People of the Speedway: Mark Donohue

As part of buying a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, Roger Penske retired from actively racing. The bank considered racing too risky and would not lend Penske any money as long as he was racing. Racing was deep in Penske's soul, and he knew he wanted to start a racing team. 

Penske first saw Mark Donohue, a 1959 Brown University mechanical engineering graduate, at Lime Rock. He immediately recognized that Donohue was a good driver and commented, “I first saw Mark run in the sports car race at Lime Rock, and I knew then that he had all it takes to be a champion.” 

Donohue, the son of an attorney, was born in Summit, New Jersey, in 1937.[3] He began driving professionally as a member of the Road Racing Drivers’ Club in 1962. He frequently hung out at four-time Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Modified National Champion Walter Hansgen’s garage, where the two men developed a close relationship through their shared interests in engineering and safety. His breakthrough as a professional driver came in 1965 when he was partnered with John Mecom at Sebring. They finished third behind the highly regarded Shelby American team. 

Penske and Donohue crossed paths again at the funeral of Walter Hansgen. After exchanging pleasantries, Penske mentioned he was looking for someone to drive a new Lola racer. They struck a deal for Donohue, who had won a double SCCA national championship in 1965, to drive a Ford GT and a Lola on a part-time basis for $50 per day. 

His first race with Penske was the 1966 Sports Car Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, where his car spun, and the fuel filler cap popped open, spilling fuel onto his tires. Returning to the fray, Donohue saw a car off to his right and another directly in front of him. Unable to miss both cars, he crashed into one driven by John Cannon. The fuel filler cap popped open again. He was burned in the fire that erupted and was hospitalized. Donohue returned about a month later and won the USRRC Pacific Northwest Grand Prix. 

Later in the season, Donohue participated in the inaugural Canadian-American Challenge Cup. A win in the 85-lap race at Mosport propelled him to a second-place finish in the six-race season. In December 1966, Donohue won the 252-mile Nassau Trophy race with a unique strategy. He had a slight lead over Skip Scott but had to make a mandatory pit stop in the closing laps. He pulled into the pits, jumped out of the car, touched his feet to the car, jumped back in, and roared off. He went on to win the race by 4.7 seconds. 

Despite his success, Donohue told Penske that the $50 per day he was being paid was not enough for racing or for the work involved in testing. Kar Kraft, Ford's private R&D racing shop, had offered him a job in Detroit as a quality-control engineer with some driving duties. Penske questioned Donohue’s decision, telling him he would probably end up testing cars for A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. In subsequent negotiations, Penske offered Donohue $13,000 a year and 25% of the winnings. Given the offer for full-time employment, Donohue decided to go pro. This was the beginning of a long, successful partnership.

 In 1967, Donohue dominated the USRRC series, winning six of the eight races, including a four-lap victory at the Bridgehampton 250 and a new record of 105.209 mph at Riverside.

 In the six-race 1967 Canadian-American Cup Challenge, Donohue finished fourth in the series with second-place finishes at the Chevron Grand Prix at Bridgehampton and the Starlight Grand Prix at Las Vegas, and third at Laguna Seca. In the twelve-race Trans-American series, Donohue shared the driving duties with Craig Fisher. They won the 351-mile race at the Marlboro Speedway in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, two laps ahead of the field. Donohue won the 351-mile Stardust race at Las Vegas and the 303-mile race at Kent, Washington. 

Not only was Donohue an outstanding driver, but he was also a gifted mechanic/engineer. In 1967, Donohue converted a Chevrolet Camaro with a 302-cubic-inch Traco engine into a sports car for the 24 Hours of Daytona by disassembling the car and reinforcing key parts with rubber mounting pads to eliminate the body rubbing against the frame.

Like Penske, Donohue believed that preparation was the key to winning races. He told Dave Overpeck of the Indianapolis Star, “You have to keep working on every little factor until you have it perfect. Of course, you always have to compromise someplace. But even at that you can wind up with a 98% car instead of a 96% car.” For 1968, Penske and Donohue set a goal of winning all three championships. Donohue won ten of the thirteen races in the Trans-American series despite a disappointing performance in the 24 Hours of Daytona where they had a 2½ hour pit stop for needed repairs. They finished second in their class and 12^th overall. Subsequently, they won eight consecutive races. He finished third in the Can-Am series. Of the 27 races Donohue participated in, he won 17, and was named the Martini and Rossi Driver of the Year. 

Penske held Donohue in high esteem, and in 1968 he turned the responsibility for the day-to-day operations over to Donohue. He said, “He's great to work with. You tell Mark to run a car at 6500 RPM, and that's where he'll run it. We believe you first have to finish a race to finish a race first.” 

In late October, Penske and Donohue tested a 1968 Eagle at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of a Goodyear test program. They decided to enter the 1969 Indianapolis 500 and ordered a Lola four-wheel drive chassis.

