Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed

To a generation of fans in the 1960s and 1970s, Mark Donohue embodied a new, uniquely American spirit in motor racing. Donohue was not only blindingly fast he was also smart, with a background in engineering and a unique talent for studying and setting up a race car. Together with his like-minded team owner, Roger Penske, he brought a new level of technical sophistication and preparation to nearly every type of American racing, from sports cars to the Indianapolis 500.

After years of success in amateur sports-car racing, Donohue s professional career took off in 1966 when he drove a factory Ford GT40 at Le Mans and a Lola T70 for Penske in the Can-Am Challenge. He arrived on the public stage at a time when American racing was attracting a wider audience through exciting new series such as the Can-Am and the Trans-Am Sedan Championship, which he would soon dominate, driving Chevrolet Camaros and AMC Javelins. Donohue s greatest triumphs would come in the early 1970s: In 1972 he won the Indy 500, and a year later he captured the Can-Am title in the overpowering Porsche 917-30. After a brief retirement he returned to racing in Formula One, only to die following an accident during practice for the Austrian Grand Prix in 1975.

In the first full biography of Mark Donohue, author Michael Argetsinger tells the story of racing s ultimate driver-engineer, one who set the standard for generations to come. He also explains how Donohue s life and career were shaped by his friends, family, and fellow drivers, as well as by the rapid changes in technology and competition that swept through racing during his time.

As a member of an American racing family, Michael Argetsinger remembers the earliest days of post-war road racing. Growing up in the race organization at Watkins Glen, he graduated from mowing grass at the circuit to become assistant to the press director at the United States Grand Prix, and later, representative in Europe to the race director. His experience also includes working with the Cooper Car Company during the 1966 Formula One Grand Prix season. After two years of service in the U.S. Army, he began his own racing career in 1965 while still in college. He raced in Europe for 10 years and remains an active driver in the SCCA and vintage racing. He is married and lives in Chicago, Illinois. His critically acclaimed first book, Walt Hansgen: His Life and the History of Post-War American Road Racing, published by David Bull Publishing, received a Gold Medal for biography and was named Best of Books for 2006 at the International Automotive Media Awards.