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Mark Donohue Jr. was one of the most versatile racing drivers ever
to compete. He won in sports cars, Indy Cars, stock cars; on oval
tracks and road courses.
He was a two-time USRRC Champion, a three-time SCCA Trans-Am
Champion, a Can-Am Champion, winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the
Indianapolis 500 and a NASCAR Winston Cup race at Riverside, Calif.
Donohue began racing casually at the age of 22 in a 1957
Corvette. He got his big break in 1966 when he was given a ride with
Walt Hansgen on John Holman's Ford team in the Daytona Continental
and at Sebring, Fla. Donohue and Hansgen finished third in the
Continental, second at Sebring.
He was then signed by Roger Penske on a race-by-race basis for
the USRRC and Can-Am series in 1966. Donohue won three times on the
Can-Am circuit and finished second in the final standings.
In 1967, he swept six of eight races to win
the USRRC crown and repeated as its champion a year later.
That same year, he drove a Camaro to 10 wins in 13 races to
take the Trans-Am crown.
Donohue went to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 1969
and was named rookie of the Year with a fourth-place finish.
In 1971, he became the first man to top 180mph
in qualifying at Indy with a speed of 185.004 mph, but a faulty gear
box put him out of the race. He came back to Indy in 1972 and this
time his luck was all good, as he won with an average speed of
163.465 mph.
In 1970, the Penske team had forsaken the Camaro for the
American Motors Javelin on the Trans-Am circuit and by 1971, Donohue
dominated the competition to capture the championship.
In 1973, Donohue tried his luck at NASCAR. Armed with an
American Motors Matador, he won the season-opening 500-miler on the
road course at Riverside, Calif., beating Bobby Allison by a lap and
giving American Motors its first NASCAR win.
Prior to his untimely death following a crash at Austria's
Ostreichring in 1975, he set the world's closed course speed record
of 221.160 mph at Alabama International Motor Speedway.
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Mark Donohue's Winston Cup Stats |
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|
Date |
Track |
Start |
Finish |
Laps |
Winnings |
|
1 |
1/23/1972 |
Riverside |
3 |
39 |
13/149 |
$1,515 |
|
2 |
2/20/1972 |
Daytona |
10 |
35 |
18/200 |
$1,375 |
|
3 |
3/5/1972 |
Ontario |
7 |
44 |
45/200 |
$1,615 |
|
4 |
3/26/1972 |
Atlanta |
11 |
15 |
314/328 |
$1,325 |
|
5 |
1/21/1973 |
Riverside |
4 |
1 |
191/191 |
$15,170 |
|
6 |
4/1/1973 |
Atlanta |
12 |
30 |
202/328 |
$950 |
|
|
|
|
3 |
1 |
783/1396 |
$21,700 |
USRRC Champion
1967-68
Trans-Am Champion 1968-69-71
Daytona 24 Hour Winner 1969
Indy 500 Rookie of the Year 1969
Indy 500 Winner 1972
Can-Am Champion 1973
1st IROC Champion 1974
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