Joel Thorne

Joel W. Thorne (16 October 1914 New York City – 17 October 1955 North Hollywood, California) was an American racecar driver, engineer, and playboy. He died when he crashed his private plane, after what witnesses described as "stunting",[1] into an apartment building, killing eight residents including a two-month-old baby.[2][3] Thorne raced his own cars is the Indianapolis 500, and later went on to attempt to design aircraft.

The 1946 Indianapolis 500 was won by a car built by Thorne and driven by George Robson.[4] One of Thorne's cars also won the pole position and finished second in the 1939 Indianapolis 500 with Jimmy Snyder behind the wheel.[5]

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. ↑ Big Spring Daily Herald, "Crash Victim made many headlines with escapades", page 16, Oct. 19th, 1955.
  2. ↑ Mason City Globe-Gazette, "Plane Hits Apartment, Three Die", October 18th 1955, page 21
  3. ↑ The Independent (Pasadena, California), "Playboy Plane Crash Ruled Not Fault Of Government". June 7th, 1957, page 22
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Prominent Racing Figure Is Injured". The Indianapolis Star. February 23, 1946. p. 14. Retrieved April 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.

External links


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