Ferraris chief engineer Mauro Forghieri glared at it and said, Theyll never let you run that wing at Le Mans. Mark replied, Well, I wouldnt want to run this wing at Le Mans, would I?, Partly because we were both engineers, Mark and I hit it off, recalls Patrick Bedard. 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. 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. 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. No, I never worried about the dangers of racing, he said in March, 1974, while being honored at a luncheon following his retirement. Portrait of American racing driver Mark Donohue as he poses with his car after winning the Indianapolis 500 race, Speedway, Indiana, May 1972. . A track marshal was killed by debris from the accident, but Donohue did not appear to be injured significantly. We started to look at data Mark was an engineer at Brown (University), and that was certainly part of it, but we were committed. Driver who fled fatal Olney crash gets 20-year sentence I was at Lime Rock, Connecticut, Donohue said. 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. A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? 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. I think I was the first guy to assert that Mark was a better driver than an engineer, says Bedard. Its made me realize its an honor to be his son. In the 1971 Indianapolis 500, Donohue started second and led 52 of the first 66 laps before breaking a gearbox. 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 track chosen for the speed record attempt was the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Mark Donohue (1937-1975) - Find a Grave Memorial I had just put in 30 consecutive hours of writing, editing, and laying out race reports for CAR Weekly, which we sometimes spelled Weakly because there were only five of us and we possessed merely the slimmest notion of what we were doing. The two proved to be like-minded peas in a pod. We need an obit.. An out-of-court settlement was reached Wednesday at Providence, R.I., in the appeal of a $9.6-million Superior Court verdict awarded the estate of race driver Mark Donohue, killed during practice . That day at Indy, Bobby Unsers Eagle dominated the contest before Unser dropped out. Donohue was obsessed with finding any possible advantage through engineering -- and loopholes in the rules. 1 Killed in Multi-Car Crash in Olney, Police Say But Donohue knew that time was running short and his skills and reflexes weren't getting any better. The driver of the Honda was killed. Jackie Stewart interviews Mark Donohue prior to an IROC race in 1974. However, like most race drivers in the various top racing series around the world, he had lived an outright lot of life. When you see the car in real life, it becomes so much more real.. 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. That is something I would have never had if I didnt go to races. He had been a national amateur champion and the Sports Car Club of America driver of the year in 1965. One-hit wonder: Mark Donohue and his 1973 Riverside win helped elevate Upstairs was a small room with a bed that had an outside private entrance. He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb[2] in Belknap County, New Hampshire. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Donohue, no matter what he accomplished, couldnt rest. Amazingly, Donohue only suffered an internal derangement of his knee with meniscus damage and limited cruciate plus collateral ligament damage. . When Penske Racing took delivery of a Ferrari 512M, for instance, they immediately fabricated a bigger rear wing. 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. Not true. 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. 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. 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 He won the Can Am championship in 197, the TransAm title in 1968, 1969 and 1971. With the Corvette money, he also bought a trailer to hold the car and a station wagon to tow the trailer.. John Phillips: For Mark Donohue, 1100 hp was 'Far From Too Much' A bad week or the dark horse from F1 testing? 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. 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. He did the job for Roger, no question. Coming out of turn seven at about 150mph (240km/h), the rear bodywork flew off the car, which became extremely unstable, lifted off the ground, and tumbled down the track. On August 9, 1975, Donohue drove the 91730 to a world closed-course speed record at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Penske warned that any disqualification would have the potential of motivating Chevrolet to pull all support for the Trans-Am series. 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. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker. Mark Donohue | Hemmings The only engineering Donohue went back to concerned race cars. 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. 25 Years Ago Remembering Mark Donohue | Catchfence He was just 22 years old when he had won his first race, a local hill climb. Showing Editorial results for mark donohue. this email address already registerd with us. Two weeks ago, however, he showed he had not lost his skill at getting a race car around a track when he set a world speed record of 221.160 miles an hour for a closed course. We went to the Speedway in 1971 and we had this card that translated the speed on the stopwatch to your average speed. Mark was an engineer from Brown University, Penske said. This. 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. We brought some technology. Thank you. It was, as they say in racing, a freak accident. Several minutes later Donohue regained consciousness and spoke with his rescuers, who took him to Knittelfeld hospital. The 1975 season turned out to be a difficult one for Donohue and Penske. Coffay fled the scene. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links. 12 and current Alltel decals) at the fall Rockingham, North Carolina, race. Mark Donohue and Roger Penske during a break in the Indy-car action at Michigan International Speedway n 1974. With Donohues methodical approach and his commitment to work for Penske fulltime that counted for a lot Penske said. Carrying the number 66, Donohue qualified 13 th for the California 500, but a burned piston ended his day early, on lap eight. Mark contracted polio when he was 6, but he fully recovered. Losing a driver is something you cant replace. 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. Donohue was hit in the head by a fence post and knocked . His true passion was racing. He was killed during a practice session for the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. By 1973, the "Captain Nice" nickname he had earned earlier in his career was being supplanted by the nickname "Dark Monohue". 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. Some day, they promised each other, Donohue would try to become the first American since Phil Hill in 1961 to win the world driving chmpionship. Donohue had stepped out of driving retirement . Donohue went on to win the first-ever 500-mile USAC Champ Car Series race at Pocono in 71 and claimed victory at Indianapolis in his return in 1972. Motorist killed in Montgomery County crash, police say We started with a Lola 4-wheel drive, and in 1971 we got a McLaren. The front of the car was torn away, leaving Donohue, still strapped to his safety seat, with his legs dangling outside the car. Twice before he had had serious accidents and he walked like a man who had had his knees shattered and put back together again. Has Alonso made the right choice gambling on Aston Martin F1? When police found him about three hours later, his . He was, I feel, the finest road race driver this country has ever produced, Allison told Hemmings Motor News years later. 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. 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. Unfortunately, Donohue lost a life after an accident during practice for 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. Donohue held the record for 11 years, until it was broken by Rick Mears at Michigan International Speedway. Clark, J. Mark obviously brought an air of professionalism. He tried to get a car dealership; that didnt work. Donohue raced in the inaugural IROC series in 197374, racing identical, specially-prepared Porsche RSRs. 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. Donohue's rocketed 7 through four wire catchfences and several roadside billboards. 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.. Donohue. 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. It meant immediate surgery. 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. He finished the race in his McLaren-Offy setting a record speed of over 162mph (261km/h),[16] which stood for twelve years.
Nopixel Police Mdt Script, Fivem,
Fivem Police Vest Pack,
25 Million Students Were Surveyed About Bullying At School,
Why Is It Important To Serve Your Family,
Cheng Yi Married,
Articles M