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]. Email or password is incorrect. In 1969, Penske brought his team -- and the Penske way -- to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time. 8W - Who? - Mark Donohue - Autosport A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? Strange and smart, but very driven., The drive set Mark Donohue apart and made him the winningest driver in Team Penske history. To those who work at the cemetery, Donohue is simply known as The Race Car Driver to visitors looking for his gravesite. In 1974, he quit driving and became president of Penske Racing. If he didnt test a car before a race, he didnt have his Peanuts security blanket and would fret that his edge was lost.. 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. He turned out to be a real partner of mine. 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. He was passionate about racing. 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. 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. However, like most race drivers in the various top racing series around the world, he had lived an outright lot of life. I know their first conversation after the race, he didnt say (that he had won). He joined Roger Penske, a former sports car rival who had set up his own team, the following year as a fulltime professional. That got everybodys attention -- the polished wheels, the way our guys looked, the way the cars were prepared and obviously, the performance was good. We were the college kids with the crew cuts and the polished wheels, Penske said. racing was concerned, he had done it all. By clicking on 'Join' button, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age and agree to the Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. Aug 21, 2015, 4:28 PM. After an initial run of four laps, Donohue entered the pits for a routine check-up and a few adjustments. 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. After the Arab oil embargo in 1973, it led the SCCA, IMSA and other race series to impose fuel limitations on motor sport racing as a whole, which hampered the performance of the 917/30, making it uncompetitive in the Can-Am series. Mark Donohue began racing at the age of 22 in a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette . They also acid-dipped the body on the Camaro and had to caution people not to lean against it, for fear it would dent. Its a goal he had and a goal he checked off. He said so himself many times. 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. 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. He was a sweet gentleman in every race. He will be ranked with A. J. Foyt, Dan Gurney and Andretti in the leading group of American drivers. 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. I didnt expect that at all, David Donohue, 51, said. 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. The bumpy, rain-soaked course around J.F.K. Browse 481 mark donohue stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. He won Indy and we juiced him up and he was out there giving a speech and he was so funny that his sense of humor came out and everybody loved it. Password He was young Roger Penskes equal. David followed his father into sports car racing for Porsche. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/20/archives/donohue-38-dead-of-racing-injuries-mark-donohue-is-dead-of-racing.html. Mark Donohue is killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. Jackie Stewart interviews Mark Donohue prior to an IROC race in 1974. The doctors in Graz, Austria, said yesterday that the racing driver would have been crippled for life had he survived. through one of the fastest turns on the track. When David Donohue was young, he never really got to know his father -- Mark Donohue. The rookies looking to make their mark on F1 in 2023, What controls the frontline in the latest F1 design tech battles, What controls the frontline in the latest F1 design tech battles Donohue was a . Hed drive the truck, hed drive the race car, he would work on the car. Our car experts choose every product we feature. Then they put both cars in the race, number 15 and 16, one car being 250 pounds lighter. (He was operated on at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta by Drs. Mark Robert Bonhag, 56, of the Highland, Md., area was driving north on New Hampshire Avenue in the . He was a partner, he was a friend and a critical piece of the foundation of our race team.. I could see myself helping to develop the Formula One car, setting it up and then having some younger hotshot driver take over. The Newtown Square facility was a small, 4,000 square-foot garage out back with a small bungalow in front of the shop. It was always on to the next project.. As ADAM COOPER recalls, though, it ended in tragedy. 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. Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? He finds the same things funny. Oops! 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. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 197374, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs. He was really the first person that I knew in racing that not only had the driving skills, but also the technical knowledge. He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. I dont remember him changing a bit.. He finished the race in his McLaren-Offy setting a record speed of over 162mph (261km/h),[16] which stood for twelve years. Appeal from that part of an order of the Supreme Court (Platkin, J. 