How Can We Help?
Joel Wolfe Thorne Jr. (October 16, 1914 – October 17, 1955) was an American racing driver,[1][2] 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.[3] One of Thorne's cars also won the pole position and finished second in the 1939 Indianapolis 500 with Jimmy Snyder behind the wheel.[4]
Death
Thorne died after crashing his private plane, during what witnesses described as "stunting",[5] into an apartment building, killing three residents including a two-month-old baby.[6][7]
Motorsports career results
Indianapolis 500 results
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also
References
- ^ "Joel Thorne". www.champcarstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ Brown, Allen. "Joel Thorne". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
- ^ "1946 Indianapolis 500 Official Box Score :: Indianapolis 500". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ "Prominent Racing Figure Is Injured". The Indianapolis Star. February 23, 1946. p. 14. Retrieved April 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Big Spring Daily Herald, "Crash Victim made many headlines with escapades", page 16, Oct. 19th, 1955.
- ^ Mason City Globe-Gazette, "Plane Hits Apartment, Three Die", October 18th 1955, page 21
- ^ The Independent (Pasadena, California), "Playboy Plane Crash Ruled Not Fault Of Government". June 7th, 1957, page 22
External links
- Joel Thorne at IMDb
Recent Comments