Pic of my Hero

[Black 03 Z06]

Found this great picture of Mario Andretti and my hero Mark Donohue. Had to be taken in Europe the year he died. The Penske 28 and First National colours on the nose cone is a giveaway. Andretti was racing F1 at the same time. Damn August 1975 seems such a long time ago now.

 

[MikeysZ06]

You might like this old footage Murray of his speed record run at Talladega in the Porsche 917. This was a week before his fatal accident. The Captain looking pretty young back in those days.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Mikey thank you. Never seen the video before.

I have a model of that car, it is the same one I was at arms length from at Mosport. Incredible. Foyt did indeed break the record with the Olds Aero I believe.

I am going to see if I can get that photo enlarged for some garage art.

 

[MikeysZ06]

Mikey thank you. Never seen the video before.

I have a model of that car, it is the same one I was at arms length from at Mosport. Incredible. Foyt did indeed break the record with the Olds Aero I believe.

I am going to see if I can get that photo enlarged for some garage art.

That would be a nice print for sure. I see Exoto makes a diecast of the Cam 2 oil car. Their quality is right up there at the top. Just looking it says it’s retired... and a healthy $995.00 when it was available.

Exoto Inc.

www.exoto.com

 

[Jeremiad]

Nice Murray, and thank you for this historical reminder, and 1975 was a long time ago. Gas was expensive, and cars were slow. The size of the back seat and the trunk were more important than the size of the engine, and MPG was king. It was perhaps the most depressing time of car ownership of all time. Then the 80's came along! LOL!

 

[MikeysZ06]

This thread should be turned into a sticky.

Heres more ! Back in July 2010,at Road America a celebration of Mark Donohue and cars he drove took place. This would’ve been something special to have been a part of. Give this watch. Is that the drawl of Mark Knopfler singing? Sure is. Beautiful and fitting tune for this vid. And that number 6 T70 Lola @ 1:12

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Mikey another great video.

So many cars there and yet he developed so many more. The Lola T70 Coupe from the 24hours of Daytona, The Ferrari 512M endurance car, NASCAR Matador's, Formula 5000 Traco powered cars both Chev and AMC based. Porsche 917-10 Can Am and the McLaren Can Am cars. The Ford GT 40's, USAC Championship cars and we cannot forget he started his career in a Corvette. His son, David, went on to become a pretty successful road racer as well.

Dononhue might have been one of the very first engineer/drivers. He had an engineering degree from Brown University. I have a picture somewhere of him running Garry Stantons upright USAC Dirt Champ car around the Penske skid pad. No helmet, flat out, hair blowing and a huge smile. He loved what he did.

 

[MikeysZ06]

Here’s more from that same Road America weekend. Those Camaros sound incredible.

 

[MikeysZ06]

 

[Rruuff Day]

This thread should be turned into a sticky.

Heres more ! Back in July 2010,at Road America a celebration of Mark Donohue and cars he drove took place. This would’ve been something special to have been a part of. Give this watch. Is that the drawl of Mark Knopfler singing? Sure is. Beautiful and fitting tune for this vid. And that number 6 T70 Lola @ 1:12

Good vid Mike. And you know that's Knopfler at that first chord.. His haunting emotic style is unmistakable.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Mikey had to go to U Tube to watch but it was another good video.

Thanks.

 

[vintageracer]

Maybe I can sort of piggyback on a bit here.
That one shot with Mario and Mark has two of my favourite drivers.

Here is me and Mario four years ago. He was quite thrilled because I had brought in an old book about the Indy 500 and there was a small chapter about Mario being a very promising rookie. He had not seen this book and happily signed the page with his picture.

 

[MikeysZ06]

Maybe I can sort of piggyback on a bit here.
That one shot with Mario and Mark has two of my favourite drivers.

Here is me and Mario four years ago. He was quite thrilled because I had brought in an old book about the Indy 500 and there was a small chapter about Mario being a very promising rookie. He had not seen this book and happily signed the page with his picture.
View attachment 28125

No worries. More Mark. More Mario. More is good !

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Thanks for the input Vintage, great picture.

Mario and his brother Aldo were talented guys, Mario seemed to have been smitten with bad luck even with all his success. Mario like Mark raced everything with wheels, branching out into all forms of motorsport. Successful at all.

Curious as to the title of that book. That is a keepsake for sure. I have a couple of autographs of Donohue bought off eBay many years ago. There was a guy who had amassed a huge collection of Donohue memorabilia, I got a number of things from him.

 

[MikeysZ06]

Maybe I can sort of piggyback on a bit here.
That one shot with Mario and Mark has two of my favourite drivers.

Here is me and Mario four years ago. He was quite thrilled because I had brought in an old book about the Indy 500 and there was a small chapter about Mario being a very promising rookie. He had not seen this book and happily signed the page with his picture.
View attachment 28125

Look at the smile on his face ! That’s genuine.

 

[Black 03 Z06]

Pic of Mario at Oswego Speedway, New York from 1967 driving the USAC Leader Card Sprinter. His grandson Jarett
raced at Oswego in 2012 taking the Rookie of The Year honours.

Strong Racing Supermodified of young Andretti