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. He answered, "It will never have enough power until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear.". It meant immediate surgery. That was the most striking thing I ever saw him do. Neither Donohue or Penske forgot that remark, even after Donohue drove an astounding race and finished third. He was just 22 years old when he had won his first race, a local hill climb. 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. 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. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. Late in 1973, when Penske decided to build a Formula One car for the 1975 season, Donohue knew what would happen. The car did a series of cartwheels, and Donohue broke both legs. He tried to get a car dealership; that didnt work. (Photo: Bob DOlivo / The Enthusiast Network via Getty Images). When you see the car in real life, it becomes so much more real.. His average speed around the 2.66-mile (4.28 km) high-banked oval was 221.120 mph (355.858 km/h). Painkillers affected his memory, and he began drinking heavily to deal with the pain. REWIND: Miller on Mark Donohue | RACER - RACER | Racing News Hansgen died while testing the GT40 in preparation for Le Mans so Donohue partnered with Australian Paul Hawkins. Though he walked away from the resulting crash, he fell into a coma the next day and, shortly after, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Despite this, Donohue still dominated the series, even though he suffered three DNFs during the season due to mechanical problems with the M6A. 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. Her . [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. 4445. Driver who fled fatal Olney crash gets 20-year sentence Were far from having too much horsepower, he asserted. 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. Mark contracted polio when he was 6, but he fully recovered. 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 Mark 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. Several minutes later Donohue regained consciousness and spoke with his rescuers, who took him to Knittelfeld hospital. Sometimes, I would leave early and take my own car to the airport because I didnt want to put up with him. In auto racing, though, even thinking man's drivers can get killed by punctured tires. Five weeks after winning the 500, Donohue was testing his Can-Am Porsche 917-10 at Road Atlanta when the car got airborne at 160 mph. Maryland DUI Driver Who Killed 3 Gets More Prison Time for Trying to Together, they took on Trans-Am, then turned their attention to the Indianapolis 500. I did everything I could to keep up. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, in New York while being honored at a luncheon. He was so key in the operation when he was there its something we had to rebuild. His car was almost inexplicably fast, so much so that, according to Donohues book The Unfair Advantage, race winner Al Unser sought him out after the race and said: Look, weve been competitors for a long time, and you have your way of doing things and I have mine, but when you come here and run six miles an hour faster than everyone else I gotta shake your hand.. Its been 43 years since Donohues death, but he remains Penske Racings cornerstone. Im sure David really missed out on a lot. He gave us a lot of credibility and was the keystone of our racing. Choose a Username Available! Its as if his father is in his presence. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. Donohue raced in several NASCAR Grand American races and a NASCAR pony car division from 1968 until 1971. Mark Donohue's Fatal Crash - sterreichring 1975 (42 years ago) Search instead in Creative? On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 91730 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. In all, there were 57 major victories and more than $1million in purses for this pleasant, intelligent man who gave up a career in mechanical engineering because racing is what he wanted to do. Toy cars at the gravesite of Mark Donohue in Summit, New Jersey. My involvement in racing has been like a jigsaw puzzle, David Donohue told Autoweek. Midway through the 1975 F1 season, Penske abandoned the troublesome PC1 and started using the March 751. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske during a break in the Indy-car action at Michigan International Speedway n 1974. Donohue won in 1972, driving for Penske. David followed his father into sports car racing for Porsche. A motorist was killed early Tuesday in a single-car crash in Montgomery County, police said. the email address you entered is invalid. 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The real Mark came out.. It includes information and additional photography that was not available before the first edition was published. Donohue and Hawkins completed only twelve laps due to differential failure and finished 47th. . ), entered April 29, 2014 in Albany County, which granted a motion by defendants James Finck and Tougher Industries Enterprises, LLC for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them. 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 . Penske warned that any disqualification would have the potential of motivating Chevrolet to pull all support for the Trans-Am series. 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. On the phone, the editor said, You gotta come back in. We were there to go racing.. The 917/30 generally is considered one of the most powerful and most dominant racing machines ever created. J. Funk and J. L. 