Mark Donohue Talladega Speed Record - Porsche 917-30 

221 mph with your feet sticking out ahead of the front wheels is brave! But 92 mph in the tractor/trailer is pretty damn impressive too!

Porsche 917/30 Can-Am a.k.a. the Turbo Panzer. Such a beautiful car.

Mark Donohue was a class act and saw him many times in the Can-Am cars at Laguna Seca.

Donohue's death was a great loss for motorsport. I thought Penske wouldn't get over it. When I see the record of this team, heading with the "Captain", until now: respect.

CanAm cars should be brought back. Donohue was fearless, RIP.

Bill Elliot went over 218 mph in a "stock" car before restrictor plates. Cars were becoming airplanes at Talladega.

And 10 days later, Donohue was gone forever.

Pay close attention to the interview at the beginning with Donahue in the car, putting his helmet in. He genuinely meant it when he said "it HAS to be done." You can't teach that. You either have "that" or you don't.

I was there that weekend I was supposed to drive in the IMSA Camel GT race. But it got rained out. On most tracks, we raced in the rain, but wouldn't have been safe on that high banking. BTW, I remember Mark very well. I considered him a friend. Still miss him.

Brilliant, I never knew their was footage of this and its a great memorial to Mark.

I met Mr Donohue at the Greater New York Auto Show in 1970. He was a reserved sort of individual and delight to meet. He signed my brochure and chatted for a minute or two. Sad that he left us so early in his life.

I'm glad I stayed to the end or I would have missed the semi!

WHAT AN AMAZING PERSON MARK WAS!!! Love and respect...

Mark Donohue was the nicest racer ever. Really like watching him in the Trans Am series.

$175k car, worth $10m now

He was very successful in the Trans-Am series driving the AMC Javelin as well.

OH HELL YES! I'm glad I found this! I remember seeing it that weekend on tv.

Buddy Baker going 200 mph in a muscle car must have been a crazy ride

This footage is amazing! This is so cool! Thank you!

Mark was my guy, I will never not feel tears welling up, but I can't not watch, I'm glad my Mom was the one to break it to me, if I had seen it on the news I would have had a heart attack. I still like to go back and read "The Unfair Advantage" and imagine he lives

Classic right channel audio with pops and a great video commentary. I miss the value our media once provided.

A little Darty….at 220 MPH...yeah that will get your attention. Great job by Mark.

Damn. They interviewed one of the Indy car guys a couple years ago. They talked about him "saving" his car from a crash, as it slid a little on one of the banks (wasn't at this track.....I think it was at Indy). His reply was that he didn't save anything. He said when you're going that fast and the car starts to slide, you're just in it for the ride. Crazy.

In 2011, the racing school I had been with for five years pulled the plates in a NASCAR vehicle and I went 184 mph at Dega. Track administration had a fit and thankfully the racing school advised them that I was authorized to go at that speed. They took the heat; not me. I can really relate to Donahue's comment that you don't feel the car will be able to make the turns in one and two and three and four, but you just have to keep the throttle down and trust the tires will adhere to the track. The g's in the turns are unbelievable. They are so forceful that at the end of the ride, my underside of my right upper arm was totally bruised from the banging on the side of the seat. I could not comprehend going any faster like Foyt, Donahue and Elliott, the latter in a Cup car at those 200 plus speeds. Rusty Wallace took the plates off once and also went over 200 mph. Those cup cars with that speed are airplanes without wings.

Saw him race in the Trans Am series in Louden New Hampshire. A few years later my Dad and I met him at a car show in Boston. He stood and talked with my Dad and I for a half hour. He told us about how they were building this 917. Very friendly and unassuming. He had an engineering degree from Browns University, and really understood how to set up a car. Very knowledgeable, then he was gone.

There's something I sincerely love about how Donahue speaks. He sounds more like a shy scientist who just so happens to be trusted with that part of the experiment than most race drivers of the era.

He died 10 days later in austria because of an accident. Racing in that days really was dangerous-

What a great video celebrating a great accomplishment by one of the great drivers of all time. The narrations was excellent.

