On August 9, 1975, Mark Donohue set the fastest lap ever recorded at Talladega, running 221.16 mph in the mighty Porsche 917/30. Nearly 45 years later, the track record still stands.

By 1975, the thundering 917/30 turbo Porsches of Team Penske were in retirement, having utterly smashed the Can-Am series in 1973 with six crushing victories in eight races. But in the summer of that year, Roger Penske and driver Mark Donohue hauled one of the beasts out to the giant high-banked NASCAR track at Talladega, then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway. There, wearing a fresh coat of bright red paint, Cam 2 motor oil sponsorship, and a special dual-intercooler setup, the 1,200+ hp Porsche was sent out on the big 2.66-mile oval to take the world closed-course speed record.

Hurtling down the long Talladega straights at more than 240 mph, the twin-turbo Porsche didn’t seem capable of sticking to the pavement through the 31-degree turns. “You tend to lift on the throttle,” Donohure reported. “You have to tell yourself. ‘It’s gong to make the turn, I can keep the throttle down.’ So far, I haven’t been able to keep it down all the way.” We don’t know if Donohue ever did manage a lap without breathing the throttle, but we do know he drove a lap of 221.16 mph, a track record at Talladega that still stands today.

Tragically, on the next weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, Donohue suffered a head injury in a practice crash, then died of a cerebral hemorrhage on the following Tuesday, August 19. The racing world lost one of its most beloved personalities before or since—winner of the 1972 Indy 500, multiple Trans-Am and Can-Am titles, and the hearts of millions of  American race fans. The Talladega record run with the Porsche 917/30 would be the last of his countless achievements. Video below.