 created more sleepless nights, because the win did not come on his own terms. 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. 4 yellow car with sports car driver and race car builder Bruce McLaren for Shelby American Racing. [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. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue would begin to experiment with their Camaros. Directing other drivers, making suggestions, helping mechanicseven sweeping up around the garagewere not enough. 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. By 1973, the "Captain Nice" nickname he had earned earlier in his career was being supplanted by the nickname "Dark Monohue". 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. It became official last September. [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. The guy that is most like Mark that Ive ever met is David, said Don Cox. Mark Donohue: Returns to Die - The New York Times Mark Donohue returning from retirement to lead Roger Penske's Formula 1 team looked like a perfect match. 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. By the end of the crash, the front end of the car was missing, and Mark's legs were fully outside the car, with his only injury . Think about the championships we won together, the first Indy 500 victory for the team, three Trans-Am championships. Mark Donohue SCCA national champion early in a career Donohue was born in New Jersey on March 18, 1937, and became involved in racing as a senior at college. It was. "We had stop watches back then, with a timing chart taped on the back that converted seconds to miles per hour, but 180mph didn't exist on the timing chart." 12 "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. Im sure David really missed out on a lot. Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? Donohue raced in several NASCAR Grand American races and a NASCAR pony car division from 1968 until 1971. In 1961, Donohue bought the Elva and battled with another young racing star, Peter Revson, for the SCCA divisional championship. 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. 25 Years Ago Remembering Mark Donohue | Catchfence One-hit wonder: Mark Donohue and his 1973 Riverside win helped elevate He sustained a fatal head injury from the crash. That was the most striking thing I ever saw him do. I got to know Mark and hired him to run our Can-Am car. The tangible steps Alpine has taken to meeting its humble F1 2023 targets, Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery, Why "grounded" Hamilton remains confident in Mercedes' F1 recovery The highlight of his entire career was winning the . In 1974, he quit driving and became president of Penske Racing. Three years later, Mark was gone, dead from a cerebral hemorrhage suffered in a crash during practice for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at sterreichring. Bernie Ecclestone hopes BBC agrees new Formula 1 UK TV deal, Stroll was "protecting" injured wrist during Bahrain GP practice, Stroll was "protecting" injured wrist during Bahrain GP practice A headache resulted, however, and worsened. 66 McLaren/Offenhauser that Mark Donohue drove to win the 1972 Indy 500. We went to Phoenix and tested it with the wings off and then put the wings on and couldnt believe how fast it was. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? Michael is another guy but there is this thing between Mark and David, even in terms of their life experiences. He was just that way. Mark Donohue was an enigma. Losing a driver is something you cant replace. 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 addition, the horrific events at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 and the subsequent death of his friend, Swede Savage, pushed him to quit. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, while being honored at a luncheon following his retirement. Donohue finished in 12th place at the Canadian Grand Prix, but failed to finish at the United States Grand Prix. Every time David Donohue sees that car, he sees his father. Goldberg Segalla, LLP, Albany (Mark Donohue of counsel), for respondents. Donohue paced himself that day and took the lead for the first time with 12 laps to go. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Mark Donohue - Wikipedia During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway . 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. [17] That race was Penske's first NASCAR win in a long history of NASCAR participation. 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 was killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. His condition quickly worsened and he passed away two days later, victim of a blood clot in his brain.Following the fatal accident the sterreichring first turn was tightened in 1976 and the track lenght passed from 5.911 to 5.906 kilometers. I think the people at Indy thought we were the college guys with the crew haircuts and the polished wheels.
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