Years later, everybody was doing 200Mph until restrictor plates restricted enthusiasm.

Love that 1970s Racing Era... always was great.. always on the edge.

R.I.P. Mark. You were good. I can't imagine the g's going into 1 and 3. Gil Fearon (sp) I heard almost passed out in the corners with an Indy car in 2005.

Captain Nice..... Mark was a class act! Its amazing how archaic Talladega was back then. Rickety bleachers, weeds and brush, barley a guard rail......wow. The track surface looked rough!

The best car and driver of all time. What a loss to racing when Mark died.

John Ray Enterprises still runs his trucks on the track. His shop is about a mile and a half from there. He has the Union 76 Ball observation tower that used to be in the turn 4 infield behind his home which is there as well.

Wow that’s such a neat video. Loved the vintage canam and Indy cars.

Great to see footage of this.

I have very very few typical 'sports heroes', but Mark Donahue and Mario Andretti are clearly at the top of the list. Donahue was originally born in the town (Summit NJ) just a few feet away from mine and is also buried there. I was very young when he'd passed so I'd obviously never got to meet him. But I am fortunate to have met Mario on quite a few occasions now as I am friendly with his grandson/Indycar driver Marco. I do believe that Donahue likely would have gone on to be as well rounded/multi-faceted/accomplished (in some ways he was already there) of a driver as Mario ended up being. :-)

And just over 10 years later, in 1987, A.J. Foyt would once again set a world closed course record in the 1987 Oldsmobile Aerotech. A 4 cylinder, turbo charged monster, that was built by 2 different companies for the same purpose: to go over 267 miles per hour. And the records they set, have yet to be broken to this day.

His son contributed by saying 'ᵥᵣₒₒoOoₒₒₒₘ' every time he drove by.

In 1986 using my issued Decatur Radar I personally clocked Buddy Baker testing in a Oldsmobile Stock Car on the Back Straight at Talladega over 217!! Timing told us he was averaging over 200.

$175,000 , how times have changed😎

Memory serves me correctly the NASCAR record at Talladega was set by Bill Elliott in 1987 at 211 and a half or a little bit better than that. That's phenomenal for a NASCAR. That was the same year that he was over 2 laps behind can One race due to some problems in the pits. And he made up both laps under green flag conditions and still won the race.

10 days later and Mark died in Austria, he was one of the best

That engine noise in the background is hilarious.

I’ve driven that track with a few NASCAR vehicles and keeping your foot in it is the toughest job going in turn 1 and 3... the first time. Lol. Foot to the floor all the way, baby. Didn’t hit 200 mph but 180 is still quick.

He would be dead 10 days later after a crash in Austria.

Very cool footage!

He was one fast race car driver.

92 😧😳🤯 Gotta love the 70s

I was there that day. We were in turn 3 in the infield. What’s funny is the fact it was not that loud and didn’t look that fast. The tractor trailer was a surprise. Everyone thought it was fall off the banking.

Boa noite !!!! Absolutamente fantástico. Muito obrigado pelo vídeo e parabéns pelo canal..... Abraço do Brasil.....

woah, a semi averaging 92 mph with a trailer.... so going over 100 mph in 1975 with that tire technology, damn.

All extraordinary men. All different personalities. Each to be admired.

There were some other recent articles, this wasn’t just the can-am car dusted off and repainted. Porsche and Penske had to do quite a few mods and the engine was only good for a couple of laps.

Thank you!

2:29 GORGEOUS car!

I was at Silverstone in 1975 and a friend offered to take my picture with Mark Donohue, and I told him, no, Mark will be around forever. ‘Let’s get some with the European drivers’. Mark’s next race was in Austria . . .