In 1969, Roger Penske planned to compete in the eleven-race Can-Am series, three races in the International Championship of Makes (the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the Watkins Glen Grand Prix), five United States Auto Championship (USAC) races including the Indianapolis 500, and the twelve-race Trans-American series.

 The season was off to a good start when Chuck Parsons and Donohue, piloting a Lola, won the 24 Hours of Daytona by 30 laps. At the 12 Hours of Sebring, Donohue and Ronnie Buckham were leading the field when the Lola’s radius arm mounting broke. After the Sebring race, the car was being transported back to Penske Racing’s home base in Pennsylvania. While the two crew members were eating dinner, someone stole the truck. It was found the next day, but two Traco engines, an air compressor, and the mechanics’ tools were stolen.

It was on to Indianapolis. Penske joined Carl Haas, Terry Godsall, and Donohue to form U. S. Racing. They had two four-wheel-drive racers, one powered by a Chevrolet engine and the other by a turbocharged Offenhauser engine. While Mario Andretti took the pole, Donohue set a new rookie record of 168.903 mph in his qualifying attempt. Andretti easily won the race. Donohue was disappointed with his seventh-place finish. He had been running in third with twenty-four laps remaining when his car’s magneto failed. It took his crew 10 minutes, 32 seconds to replace it.

The Can-Am series started four days before the Indianapolis 500. Penske Racing competed in five races with a 427-cubic-inch Chevrolet-Lola. The series was dominated by McLaren Racing, which won all eleven races.

They had difficulty getting the racer up to speed for the Trans-Am series, but they came up with what they thought would be an “unfair advantage.” The rulebook didn’t restrict the height of the fueling rig, so they constructed a 20-foot rig to increase the flow of fuel to the car. As they were building the new fueling rig on race day, Homer Perry, the liaison between Ford, Bud Moore, and Carroll Shelby, noticed it. He soon arrived with the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) head official. Because it wasn’t addressed in the rule book, it could be used. After the race, the SCCA modified the rules to limit the fuel rig height to twelve feet.

Donohue appeared to have driven more miles in the timed race, but Parnelli Jones’ team believed they had won. Team manager Homer Perry asked the SCCA officials to recheck the timing charts. Jones’ team and two other teams believed Jones completed 104 laps while Donohue completed103 laps. After checking the charts, Jones was declared the winner. The drama wasn’t over. While filing the protest, Penske felt the Jones team had insulted him by claiming he was supported by General Motors. Penske told Donohue, “I don't care what else we do this year. It is my firm intention to beat those guys, no matter what it takes.” Penske Racing responded by winning the Trans-Am title. Donohue won six races, including four consecutively, while his teammate, Ronnie Bucknum, won two.

 In 1970, Penske Racing planned to enter five USAC races, including the Indianapolis 500. Roger Penske felt that General Motors was receiving too much credit for the team’s success. Instead of running a Chevrolet Camaro, they agreed to drive an American Motors Javelin for the sports car races.

 Eric Broadley built a new car for the Indianapolis 500, patterned after the 1969 Lola, except that it was two-wheel drive rather than four-wheel drive and had a Ford engine instead of an Offenhauser. In early May, the car ran 168.9 mph during a practice run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Donohue felt confident he would be “a contender for the pole position.” He started from the fifth position. He set up the car for the race with a little bit of understeer. That night he heard A. J. Foyt on the television talking about how the track got slippery when temperatures rose. Hearing this, he knew he did not have the right set-up for the race. Despite not having the right set-up, he finished second to Al Unser, whose victory margin was 37.8 seconds.

 Ultimately, Donohue ran in four USAC races and finished 11^th in the drivers' championship.

 Penske Racing had won the previous two Trans-Am championships. Unfortunately, they lost the first four races of the season. Looking for an “unfair advantage,” they used a bit of chicanery to win their first race in the series. A pit stop was required at the 200-mile Road America race. Donohue kept pointing to his hood as he passed pit row. Penske held up a sign, “Oil?” The competitors believed they had mechanical issues. Instead, the car pulled into the pits, stopped, and roared back onto the track. This not only took care of the pit stop but also enabled Donohue to easily win the race by 57.7 seconds.

 For the 1971 campaign, Penske and Donohue went to England to find a new car for the Can-Am series. While there, they saw an open-wheel racer being built by Bruce McLaren, and immediately knew it would be competitive. The radiator, traditionally mounted at the front of the racer, had been split and was in the rear, with air intakes on the side pods. The car was lower and sleeker than the other racers, giving them an aerodynamic advantage. They ordered two McLaren M-16s and arranged to do the developmental work and testing.

 In mid-March, Donohue participated in a tire test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The McLaren-16 was one mph faster than the other racers on the track. Penske Racing would use the McLaren-16 in the USAC races, including the Indianapolis 500.

