Donohue at Daytona24 '73 pic

[ChrisB]

This is one of my most prized photos, and I thought it might be nice to post it on the 30 year anniversary of the '73 race. (The '03 Daytona 24 is on SpeedTV right now)

My parents had taken a short Forida vacation in early '73 which included stops at the (then) new Disney World and the Daytona 24 hours. They also brought along my cheapie snapshot camera which they took several pics of the race. While walking around the paddock/pits area on Sunday morning, they spotted Mark Donohue and snapped this picture. They also struck up a conversation with something like "we're also from Media, near Philly" and he chatted with them for about a minute. According to the souvenir program, which I still have, Mark was driving a Penske 2.7L 911 Carrera with co-driver George Follmer in the GP5 class.

http://www.netaxs.com/~gg1/race/md_daytona_73.jpg

[DaveL]

Thanks for the picture, Chris.

Mark's Sunoco/Penske uniform is clear to see under the jacket he was wearing. It is gets pretty cold at Daytona at night, and doesn't warm up until around 10:00 in the morning. The pit crews not only have to fight the fatigue and noise, they have to fight the cold.

[Hurling Frootmig]

It's a great way to remember a great driver.

[Railbird]

classic photo Chris

thanks

[Napoleon]

Very cool picture.

It has the same colortone as pictures I took as a kid with those cameras.

BTW Chris, are those your beer cans next to the wheel of the pickup truck in the back. ;)

[ChrisB]

No, the Ford p/u w. the Cragars is probably the Penske motorhome circa '73 :)

Also notice the old Daytona tower in the background.

I did some digging and found a boxscore of the race here (http://www.wspr-racing.com/results/wscc/ms1973.html) and it looks like their Porsche retired after 405 miles, so Mark was probably done by the time this picture was taken. But MUCH better things would lie ahead of him later in '73 with the all-conquering 917/30 CanAm Porsche.