Misplaced Pages

Joel Thorne

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
American racing driver (1914–1955)
Joel Thorne
Thorne, circa 1938
BornJoel Wolfe Thorne Jr.
(1914-10-16)October 16, 1914
New York, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 17, 1955(1955-10-17) (aged 41)
North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Champ Car career
8 races run over 12 years
Best finish5th (1940)
First race1936 Vanderbilt Cup (Westbury)
Last race1950 Pikes Peak Hill Climb
(Pikes Peak)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0

Joel Wolfe Thorne Jr. (October 16, 1914 – October 17, 1955) was an American racing driver, engineer, and playboy. Thorne raced his own cars in the Indianapolis 500, and later went on to attempt to design aircraft. He died after a plane crash in North Hollywood.

Racing career

The 1946 Indianapolis 500 was won by a car owned by Thorne and driven by George Robson. One of Thorne's cars also won the pole position and finished second in the 1939 Indianapolis 500 with Jimmy Snyder behind the wheel.

Death

Thorne died after crashing his private plane, during what witnesses described as "stunting", into an apartment building, killing three residents including a two-month-old baby.

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired
1938 22 13 119.155 23 9 185 0 Flagged
1939 8 20 122.177 23 7 200 0 Running
1940 8 10 122.434 20 5 197 0 Flagged
1941 5 23 121.163 24 31 5 0 Crash T1
Totals 587 0
Starts 4
Poles 0
Front Row 0
Wins 0
Top 5 1
Top 10 3
Retired 1

See also

References

  1. "Joel Thorne". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  2. Brown, Allen. "Joel Thorne". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  3. "1946 Indianapolis 500 Official Box Score :: Indianapolis 500". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  4. "Prominent Racing Figure Is Injured". The Indianapolis Star. February 23, 1946. p. 14. Retrieved April 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.[REDACTED]
  5. Big Spring Daily Herald, "Crash Victim made many headlines with escapades", page 16, Oct. 19th, 1955.
  6. Mason City Globe-Gazette, "Plane Hits Apartment, Three Die", October 18th 1955, page 21
  7. The Independent (Pasadena, California), "Playboy Plane Crash Ruled Not Fault Of Government". June 7th, 1957, page 22

External links

Categories:
Joel Thorne Add topic