Mark Donohue (March 18, 1937 - August 19, 1975_was an American auto racing driver.
He attended Brown University, graduating with an engineering degree, and began casually racing sports cars at the age of 22. He got a break in 1966, catching early season rides at Daytona and Sebring, and was signed by Roger Penske to race USRRC and CanAm for the remainder of the season.
He dominated the 1967 USRRC championship, winning 6 of 8 races, and the TransAm championship, winning 10 of 13. He was the leading U.S. sports car racer of the late 1960s and early 1970s, winning three TransAm championships between 1967 and 1971 and dominating the CanAm circuit as well.
In 1969 he added the Indianapolis 500 to his competition venues, finishing 4th and winning rookie of the year.
He added Formula One to his portfolio, debuting on September 19, 1971 with the McLaren team. He finished third in his first Formula One appearance.
He won the 1972 Indianapolis 500, driving for Roger Penske, with a then record speed of 162 miles per hour.
After winning the 1973 Race of Champions he announced his retirement, only to be lured back to full-time driving when Penske formed a Formula 1 team to compete in the final two events of the 1974 F1 World Championship, and contest the entire 1975 season.
During practice for the Austrian Grand Prix that year, Donohue suffered a major accident when a tire blew and he lost control and crashed into catch fencing. Donohue fortunately didn't appear to be significantly hurt, although sadly a track marshall was killed by debris from the accident. However a resulting headache worsened and after going to a hospital the next day Donohue lapsed into a coma from a brain hemmorage, and died one day later.
Complete Formula One results
(Note: grands prix in bold denote points scoring races.)