While practicing for the Indianapolis 500, Donohue ran a lap three miles per hour faster than the previous record. Donohue had been the fastest car on the track all month, and was the favorite to take the pole. On the first day of qualifications, he appeared to have won the pole with a speed of 177.078 mph. While being interviewed, he heard a roar go up from the crowd and knew his record had been broken. Peter Revson, in a McLaren 16, set a new Speedway record of 178.696 mph.

 Donohue’s dream of winning the Indianapolis 500 was dashed when the gearbox failed on lap 66. Donohue had led the race for 52 miles and set a new lap record. He left the car in the infield, and asked permission to push the car back to the pits, which was denied by a race official. Bobby Unser and Mike Mosley crashed on the 167^th lap. Mosley’s burning racer crashed into Donohue’s car, destroying it.

 Penske quickly ordered another McLaren 16, and it arrived five days before practice began for the July 4 weekend Schaefer 500. Donohue took the pole and was leading the race when he hit an oil slick and spun. Joe Leonard took the lead, but Donohue caught him and won the race by 1.62 seconds. Donohue won the USAC 200-miler at Michigan International. The same weekend, he won the Trans-American race at Brainerd, Minnesota, by 85.1 seconds.

In the 12-race Trans-Am series, Donohue won seven races, including five in a row, driving an AMC Javelin. He won the 200-mile race at Lime Rock by five laps, and at Watkins Glen he started from the pole and finished 26 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. After winning the 200-mile Wolverine Trans-Am race at Michigan by 37 seconds, Penske Racing announced it was leaving the series because of the low purses and the cost of participation. Donohue won the Trans-Am Championship.

Despite his success in sports car racing, Donohue and Penske were disappointed that after three tries, they still had not won the Indianapolis 500. They would return for the 1972 race.

Despite having assured his sponsors that Penske Racing would win the Indianapolis 500 in three years, Sunoco and Goodyear Tire and Rubber continued as the team’s sponsors. Sunoco had sponsored Penske in every race, regardless of the series, since he formed the team in 1966. During the off-season, Roger Penske added Tony Bettenhausen to the team.

For the 1972 USAC series, Penske purchased two new McLarens, one for each driver. The cars had bigger radiator boxes with about a 25% increase in cooling capacity, a shorter nose, and new front and rear suspensions.

The USAC series did not start well for Donohue. In the opening race at Phoenix, Donohue did not finish. In the Trenton 200, a faulty fuel ignition system caused the engine to die in the corners, and he crashed because his right wheel wasn’t properly attached.

These woes paled in comparison to those in Indianapolis. During practices, the team lost seven engines for Donohue’s car. It took about a day to change out an engine, so Donohue lost valuable practice time. On the day before qualifications, the seventh engine broke, and Penske Racing didn’t have another. They bought one from a competitor for $35,000.

Throughout May, Bobby Unser was consistently the fastest car on the track, and he took the pole with a qualifying speed of 195.950 mph. Despite all of the travails of the month, Donohue started the race in third.

The 1972 Indianapolis 500 was full of drama. Unser led the pack until a five-dollar car part failed on lap 31. Donohue’s teammate Tony Bettenhausen inherited the lead until lap 56, when he was passed by Mike Mosely. On the very next lap, Mosely crashed after his right rear wheel broke, handing the lead back to Bettenhausen. Bettenhausen was leading by six seconds on lap 173 under yellow. When the green flag was waved, he was accelerating when he heard a pop from an ignition misfire. On lap 176, he relinquished the lead to Jerry Grant, who had a lead of about 15 seconds. Donohue was steadily gaining on Grant by about three to four seconds per lap. Penske gave Donohue the “Go” signal. Meanwhile, Grant’s team had given him an “E-Z signal.” When they finally realized that perhaps their lead wasn’t a lap, they gave Grant a “Go” signal. He was pulling away from Donohue when, on lap 187, his tire failed after he ran over some debris on the track. He pitted, handing the lead and the win to Donohue. Donohue set a new track record for the race of 162.962 mph, a record that stood until 1984.

Donohue’s season was cut short when, in early July, he suffered pulled ligaments while practicing for a Can-Am race in Atlanta. He returned to the cockpit in late September at the Can-Am race at the Donnybrooke Speedway. He started from the pole and led for the first 44 laps when he lost control of the Porsche, and it spun into the infield. At Laguna Seca, Donohue was leading with two laps remaining. He then slowed to allow his teammate, George Follmer, to win the race, handing the Can-Am series championship to Penske Racing. Follmer won five races during the season.

Winning the Indianapolis 500 can be addictive, and Roger Penske set his sights on winning again in 1973.  He decided to run three cars in the Indianapolis 500 and hired well-known NASCAR driver Bobby Allison. In 1972, Allison won 10 of NASCAR’s 31 races and was named Driver of the Year by a panel of automobile sportswriters.