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. I don't think I could have handled that.. [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. Cresser v CDTS, 1 (2015 NY Slip Op 03227) Donohue drove the Javelin to three victories, with AMC finishing second overall in the Manufacturers' Championship. Mark Donohue died last night. If we're right, by next season we could be the dominant team in Formula One.. In 2003, in commemoration of Penske Racing's 50th NASCAR win, Nextel Cup driver Ryan Newman drove a Dodge Intrepid painted to resemble Donohue's 1973 AMC (with a No. Its something that Ive looked at since I was really young as a kid, Donohue said. Mark Donohue (1937-1975), pictured here with wife Eden and nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American race driver who is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp Can-Am Penske Porsche 917-30 and as the 1972 Indianapolis 500 winner in a Team Penske-entered McLaren.Sadly, he perished in an accident during practice for the 1975 Austrian Formula One Grand Prix. Instructions on how to reset your password have been sent to your email. No one piece tells you what the puzzle is. During a post-race inspection, race stewards discovered that the car was 250 pounds lighter than the 2,800-pound minimum weight requirement. His son, David, told me: The legend was that my dad and Roger conquered all. How famous was Mark . You never saw him in an argument with anybody. The 38yearold Donohue underwent a threehour operation at a hospital here Sunday to remove a blood clot from his brain. 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. Not true. 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. 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. 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. That is something I would have never had if I didnt go to races. Drs. Stephen Olvey and Terry Trammell in Motorsports Hall of Fame of 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. 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. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. And my wife gave me permission, so when something like that happens you have to go. Donohue finished in 12th place at the Canadian Grand Prix, but failed to finish at the United States Grand Prix. In 1971, of the ten races that the Over 2.5L Class cars participated in, Donohue won seven of them, including the final six races in a row, with AMC winning the Manufacturers' championship for the first time ever. 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. Mark returned [a year later] because he realized he wasnt good at anything else. Of 55 Trans-Ams he entered, he won 29. 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. It is core to the myth of Mark that he was just an okay driver but a genius engineer. 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. Brian Redman drove it once in 1974, and that was it for the car as far as Penske campaigning it. Auto Race Car Driver. "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 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. David Donohue is proof positive that apples dont fall far from the tree. He took the lot to Lime Rock, Conn., and finished fourth in a sports car race. Mark obviously brought an air of professionalism. Revson's death made it almost inevitable that Donohue would come out of retirement. During the development of this motor, the German Porsche engineers often asked Donohue if the motor finally had enough power. He was so gentlemanly, he was boring. Racing is a very weird circus that way. 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 To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Twice before he had had serious accidents and he walked like a man who had had his knees shattered and put back together again. 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]. I can hardly wait to get back to work with our car, he said. John Phillips: For Mark Donohue, 1100 hp was 'Far From Too Much' It was. Hed eventually swap leads with Richard Petty, but took the reins of the race for good for the final 75 circuits, lapping the entire field in the process. 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. And Mark Donohue couldn't live with retirement. Airport would have sent a stock Camaro flopping around. Mark Donohue Fatal Crash | PopScreen The two had a tremendous respect for each other and put their own personal egos aside to win races. Anyone can read what you share. Donohue was about to have his race victory taken away for cheating, but Roger Penske stepped in. Anyone can read what you share. 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. I could see what was coming, he said. The Penske PC1 was developed but the car proved problematic and midway through the season they decided to switch to a March 751 chassis. That is where Mark Donohue often slept when he worked his way to near exhaustion at the race shop. What we learned from Friday practice at F1's 2023 Bahrain GP. Le cavalier du diable : Toutes les informations de diffusion, les bandes-annonces, les photos et rediffusions de Le cavalier du diable avec Tl 7 Jours 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 It affected the whole team. In 1969, Penske and Donohue raced in their first Indianapolis 500,[14] with Donohue finishing seventh, winning the rookie of the year award. 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. But he always had good equipment, too. Michael is another guy but there is this thing between Mark and David, even in terms of their life experiences. Advertisement. They continued to use the "lightweight" car in 1968, at the Sebring 12-hour race. 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. The driver of the Honda was killed. He is buried in Saint Teresa Cemetery in Summit, Union County, New Jersey.R.I.P Mark Donohue \u0026 Manfred Schaller. It is strangely rewarding in a way I never thought racing would be for me, personally. Among the most impressive cars in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is the beautiful blue and yellow No.