I remember Rusty Wallace taking a more modern stock car out on either Daytona or Talladega without a restrictor plate. Those cars are so aerodynamic and had about 900 hp that he was doing somewhere near or over 235 going into turns 1 and 3. I also remember him saying something like he couldn't run it to its theoretical limit because the car was getting buffeted around too much and wasn't very stable, and that it was too fast for anything resembling safe racing. Still, I wonder what an F1 car with proper gearing and its lowest downforce setting could do. I also wonder what a low downforce oval package on the current Indy Car would do. Might be almost as cool as Bobby Isaac taking that Charger Daytona out to Bonneville to set some records.

Awesome footage of a legendary driver and the legendary 917/30. And how about the truck footage at the end! Pretty neat.

Mark Donohue always had The Unfair Advantage...gone way too soon.

Mark Donohugh was Great to be Sure, but John Greenwood’s Spirit of 76 ZL-1 Corvette hit 236mph at a Endurance race at Daytona.

to think this 917 can still destroy a current day NASCAR .... 917>all other race cars

Well this took an unexpected turn

Couldn’t believe it when I heard like you.

12 years later AJ drove the experimental Oldmobile Aerotech to a closed course record of 257 mph at the 7.7 mile Fort Stockton test track. This stands as the closed course speed record. On a regular race track the record is 241 mph set by Gil De Ferran at the California Speedway in 2000. This was a qualifying run for a CART series race.

Gil de Ferran obliterated the record in 2000 with a run of 241.428 MPH at Fontana (California) in an open-wheel CART car. And Fontana is only 2 miles around, while Talladega is 2.66.

Plot twist - the truck was the record-breaker

Bill Elliott set the fastest lap in NASCAR history, running 212.809 mph at Talladega Superspeedway on April 30, 1987. In a stock car! With a production American V8.

oh boy my right ear is loving this

92 miles an hour in a tractor-trailer is impressive!

Rest in Peace Mr. Donahue

RIP Donohue Had no idea what kind of driver he was until Ive watch this video, now I know.

I saw him live race the 917 Riverside.

Bill Elliott did 212.809 in a lowly pushrod V8 no turbos. 1987 !!!

Fearless and RIP in same sentence...

One of racing nice guys gone far too early rest easy Mark

Rip one of the greatest

1966 NASCAR is still the most impressive to me, actual 60's stock cars modified doing 160+ at Daytona. They were even faster than the Indy cars for a time, and had the highest average speed for any circuit race up to that point while using actual stock cars that were modified, not specific ground up no holds barred race machines or speed trial machines.

A.J. Foyt did come back to Talladega in an Oldsmobile Aerocoupe in 1987 to break the Mark Donahue speed record.

Awesome car and driver! Tim Richmond going 240mph in a taped up NASCAR Monte Carlo was very impressive as well. IIRC, that was his top speed though. Don't know if they timed an entire lap.

Tragedy took quite a few greats away from us too early! Rest in Peace mark donahue!

That's really hauling ass. As for the big rig I'm gonna have to ask if I can see his log book 🙃🚨🚔👮

221 mph in the mid 1970s Just how insane were people back then.

10 days later he departured for the eternal speed grounds.

Being named Jay, A. J. Foyt was my favorite driver. But during those years the 917 was my favorite car. Whataya gonna do? I was a kid!

a 1971 Porche 917 had the fastest average speed record at the 24 hours of Lemans and it stood for 30 years.....lots of things changed but the record stood

Amazing speed for that period of time.

Legend.

It’s frustrating that no one does this stuff anymore…

Poor Mark died very shortly afterward. And Peter died the following year. '72 and '73 respectively.

175k... imagine being able to touch one of these at that price now

Mark was a great driver. Clearly

Wish I'd seen these cars in person.

Was Donohue fearless? I couldn't know but he certainly was serious about getting the job done and coming out on top..

Absolutely amazing that Bill Elliott ran 212 in that hunk of shit he drove

It seemed like Mark Donohue and George Follmer used to go at it in every race I watched back then. One would pass the other, and the other would pass the other one.

Bill Elliott's Ford Thunderbird at Talladega in 1987 hit an average speed of 212.809 miles per hour. I'm just sayin'

Still the track record at Talladega

Dear Donohue R.I.P.

What a smart guy he was....