In late 1999, The Motorsport Collector acquired a very interesting piece of racing memorabilia, the top half of a RaceMark single layer nomex used by Mark Donohue in 1972. We were told by the seller that it was all that remained of the driver suit worn by the American road racing legend the day he survived one of the more 'famous' racing accidents of the 70's.
While in the process of authenticating the suit, our research discovered evidence that it our suit had a much more impressive history than we originally thought.
We are certain that it is the suit worn by Mark Donohue the day he won the 1972 Indianapolis 500.
Here's the story:
On Monday,
July 3, 1972, Mark Donohue was testing Penske Racing's Porsche
917/10 in a private session at Road Atlanta in advance of that
weekend's Canadian American Challenge Cup race. As Donohue crested
a hill, he heard a loud crack behind him. The rear bodywork of
the L&M Porsche had broken away, sending the car out of control
at very high speed. The car first slammed into an embankment then
cartwheeling uncontrollably. The front end of the tube framed
racer disintegrated, exposing Donohue's legs and lower body. The
photo on the right (from 'The Unfair Advantage' by Donohue and
Paul Van Valkenburgh) shows what remained of the Porsche after
it's wild ride.
Donohue was injured but extremely lucky to survive. Bruce McLaren had been killed in a very similar accident at Goodwood two years earlier. He required surgery on his left knee, but returned to action in the Donnybrooke Can Am in late September 1972.
After the accident, Donohue's soiled and torn
driver suit was thrown away, but fished out of the trash by a
racing enthusiast. The gruesome torn legs and lower torso were
cut off by the enthusiast, but the top half of the suit remained
in his closet for more than 27 years, until acquired by The Motorsport
Collector.
Although we have been unable to obtain photos
of the test
session on July 3, 1972, we're confident that this was the suit
Donohue was wearing that day. The patches on the front and
sleeves match Donohue's Can Am race suits from 1972 (see the
Pete Lyons photo on the top of this page).
There are also what seems to be Georgia clay stains on the Goodyear patch. Those of you who have been to Road Atlanta know just how hard they are to remove!
After
receiving the suit and getting it home, a couple of details caught
our eye. They made us a bit curious about the suit's origin. We
reviewed films of the 1972 Mosport and Donnybrooke Can Am races
from our research library and noticed that the 'race day' suits
worn by Mark Donohue at both events featured a large, round 'L&M'
patch on the back.
Our suit had both 'Sunoco' and 'Goodyear' logos embroidered directly on the back of the suit. Although the legendary Porsche 917/30 raced by Donohue to the 1973 CanAm Championship (and lap records that stood for decades) was painted Sunoco blue, the primary sponsor of the 1972 Penske Porsches was 'L&M' cigarettes.
However, Sunoco was the primary sponsor on Donohue's 1972 Indianapolis 500 winning McLaren, just 5 weeks earlier.
The plot thickens..
While putting the suit on a hanger, we noticed what seemed to be a series of pulled stitches behind the 'Porsche+Audi' patch on the left chest, leading us to believe that there had possibly been another, larger patch sewn there earlier. Noting the shape and size of the patch, I dug through my collection and found an old 'Penske Quality Products' patch from around the same era. As you can see by the photos below, the patch fits the pulled stitches perfectly.
As you can see in the photos on the left and right, a 'Penske High Performance Products' patch is visible on Donohue's right chest.
Although the second line of text on this patch is different from the one in our comparison, the patch was the identical shape and size of the 'Penske Quality Products' patch.
The other patches on the body of the suit seem to match the patches on our suit, as does the 'L&M' patch on the left sleeve.
At this point we began to ask the BIG
question: : Is it possible that what we
have in our possession is the very suit worn by Mark Donohue the
day he won the 1972 Indianapolis 500?
Although the drivers of today seem to change driver suits every weekend, back in the 70's top professionals like Mark Donohue used only 2-3 suits over the course of a season.
To continue our effort to authenticate the suit, a letter and set of photos were sent to Penske Racing. We asked if their records showed how many of Mark Donohue's suits were embroidered with Sunoco lettering in 1972. We also asked their opinion of the suit in our possession. Penske Racing contacted us a few days later to say that the materials would be studied by a historian connected with Penske Racing's private museum.
While waiting for their response we came across
another interesting piece of evidence.
The June 5, 1972 issue of 'Sports Illustrated' carries a full page photograph of Mark Donohue in the Winner's Circle at the Indianapolis 500. The patches and embroidery of the suit Donohue is wearing seem to match our suit perfectly.
One other piece of evidence presents itself in the photo.
We were then faced with some interesting questions:
- Was this the driver suit worn by Mark Donohue the day he won the Indianapolis 500?
- Was the suit laundered after the race, fading the oil stain, but not completely removing it?
- Was the 'Penske' patch on the Indy suit removed in favor of a 'Porsche+Audi' patch to be in compliance with Donohue's CanAm sponsors?
- Since the suit probably would not be an appropriate Can Am 'race day' suit due to the 'Sunoco' lettering on the back (instead of 'L&M'), could the suit have been intended for use on practice or Test Days...like the one held at Road Atlanta on July 3, 1972?
What do you think?
