Tragedy in Austria: The death of Mark Donohue, an end to Penske’s Formula 1 team

Forty-nine years ago today, American racing icon Mark Donohue died two days after walking away from a seemingly trivial crash in a Formula 1 car fielded by one of his best friends and closest colleagues, Roger Penske.

The loss of a driver like Donohue was deeply felt in the motorsport community — and it also resulted in Roger Penske pulling out of Formula 1. This is the tragic story of Mark Donohue, Penske Racing, and the PC1.

Mark Donohue and Roger Penske: A match made in heaven

The American racing scene in the 1960s was a small and relatively intimate; show up to your local Sports Car Club of America races regularly enough, and you’d have met some of the most incredible talents the country has produced. That’s exactly how Mark Donohue and Roger Penske crossed paths.

Donohue was born on March 18, 1937 in Haddon Township, New Jersey. He attended Brown University to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering and got involved in the local hillclimb scene before graduating to SCCA racing.

Donohue first met Roger Penske, an aspiring racer, at a dinner hosted by a mutual friend who knew the two were interested in racing. Their paths would cross throughout the years, but it wasn’t until 1966 that Roger Penske extended an offer to Donohue: Why not race for me?

The racer’s first outing at Watkins Glen was a little bit of a disaster thanks to a crash, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade Penske. He hired Donohue to race a Lola T70 spyder in the United States Road Racing Championship in 1967.

It was the start of an exceptionally fruitful partnership. Penske and Donohue were fast friends, but they also had a shared understanding of what made a car tick and a desire to consistently find the so-called “unfair advantage.”

In effect, the “unfair advantage” was the name given to any form of technology or procedure that wasn’t explicitly forbidden in a race series’ rulebook, and Donohue and Penske were at the top of their game in American racing.

They experimented with acid-dipping their car bodies in order to make them lighter. They packed dry ice around their fuel tanks to make the fuel denser and therefore pack more into the gas tank. Then, they raised the fuel rig 20 feet above their pit box, utilizing gravity to pump fuel faster.

And it worked. Behind the wheel of Penske-entered cars, Mark Donohue won the 1972 Indianapolis 500, a 1973 NASCAR race at Riverside, and the 1973 Can-Am Championship. Donohue was the driver Penske called when he was first interested in entering a handful of F1 races in 1971.

By the end of 1973, though, Donohue had grown tired of racing. He had watched his friends die and was slowly approaching 40 years of age; if there was any time to call it quits, it was then.

But Roger Penske came calling.

Donohue had secured so many successes in his career, but he’d never really had a true shot at Formula 1. In 1974, Penske intended to enter two races with his own car, a PC1, with the intention of racing full-time in 1975.

“I could see what was coming,” Donohue reflected of Penske’s decision.

“I could see myself helping to develop the Formula 1 car, setting it up and then having some younger hot‐shot driver take over. I don’t think I could have handled that.”

Still, Donohue was ready to step back — until American racer Peter Revson was killed practicing for the 1974 South African Grand Prix. Revson had been Penske’s choice for the F1 team if Donohue wouldn’t join him. But with Revson gone, there was only one answer.

Mark Donohue would have to come out of retirement. He would have to race.

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>Roger Penske’s F1 machine was named PC1. In 1973, he had purchased the facilities of McRae Cars Ltd in Dorset. With just six employees, PC1 construction began.

An aluminum monocoque chassis built around a Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine and a Hewland FG 400 gearbox became the PC1 — a scratch-built effort inspired by the more successful British cars that had already been racing in F1.

Unfortunately, the PC1 was plagued with troubles. It was stubborn. Despite securing one fifth-place finish at the Swedish Grand Prix, Mark Donohue found that he just couldn’t get the car to respond to the changes and inputs he wanted to implement.

With three retirements in the first six races of 1975, the PC1 had retired three times. Rather than keep trying to finesse the car, Penske made the decision to shelf the PC1 and order a March 751 instead.

It seemed to be a great call; at the 751’s first race with Penske, Donohue drove it into fifth place. Yes, he did retire at the next race — but at the very least, things were looking up.

Before the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue headed back to America to drive his “Can-Am Killer,” the Porsche 917/30 that he drove to his 1972 Can-Am title, around Talladega Superspeedway in the hope of setting a new closed-course speed record. On August 9, he was successful, averaging 221.120 miles per hour, setting a record that would stand for 11 years.

Donohue jetted off to Austria after, preparing for the Grand Prix. But in the final practice session for the race, disaster struck.

A left front tire failure struck the March 751 as Donohue was traveling at 160 miles per hour. His car barreled through trackside advertising billboards and catch fencing. Debris flying off the car killed one track marshal and injured another.

Despite losing consciousness at the track, though, Donohue initially seemed fine. He returned to the Penske garage for a debrief, able to give engineers a full breakdown of what happened.

But a headache set in. And it got worse. And worse .

Donohue was helicoptered to a hospital in Graz when it became clear his headache wasn’t going to get better. On the way, he lapsed into a coma, and doctors immediately realized they’d need to operate.

The surgery took three hours, as doctors attempted to remove a blood clot that was causing severe hemorrhaging.

Sadly, there was nothing to be done. On August 19, 1975, Donohue succumbed to the brain hemorrhage. He died at just 38 years old.

Roger Penske was the one to formally announce the death of his great friend.

It was a huge tragedy, one that lends itself to ample “what ifs.” What if Donohue had truly committed to his retirement? What if Peter Revson hadn’t died; what if Roger Penske had another capable driver lined up?

And what could Donohue had achieved in the world of engineering?

In the aftermath of Donohue’s death, his estate brought a suit against both Penske and Goodyear, alleging that Donohue’s death was the direct result of tire failure. The suit was settled in 1986 for $9.6 million, the largest in Rhode Island history at the time.

Penske remained in Formula 1 for one more year, fielding John Watson. The outfit secured a win at the Austrian Grand Prix in 1976, one year after the death of Donohue. At the end of the season, Penske withdrew from F1 with the goal of focusing on IndyCar racing.

What could Penske Racing have achieved in Formula 1 had Mark Donohue lived to develop the car?

In 1975, before his death, Donohue stated that he and Penske felt they’d made a “major discovery” when it came to the PC1.

“If we’re right,” Donohue said, “by next season we could be the most dominant team in Formula 1.”

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