THE RACERS, PART XII.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Racing a car, motorcycle or anything with some sort of power is a pursuit like no other. It is a passionate endeavor requiring an obsessive single-mindedness that consumes the people involved to a degree that outsiders find hard to understand. Ask any driver who has competed at the top level, and they will tell you that there is nothing half-assed about what they do, because the focus required is almost incomprehensible. Drivers talk about being in "the zone" - a strange state of mind that takes over their entire being while they're racing - when the faster they go the more things seem to slow down for them. They're aware of everything around them, but at the same time their focus on the task at hand is impenetrable, because anything less can result in a mistake that will likely have severe consequences. Racers are indeed a rare breed, willing to sacrifice everything for the pursuit of what they love to do, to the detriment of everything else. These racers have left an indelible mark on the sport. Drivers who were fierce competitors, flawed heroes and incredible, gifted talents. Their legacies are what make the sport of motor racing so fascinating. In the last few issues of  "Fumes" I have been recalling some of my favorites. This week, I'd like to talk about Mark Donohue.

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Mark Neary Donohue Jr. sits in his No. 6 Penske Racing Sunoco/Porsche+Audi Porsche 917/30 Turbo in the pit lane at Mid-Ohio, August 1973. Mark was a gifted development driver/engineer and an exceptional talent behind the wheel. Mark drove for the Ford factory team at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. Mark's partnership with Roger Penske in the early days forged the blueprint for Penske Racing's success that lives on to this day in Team Penske. Mark won the USRRC Championship in 1967 (Penske Lola T70 Mk.3B Chevrolet) and 1968 (Penske McLaren M6A Chevrolet). Donohue and Penske started racing the Chevrolet Camaro in the 1967 Trans-Am series, with Mark winning three races. In 1968, Mark won the Championship for Chevrolet in his No. 6 Penske Sunoco Camaro, winning ten of thirteen races. He won again in a Camaro in 1969, finished second to the Ford Mustang driven by Parnelli Jones in 1970 (Mark was driving a Penske AMC Javelin), and won the Trans-Am Championship again in 1971 driving a Javelin. 

(Dave Friedman)

Mark Donohue in the No. 2 Shelby American Ford Mk IV at the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mark and co-driver Bruce McLaren finished fourth overall.

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Road America Can-Am, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, September 1, 1968. The morning of the race dawned damp and dreary, as Roger Penske and Mark Donohue wait by their No. 6 Roger Penske Racing Ent. SUNOCO McLaren M6B Chevrolet. Mark would finish third behind Denny Hulme (No. 5 Gulf McLaren M8A Chevrolet) and Bruce McLaren (No. 4 Gulf McLaren M8A Chevrolet).

(Pete Lyons)

Laguna Seca Can-Am, October 1968. Mark Donohue in the No. 6 Penske Racing SUNOCO McLaren M6B Chevrolet.

(Pete Lyons)

Stardust Grand Prix Can-Am, Las Vegas, November 13, 1966. Mark Donohue (No. 6 Penske Racing SUNOCO Lola T70 Mk.2 Chevrolet) finished third behind John Surtees (No. 7 Team Surtees Lola T70 Mk.2 Chevrolet) and Bruce McLaren (No. 4 McLaren Elva Mark II B Chevrolet).

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Watkins Glen Trans-Am, August 11, 1968. Mark Donohue (No. 6 Penske-Hilton Racing SUNOCO Chevrolet Camaro) leads the field away at the start. Donohue and the Penske Camaros were dominant in the 1968-69 Trans-Am seasons. The preparation of the Penske Camaros was legendary, and Donohue drove superbly. Mark and Parnelli Jones staged epic battles in those Trans-Am years, with Mark winning championships in 1968-69, and Parnelli finally breaking through for Ford in his Bud Moore Engineering-prepared Mustang in 1970.

