Black weekend: 40 years ago

[Swift17]

Background:
I was working my way thru college and offered a job for the weekend as a "security guard" at an event the then 1971 and inaugural Schaefer 500 at a new facility, the Pocono International Raceway which was about 40 miles from my home - I was given to use a bright yellow jacket with "SECURITY" on the back and assigned to a garage to make sure only those with the proper credentials were allowed to pass - the garage was for Penske Racing with driver Mark Donohue - I watched them work on the car recall I saw this strange tool working on the wheels an tires (now known to me as Dunlop Gauges) for what is seemed like hours - another one of my tasks was to escort the car to the front straightway grid and while there to keep prying hands off the car - It was there I took an old business card from some repaire shop from my wallet borrowed a pen and received an autograph from Mark ! He won that day and the "party hardy" was their garage post race - I then followed his career in a new magazine for me, Road & Track but continued mine in drag racing.

Fast forward to 1974 - I left for grad school and during the following summer my brother on the 4th of July took me to a place called " ...The Glen" for the 6 Hours, WC of Makes, F5000 and Super Vee Trans Am - I was in shock - I was amazed by what I saw - the next weekend went to AutoWorld in Scranton PA saw my first formula ford, bought an AutoWeek and the hook was set --- sold all my drag racing stuff (car and all) a planned for a post grad school racing .............

Went back to grad school that mid August and after the long drive (lots of it pre interstate I-95) from PA to Fla entered ny dorm room, turned on my 'ole B&W tv and heard on the NBC news Mark was dead - - gone - I was crushed - my eyes welled up and yes, there were tears

For Christmas 1975 my brother gave me Unfair Advantage and I cannot tell you how many times I have read this book - If you hav'nt then it is your loss - All we hope to achieve in our sport - the alignment, the development, the tinker'ing the driving and hopefully winning is exposed therein -

I have a framed photo of Mark standing in his 1972 McLaren at Indy framed with that 1971 business card autograph in my home office.

So I remember Mark this weekend, An Ivy Mechanical Engineer. NYU MBA, a racer, a champion, ................ and my racing inspiration

[Bob Coury]

How I remember that weekend as well. I can't believe that it has been 40 years.

When I graduated from high school, the only racing that I was exposed to was the local roundy rounders, drag racing, and the Indy 500. I knew nothing about road racing. My cousins invited me to drive from Ohio to Road Atlanta for a Can-Am race. I was in awe. I remember standing on the hill overlooking the front straight and listening to Mark being interviewed on how to start racing. The next year I was in my first drivers school at Nelson Ledges.


FYI I was at the Glen that same July weekend that you speak of!

[stonebridge20]

FYI I was at the Glen that same July weekend that you speak of!

Me three!

I remember watching Mark at Briar in a Javelin that was rigged up with a wooden box mounted in the passenger side floor board. The box had a bunch of gauges and Mark was "hammering" that AMC around the track with one of his mechanics riding shotgun, pad and pen in hand collecting "data"

My first hero to go.

[pahillclimber]

I got to meet Mark at the 74 Porsche Parade near Pocono, PA. I do not know what was cooler ; me shaking hands with a Indy 500 champion or my Mom talking about the drivers school that her and Mark drove at Marlboro, MD. I was very upset when I saw on TV that he passed away, hard lesson for a 4 yr old.

Flash forward, late 80's. Porsche Club Autocross school, my Mom and Dad are teaching some novice autocrosser who wants to race professionally like his Dad did in the 60s and 70s. That novice was Mark's son, David.

[Steve Demeter]

He was my model in life. Get a mechanical engineering degree and proceed to make the way to the top of the racing world like he did.

Well I got as far as the mechanical engineering degree.

I had the privilege of meeting him twice: Once after the Can AM in 73 at Mid Ohio where I actually got to shake his hand and in 1974 he was the guest speaker at our local chapter of SAE and was an absolute hoot.

Just an college sophomore, we had the foresight to get him to autograph his name card by his place at the head table. It was on display in the case in our engineering building for 10 years.

There will never be another like him.

[Beartrax]

I can't recall the exact year, but it was early 70's. I was a youngster at Watkins Glen for the Trans Am race. We were lucky enough to have passes that got us into the Winners Circle. I can still vividly remember my dad picking me up so I could look into the cockpit of Mark's winning Javelin. Mark was one of my favorite drivers and that was a special day.

[marc sproule]

http://gordonkirby.com/categories/co..._is_no496.html

[provamo]

never met him but was thinking about him the other day

i heard that his set-up note book, probably more like an engineering text, was stolen from the pits at a European GP, wonder if that ever surfaced

[rickb99]

oops posted in wrong thread. sorry.

