Mark Donohue

Did You Know?

• The 1967 Z-28 Camaro he drove was found to be 250 pounds under the minimum weight after an acid-dipping trick.
• Donohue won the 1972 Indianapolis 500 driving a McLaren-Offy at a record speed of over 162 mph.

Early life

Born in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Donohue grew up in Summit, graduated from the Pingry School in Hillside, and entered Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. At the age of 22 while a senior at Brown, Donohue began racing his 1957 Corvette. He won the first event he entered, a hillclimb in Belknap County, New Hampshire. He graduated from Brown in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Donohue won the SCCA national championship in an Elva Courier in 1961. Experienced race driver Walt Hansgen recognized Donohue's ability and befriended him, eventually providing an MGB for Donohue to race at the 1964 Bridgehampton 500 mi SCCA endurance event, which he won. Hansgen arranged for Donohue to become his teammate in 1965, co-driving a Ferrari 275 at the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, which they finished in 11th place. That year, Donohue also won two divisional championships: in SCCA B Class in a GT350 and in SCCA Formula C in a Lotus 20B. Donohue was hired on March 29, 1964, by Jack Griffith as design engineer for the Griffith. He went on to assist TVR's David Hives in designing the Series 400 Griffith and then working on the Series 600 Griffith. During his tenure at Griffith, he drove the Griffith-owned Shelby 289 Cobra making his mark on the SCCA circuit. In February of 1965, Donohue was named comptroller at Griffith Motors, but was soon lured from Griffith by Roger Penske early in 1966. The Griffith company went defunct in November, 1966.

Trans-Am

Donohue began his Trans-Am series campaign in 1967, winning three of twelve races in a Roger Penske-owned Chevrolet Camaro. In 1967 and 1968, the Trans-Am schedule included the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Donohue finished fourth at Daytona and won the Trans-Am class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. 1968 was a banner year for Donohue in the Trans-Am series, as he successfully defended his 12 Hours of Sebring victory by partnering with Craig Fisher and driving his Penske Chevrolet Camaro to victory. Donohue won ten of 13 races, a Trans-Am series record which stood until Tommy Kendall won 11 of 13 races in the 1997 Trans-Am Series. Donohue was a leading Trans-Am driver of the late 1960s and early 1970s driving Camaros in 1968 and 1969, and an AMC Javelin in 1971, for Roger Penske Racing. During their enormous success in Trans-Am, Penske and Donohue began to experiment with their Camaros. They discovered that using a drag racing trick of dipping a car in an acid bath would eat away small amounts of metal, which in turn made the car incrementally lighter. The 1967 Z-28 won its last race by lapping the entire field of cars. During a post-race inspection, race stewards discovered that the car was 250 pounds lighter than the 2,800-pound minimum weight requirement. Donohue was about to have his race victory taken away for cheating, but Roger Penske stepped in. Penske warned that any disqualification would have the potential of motivating Chevrolet to pull all support for the Trans-Am series. After considering the potential consequences, the race stewards allowed Donohue's victory to stand, but the rules for the 1968 season incorporated a change whereby all cars would be weighed during the technical inspection before the race. Penske and Donohue did not stop acid-dipping after this, however. Continuing the practice of reducing weight allowed them to place weights of certain sizes strategically in specific locations within the car, thus helping to balance the car while being driven on the limit. Acid-dipping car bodies was prevalent with competing Trans-Am teams also.