Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed

Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed
by Michael Argetsinger

Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed
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Book Summary Information

Author: Michael Argetsinger
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-24
ISBN: 1935007025
Number of pages: 344
Publisher: David Bull Pub

Book Reviews of Mark Donohue: Technical Excellence at Speed

Book Review: Too much information
Summary: 5 Stars

I'm really glad that there's an authoritative Donohue biography, in addition to Mark's memoir.

The author is scrupulous about correcting the record when Mark made an error in his memoir, and when Mark may have been unfairly critical or done someone dirty.

The book contains interesting detail about the period that Sam Posey elsewhere calls "Dark Monohue." There's interesting, surprising information from Hurley Haywood and Mark's second wife about Mark's goals after F1.

The only serious problem with this book is that the author seems to have included every bit of information he had. Stuff like street addresses, and reports of races that Donohue might have been in, but wasn't. For example, the author summarizes Donohue's overall relationship with Pedro Rodriguez, though Rodriguez is only relevant because of one collision that had nothing to do with whatever their personal relationship was. I'm probably as big a Donohue fan as you'll find, except for Paul Powell, and I found the peripheral detail boring in places.

The author uses the annoying convention of describing a thorough effort and a respectable finish as "a fine third," etc. Can't someone just finish third?

Summary of 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.

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