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Riverside Trans-Am, October 5, 1969. Mark Donohue (No. 6 Penske-Hilton Racing Chevrolet Camaro) led a 1-2 sweep for Chevrolet with teammate Ronnie Bucknum (No. 9 Penske-Hilton Racing Chevrolet Camaro) finishing second. Donohue's engineering talent was legendary, and many of the innovations pioneered on Penske racing machines in the early years came directly from Mark. Once when asked what a particular piece on one of Penske's race cars was made out of, Mark replied, "unobtainium," an adjective that lives on to this day in racing. Interesting story? The taut, compact and muscular 1968 Camaro was highly developed and performed flawlessly, with Mark winning ten Trans-Am races (including eight straight at one point) with it. But when Mark and Roger were invited to the GM Tech Center to look at the 1969 Camaro, they were shocked because it was notably bigger and bloated with a frontal area that was a huge step backwards. Mark had to use all of his talents to turn that car into a winner. That was the season Penske Racing decided to acid-dip the Camaro bodies in order to save weight wherever possible, except the bodies were left in the vat too long, and as a result, they were paper thin in places - especially on the roofs - where they could easily be indented with a finger. The ingenious solution so that the tech inspectors wouldn't detect them? Black vinyl roofs were added (a 1969 Camaro option). Other engineering tricks that year from Donohue & Co.? A great deal of attention was paid to the fueling systems in the cars. First of all, the refueling fuel "bowl" was oversized to hold an extra two gallons of fuel, while the fuel lines were extended in length to hold even more extra fuel. But the highlight - literally - was when Penske Racing showed up at the first race of the season at Michigan International Speedway with a refueling rig that was, shall we say, a creative interpretation of the rules. For the Penske Racing Trans Am effort, no detail was too small, and in a series that featured endurance races where the cars would need up to 40 gallons of fuel added during a pitstop, tenths of seconds mattered. As Kyle Smith wrote in Hagerty: "The hunt for quick fueling led to an analysis of the rules, which seemed surprisingly lax when it came to fueling. The main stipulation was that the bottom of the fueling rig could be no more than six feet off the ground. No restrictions on the top. That’s what we call a loophole. So, the team went about building a rig to refuel its cars. Nicknamed the “Big Rig,” this setup made its debut at the first race of the 1969 season, which happened to take place in Michigan. It was held over three days, with practice Thursday, qualifying Friday, and the race Saturday. With no pit stops needed during practice or qualifying, the team kept the Big Rig tucked inside a rented U-Haul truck until Saturday morning, when team member Jerry Kroninger erected the 20-foot-tall structure. Naturally, race officials were not pleased. By the end of the day a new rule had been added outlawing the Big Rig. Nevertheless, it still got people talking and probably became a bigger story and more memorable than a few of the cars that were competing on the track. Watch a demo of the fuel rig here courtesy of Hagerty.

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Roger Penske shocked the establishment - and Chevrolet - when he signed a deal for the 1970 Trans-Am season with American Motors to run Javelins. Once again, Mark Donohue's engineering prowess was tested as he was charged with turning the Javelin into a winner. The factory Bud Moore Engineering Ford Boss 302 Mustangs were formidable and jumped out to a big lead in the series, with Parnelli Jones delivering the series championship for Ford, but Mark still won three races: at Bridgehampton, Road America and Saint Jovite. 

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For the 1971 Trans-Am season, Penske and Donohue debuted an all-new, wonderfully prepared AMC Javelin Trans-Am machine to go with the all-new production Javelin. Mark returned to his dominant ways by winning seven races and the Trans-Am championship. My favorite memory of that season was the opener at Lime Rock. I was there with my brother Tony's Troy Promotions team with two ex-Bud Moore Engineering 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 machines that we purchased for the '71 season after Chevrolet decided we were "expendable" and no longer deserving of any assistance. We put the episode behind us and showed up with our two Boss 302 Mustangs in our white, black and blue livery, No. 3 for Tony and No. 4 for Jerry Thompson. The entire weekend was conducted under threatening skies, and the forecast for the race was for heavy rain. And rain it did, at times torrential. Mark lapped the field five times on the way to the win, with Tony finishing second. I'll never forget standing in the pit lane giving my brother his pit signals - completely soaked in a T-shirt and jeans - and looking down to see Roger in his impeccable rain suit - dry as a bone - giving pit signals to Mark. Roger and I had a good laugh about it when I had the opportunity to remind him of it.

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12 Hours of Sebring, March 20, 1971. One of Mark Donohue's most impressive engineering feats was building the No. 6 Penske/White Racing SUNOCO Ferrari 512 M. The machine was meticulously engineered and executed, and it was the fastest Ferrari 512 - by far - ever created. Mark and co-driver David Hobbs finished sixth at Sebring, after finishing third overall at the Daytona 24 Hour. The Penske organization entered the 512 M in the 24 Hours of Le Mans but suffered terminal engine failure and did not finish. Watch a wonderful video about the famous Penske/Donohue Ferrari 512 M here. 

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Canadian Grand Prix, Mosport Park, September 19, 1971. In the midst of everything else going on at Penske Racing, Roger decided to enter Mark in the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix. The No. 10 Penske-White Racing SUNOCO McLaren M19A Ford-Cosworth arrived with impeccable Penske preparation, and Mark acquitted himself well - to say the least - by qualifying eighth and finishing third in the fog-shortened race behind Jackie Stewart (No. 11 ELF Team Tyrrell Ford-Cosworth) and Ronnie Peterson (No. 17 STP March 711 Ford-Cosworth). Mark's driving talent was unmistakable and all of a sudden known to a much wider audience.