Donohue began the 1973 season by winning NASCAR’s Winston Western 500 by nearly five miles in an AMC Matador. The car had an undersized engine, but his “unfair advantage” was championship-style brakes. After winning the race, Penske replaced Donohue with Dave Marcis for the NASCAR races.

For the 1973 season, Penske decided to participate in only the three 500-mile USAC races. Just like the decision to exit the Trans-Am series, this decision was made for economic reasons. The smaller USAC race purses didn’t justify the cost of participation. Instead, the team was focused on the Can-Am and L & M series.

Donohue was ready to run in the first race of the L & M series in 1973 when a freak accident destroyed the Lola racer. After Donohue tested the car on January 24 at Riverside, it was placed on jacks in a garage, and the wheels were removed for maintenance. The two mechanics left to get some parts from the transporter when they heard numerous explosions. The garage and everything in it were destroyed. Donohue was third at Mid-Ohio, the fourth race of the season. He was sixth at Watkins Glen. At Atlanta, he finished second after putting larger tires on the front of the car.

Penske entered four cars for the Indianapolis 500—a Dan Gurney Eagle for Donohue and three Lolas, one each for Bobby Allison and Gary Bettenhausen, with the third as Donohue’s back-up car.  On the first day of qualifications, Donohue qualified third, Bettenhausen fifth, and Allison twelfth. Penske’s dream of winning back-to-back Indianapolis 500s was denied when Donohue exited the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500 on lap 92 with what he believed was a valve problem, and Allison didn’t complete the first lap with a broken connecting rod. Bettenhausen finished fifth, three laps off the pace.

For the L & M series, Penske had a new Lola powered by an AMC Javelin 305-cubic-inch engine. Donohue finished third at Mid-Ohio, a week after the Indianapolis 500.

In the Mosport Park Can-Am opener, Donohue was leading the race when he bumped into another racer and had to go to the pits for repairs. At the Road Atlanta Can-Am race, Donohue set a new qualifying record, nearly four seconds faster than the nearest challenger, and broke the old record by nearly two mph. With safety concerns, the race was run in two segments. Donohue easily won the first 100-mile segment by 72 seconds over Follmer. In the 126-mile race, Donohue had a fuel leak. Despite being a lap down after making two pit stops, Donohue finished second. Follmer was declared the winner of the race.

In the World’s Manufacturers’ race at Watkins Glen, Follmer and Donohue finished sixth. The next day, he took the pole for the Watkins Glen Can-Am. There was no catching him in this race. He was ahead by 20 seconds after laps and won the race, his first of the season, by 42.87 seconds.

In the Can-Am series, Donohue shattered the Mid-Ohio qualifying record at 107.55 mph. The next day, he won his second consecutive Can-Am race and was at the top of the driver rankings. In twin 100-mile races at Road America, Donohue set a new track record and won both races, the first by 23.3 seconds and the second by 28.3 seconds. He wrapped up the Can-Am championship with an easy victory at Edmonton, and barely beat Brett Lunger by a fraction of a second in the Seattle race. Most racers would be happy with winning a series’ championship, but Donohue felt the year was a failure. He said, “We had four racing programs, the Can-Am, NASCAR, Formula 5000, and the 500-mile triple crown. We won one, but the other three were failures. That adds up to 25 percent and when I was in school, 25 percent was failing. We got an F for 1973.”

Then, Donohue announced his retirement from racing. He had won five titles in eight years. He was named the president and general manager of Penske Racing. Following his announcement, he competed in the January 1974 IROC race at Daytona. He crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of Peter Revson. When combined with his two victories at Riverside, he won the series championship. A comment after the race reflected his ambivalence about retiring. “That last lap, I really didn’t want it to end. I wanted to go on and on.”

Late in 1974, Penske decided to compete in Formula 1 in the 1975 season, with Donohue handling the setup work. The lure of racing was strong, and Donohue decided to return to the cockpit. His first Formula 1 race was the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished 12^th. He did not do well in the first two Formula 1 races in 1975. He explained that he had never seen any of the tracks and had limited practice time. Also, the racers are timed on each practice lap to determine the starting position. Donohue thought it would take a year before he would be competitive.

Donohue was testing his car in Austria when his left front tire blew, and he crashed through four rows of catch fences and billboards. The initial assessment was a concussion, but soon, Donohue began lapsing in and out of consciousness. He was rushed to a hospital, where a blood clot in his brain was diagnosed. Penske flew to Austria and announced Donohue’s death the next day. 

In his nine seasons with Penske, he won 57 major races. Together, Penske and Donohue established the norms for Team Penske—engineering excellence, always seeking an “unfair advantage,” and tenacity.