(born in
Summit ,
New Jersey ,
March 18 ,
1937 - died in
Graz ,
August 19 ,
1975 ) was an
American Racing Driver .
He graduated from
Brown University 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 six of eight races, and the
Trans-Am championship, winning 10 of 13. He was the leading US sports car racer of the late
1960s and early
1970s , winning three Trans-Am championships between
1967 and
1971 and dominating the CanAm circuit as well.
In
1969 he was seventh in the
Indianapolis 500 , winning
Rookie Of The Year , and debuted in
Formula One on
September 19 ,
1971 with the
McLaren team, finishing third.
Donohue won the 1972 Indianapolis 500, driving for Roger Penske, with a then record speed of 162
Mph . On
January 21 ,
1973 , driving an
AMC Matador for Penske at the
NASCAR Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) race at
Riverside, California , he won the season-opener and remains the last non-regular driver (
Road Course Ringer ) to win. 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 then to contest the entire 1975 season.
Donohue was the
1974 IROC champion. Donohue set the then world closed-course record driving a Porsche 917-30 at the
Talladega Superspeedway in
Talladega, Alabama in
August 9 ,
1975 . His average speed was 221.120 mph. Donohue was killed 10 days later. The current record of 241.328 mph is held by Brazilian driver
Gil De Ferran in a
Reynard -
Honda at
California Speedway in
Fontana, California on
Sept 27 ,
1997 , during practice for a
CART race.
During practice for the 1975
Austrian Grand Prix , Donohue lost control when a tire failed and he crashed into catch fencing. A track marshal was killed by debris from the accident but Donohue didn't appear to be significantly injured. However a resulting headache worsened and after going to the hospital the next day Donohue lapsed into a coma from a brain hemorrhage and died.
Donohue's racing legacy lives on in his son,
David Donohue , who current races a
Daytona Prototype for
Red Bull Brumos Racing in the
Grand-Am racing series.
(Note: grands prix in denote '''points scoring''' races.)