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Mark delivered the first of 20 wins for Roger Penske in the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1972 driving his No. 66 McLaren M16-Offenhauser, setting a record average speed at the time of 162 mph, which stood for twelve years. Donohue also gave Roger his first win in NASCAR, winning the 1972 season opener in his AMC Matador at Riverside. 

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Porsche's Weissach test track, 1971. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue went to the Porsche factory to discuss the possibility of running a factory Porsche 917 in the Can-Am series. But what they found upon closer inspection of the proposed Porsche was that it was shockingly ill-prepared for the task at hand. In short, it was a disaster. Donohue took it as his personal project to turn the proposed Porsche 917 Turbo into a proper, competitive Can-Am machine. He re-engineered the chassis in its entirety, he had the bodywork completely revised, and a thorough rework of the engine was undertaken. By the time he was through, the Porsche 917 Can-Am car was every inch a Mark Donohue-engineered creation.

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By the time the No. 6 Penske Racing L&M Porsche 917/10 Turbo was rolled off of the hauler for the 1972 Can-Am at Mosport, it was a formidable - and extremely well prepared and developed - racing machine. Except that the season didn't go as planned. It started off well enough, with Mark qualifying on the pole and finishing second to Denny Hulme (No. 5 Gulf McLaren M20 Chevrolet) at Mosport. But at the next round at Road Atlanta during a practice session, the rear bodywork of his Porsche came loose coming out of Turn 7 at 150 mph, and the car flipped down the track. Mark was lucky to survive with only knee and ligament damage, but he was out until further notice. Penske called on George Follmer to take the reins of the No. 6 Porsche, and George promptly went out and won the 1972 Can-Am Championship. 

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After sitting out for most of the 1972 Can-Am season due to his injuries, Mark Donohue returned at the end of the season to drive a second Penske L&M Porsche 917/10 Turbo (No. 6), winning at Edmonton, finishing second to teammate George Follmer (No. 7) at Laguna Seca (above) and second again to Follmer at Riverside, since George had already clinched the Can-Am championship for Penske and Porsche. But by then, Mark's thoughts had already turned to his next project - an all-new machine for the 1973 Can-Am season. 

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Donohue's secret weapon for the 1973 Can-Am season? The magnificent long-tail Porsche 917/30 KL Turbo, which was powered by a turbocharged flat twelve that delivered between 1100 and 1500HP, depending on the boost setting (which could be adjusted from the cockpit). The monster machine bristled with Donohue's engineering genius, and it is still considered to be one of the greatest racing cars ever built.

(Steve Grehn)

Mark Donohue flat dominated the 1973 Can-Am Championship, winning all but two races, and setting race and lap records along the way. I was at Road America that year when Donohue set the absolute track record (1:57), which lasted for fourteen years. It was an incredible performance and something I will never forget. The Can-Am faded after that, with many people saying that the Porsche 917/30 KL Turbo had "killed" the series, and Donohue announced his retirement at the end of that season. 

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Donohue would return to his 1973 Porsche 917/30 KL - modified for high-speed work - and set a closed course speed record of 221.120 mph at the Talladega Superspeedway on August 9, 1975. A record that stood for eleven years. 

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Watkins Glen Can-Am, July 22, 1973. Mark Donohue (No. 6 Penske Racing SUNOCO Porsche+Audi Porsche 917/30 KL) qualified on the pole and swept both heats in another dominant performance that season. The Porsche 917/30 KL is a testament to Mark Donohue's passion, dedication, vision and pure talent, and it remains as one of the greatest racing machines ever built.

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After "retiring," Mark Donohue returned to race in the inaugural 1973-1974 IROC series - which used identical Porsche 911 RSRs that were developed by Donohue - and won two of the races and the Championship. When Roger announced an F1 effort for the 1975 season, Mark came out of retirement to drive the Penske PC-1, but it was problematic and the team switched to a March 751 midway through the F1 season. After setting the closed-course record at Talladega, Mark arrived to compete in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring. During practice, Mark lost control of the March after a tire failed at the fastest corner at the track - the Vöest Hügel Kurve - and the car veered into catch fencing. A track marshal was killed by debris from the accident, but Mark did not appear to be injured significantly. It was determined, however, that Donohue's helmet had struck either a catch fencing post or the bottom of the wood frame for an advertising billboard located alongside of the racetrack. He returned to the pits and was talking to Roger and the team, but he soon complained of a severe headache that quickly worsened. Donohue went to a hospital in Graz the next day, but he lapsed into a coma from a cerebral hemorrhage and died on August 19, 1975. Mark was the heart and soul of Penske Racing, and his enduring legacy lives on in the organization to this day.

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG