Fandozzi Earns RRDC Mark Donohue Award

By Anne Proffit

Anne Proffit

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Anne Proffit has worked in the automotive field since - well, not telling you that. She's been a car salesperson (before it was popular to hire... More

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Kevin Fandozzi en route to victory at Road America

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The late Mark Donohue was known both for his driving and engineering prowess.  What he could do to finesse a car behind the wheel was crafted by what he knew from working with the cars and the engines he raced.

The Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) has, for the past 41 years, given the Mark Donohue Award to a deserving driver who captures the well-rounded aspects of Donohue's exceptional, albeit short career.  

The 41st recipient is Kevin Fandozzi, 41, of St Joseph, MI, honored for his Touring 3 class victory at the 2011 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, held at Road America's famed road course in Elkhart Lake, WI in September.  Fandozzi will receive his award at the 2012 SCCA National Convention March 1-3 at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas.

A mechanical engineer who formerly worked with General Motors and currently owns his own company, Insight Driven, Fandozzi captured his first SCCA National Championship after four consecutive Runoffs appearances.  He races an Insight Driven/Carbotech/Hoosier Tires 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS.

Fandozzi started from pole position on dry tires, racing under damp and changing conditions; the majority of his competitors were on rain rubber.  He outlasted them all in the 13-lap event, despite a final-lap passing attempt by second-placed Chris Puskar of Charlotte, NC.  Fandozzi's margin of victory was 1.278 seconds.

"I will be honest," the winner said.  "I was struggling out there.  After a lot of discussion with (RRDC members and fellow racers) John Heinricy and Don Knowles, we decided running dry tires was the way to go."  With Heinricy on the radio telling him the lap times he needed to keep Puskar behind him, Fandozzi dealt with an unstable car, "sliding and drifting and hoping it was going to stick."  

Fandozzi earned this award after voting by RRDC members attending and/or competing in the SCCA Runoffs, together with members who watched the action from afar.  He was chosen, according to RRDC president Bobby Rahal, because the Mark Donohue award is "about personal spirit and performance behind the wheel.  Those qualities are more important for this award than winning the race.  This year Kevin Fandozzi excelled at both."

"Winning my first National Championship is wonderful, of course," Fandozzi said, "but earning the Mark Donohue Award is beyond that.  It signals to me that I'm doing some of the right things and it really gives me a great motivation to succeed."

© 2011 Anne Proffit