[John Merriman]

Mark was one of a kind - a fabulous engineer and a great driver who many believe could have become world champion. He was also a terrific writer and his "UNFAIR ADVANTAGE" sits in a prime spot on my bookshelf...right next to Argetsinger's superb biography. I got a chance to see him up close once at Watkin's Glen. He somehow spun the 917-30 in practice and damaged it enough that the spare had to be pressed into action. I and probably a hundred other fanatical fans of his stood around the back of the Penske trailer as the second car was rolled down the ramps - our eyes bugged out!! Here's Mark watching the temperature come up before going out and capturing the pole!

[Albatross]

Had the very good fortune of having Mark Donahue as my driving instructor at the 1964 Advanced Road Racing Drivers School at Bridgehampton, N.Y. I was driving my Elva Courier. Mark won the SCCA EP national Championship in an Elva Courier a couple years earlier. Shared the track with Janet Guthrie driving a Jaguar XK 120. Walt Hansgen was her instructor. Learned of Marks passing while on duty as a Coast Guard pilot. Very sad. Now some 50+ years later, I'm still racing-a very nice vintage Crossle 20f formula ford. I plan on racing two more races this season at Portland and the recently new Shelton tracks. Also planning to attend the Formula Ford 50th in 2019. Suggesting Mid Ohio for my vote.

[Dave Harmison]

Being born in 1960 and in central Iowa, never had a chance to meet him or see him in person, but Unfair Advantage a huge influence on my life.

I'm always surprised that more of my fellow engineers here at SVT (Ford Performance) haven't read it. I have my spare copy out on loan to an engineer now. Great story of how you can either dig for the root cause of a problem and solve it or shoot from the hip like everyone else does.

[Jon Jeffords]

My wife rolls her eyes when she sees me reaching for Unfair Advantage on the bookshelf. "Don't you have that memorized word-for-word by now?!"

In addition to his racing insights, I have used him as an inspiration in my engineering career. The chapter where he single-handedly takes on the Porsche engineers developing the fuel calibration for the 917 is a must-read.

See post #14 below for some of my favorite quotes from Unfair Advantage.

[Swift17]

One of the most important things for a race driver is to know what he wants, and to have the courage to try and get it, even if it means making mistakes along the way. That's the only way to learn how to win. Ultimately, only the driver knows what is right or wrong about his car

When the going gets rough is when you usually have to spend the most money. You do everything possible to accomplish your goals

"Maybe if I ignore the problem, it will go away." I've had that idea many times, and it has always been wrong. In racing, problems don't just go away when you ignore them

Once the preparation is done, its done. No amount of worrying is going to make you or the car work any better. Put all the technical details completely out of your mind before a race. Put full concentration into driving, and enjoy that part of racing

I have always looked forward to the moment when I could get into the car and get on with the job of racing. I felt that once I was in the car and on the grid, finally all the hassles of preparation were over. I could be left alone to the simple problem of me, the car, and the race

You never can predict the right people to be hooked up with from one year to the next
There's an old theory in racing that when you know you're going to hit another car, hit it square head on

Friction circle: you get max performance when you pass from one condition to the other without going through the center of the circle. The fastest way into a corner is to gradually trade off braking traction for cornering traction. I still think that "filling the circle" is one of the hardest things a racing driver has to do

I learned to establish a suspension baseline, make simple step changes in the car, and always go back to the baseline to make sure any changes we saw (good or bad) were really there

Mark D recommends a skidpad with an inner diameter of 200 feet and 20 feet wide. Porsche's skidpads were 100 ft and 400 ft

Successful racing is not in the basic materials you have to work with, its all in the team and the preparation

It can be very risky to get in a car you know absolutely nothing about

Eagle-Chevrolet (non-winged USAC road racer with high-output motor): The hard part was in trying to sense how much understeer was best, for I was able to induce oversteer at any time with the throttle. This is complicated by the changing aerodynamics between low speed and high-speed corners. It is very difficult for a neophyte to distinguish the difference between aerodynamic and mechanical effects

In a long-distance race, ultimate driver ability doesn't make that much difference anyhow

It takes time and effort to make a successful race car. That's all there is to it. There is no easy way out We weren't analyzing, we weren't learning, and we weren't gaining. We didn't do a geometry study, we didn't experiment with wings, we never understood the chassis, and the engines were too complicated. It was a good example of how not to run a racing program

You can only expect maybe 30% of the new things you try to work right. If you stop trying, you'll end up being a few steps behind - a copier

Because of our locked differential, I was able to use the brakes more than they could

There are certain things we like to do for rain races. We put all the wings us to their maximum downforce angle, we put rain tires on and lowered the car as much as we could, we adjusted the camber so that the tires ran on their inside corners, we took the front anti-roll bar off to reduce understeer, and we taped up the front brake ducts.