Born in 1963 I was privileged to go to Can-Am at Road America and Mid-Ohio. Saw the great McLarens, Shadows, Lolas, and the 917. Many great drivers, Hulme, Revson, Schecter, Oliver, Fulmer, Motzenbocher, and Donohue. Mid-Ohio, 1973, was a great race. It rained off and on. Jackie Oliver in the Shadow kept slicks on the whole race, spinning out multiple times. The track would a start to dry and Oliver would fly. It was the Shadow's only hope to win. Donohue was dominant, so much so that McLaren didn't even show up. Being a kid I was a Shadow fan. Oliver finished 2nd Donohue won. I read many years later Oliver's race was considered one of the greatest drives ever, of any category or time. I asked after the race for Oliver's autograph. He was rude impolite crushing my childhood worship. Then I found Donohue sitting down to give autographs. He was everything I could have dreamed a hero would be. My eyes were big, I probably said thank you more than once. Two boys ahead of me were rude to him, at least in my opinion. I was walking away excited to show my father and an older woman came up to me and said Mark wanted me to have a Penske Racing sticker. She was Mark's mother.
I was at the 73 Road America can- am race. Same as you, I was treated great by all the drivers I asked for autographs from. My guy was George Follmer. He was an underdog but went out of his way to give me some uop shadow swag. I saw Jackie Oliver and asked him for one. He was walking with some pretty woman and when I asked him to sign my card of him, he turned to me with a really pissed off look, and yelled..NO! Can't you see I'm busy? I said back to him.."Then let George do it" He said something that I couldn't understand, but sounded like "fuck you" I've hated him ever since. What an Asshole he was. I've hated him forever for that.
when we were young, back in the early 70s, my dad would take my brother and I to the annual Los Angeles Auto Expo. We liked looking at the cars, but the highlight for us was the projection room where they would show as many of the previous year's promotional films as they could. Castrol, Sunoco, Goodyear, etc. Other than the Indy 500 and the Monaco GP, you didnt see much racing on TV so this was our only opportunity to see many of these cars in action. We lived very close to Ontario Motor Speedway, and not much further from Riverside so we took those in when we could. Questor GP, CanAm, F5000, IMSA, and of course a few years later GP came to Long Beach. Donahue was one of my heroes and inspired me to become an engineer, eventually competing in SCCA club events in IT, FV, and Spec Miata, as well as AFM motorcycle racing.
I was at an SCCA regional in early May 1970 at Bryar Motorsport Park. Mark Donohue and Roger showed up to test the AMC Javelin for the Trans-Am a couple of weeks hence. I'll never forget watching Mark motor around Bryar with his elbow on the door, holding the roof, as though he were cruising to the beach, surrounded by Spitfires, Lotus-7s, and Porsche speedsters. Fortunately I was at the Trans-Am as well.
This is just fantastic ! Mark Donohue's Unfair Advantage is one of the most interesting motorsport biographies ever written, one which I've read several times. What astonished me on first reading was just how clueless everybody was about motorsport engineering in the mid to late 60s !
First time I have ever seen Mark in a Video. I live in Australia & only know him because of what I read in the Road & Track magazine at the time. I have seen him on RU-vid a couple of times. It’s interesting he is pretty much as Road & Track described him at the time . That was a great car magazine.
@@24680jru Yes, Trans Am Champions in the Camaro and in the Javelin. In 1970 at Laguna, Donohue's Javelin came in second to Jones in the Mustang. I had a 70 Javelin and was excited that AMC won the Championship in 1971.
Mark sure made it seem like Porsche was too arrogant to make the 917 work correctly. The Penske team had to show Stuttgart how to make it run right. What Porsche delivered initially was a pile. At least that's what I got from 'The Unfair Advantage'
Charles Wall i read the same. I loved the part where he mentioned he was hung over the first time he drove it. It was quite incredible what the Penske crew turned it into
u should read Sam Poseys article about the history of his relationship with porsche. he specifically mentions the start of the 917 program and how it started as a very crude, nearly un drivable deathtrap.
They never did perfect the 150mph+ movement. Good hands could work it but Hurley Haywood had a close one on 74 when it lifted at that speed. Setting the front lip was do or die in gettin it right
Charles Wall ahh actually ..vern... horspower and tork curve was such.that most drivers at time couldnt handle the. read up more ir if there us a meeting your area talk to vic elford about driveing them down.to earth guy
We all live and learn, but at the moment in time this was filmed, that featured club racer was a complete idiot. Fascinating film regardless, thanks for the upload, and I hope to see pt2 at some point.
Dude couldn’t believe that with all his non racing credentials, no one would give him an unlimited budget to do what he wanted. Fucking Cornell pussy. If he was good at anything, he could have financed his own whims.
I liked solely for that reason. That and the squirting car right after ( 5:07 )... And the two men "rubbing" right before that shot... was that intentional? xD xD
SCCA Regional level most likely. The Sprites are in H Production. Same today as then: You start in Regionals, and if you wanted to, and qualify for (scoring so many points in a year), you moved up to Nationals. Highest scores in a class in Nationals get invited to the Finals at the end of the year and race for the National Championship in each class.
