Joie
Chitwood

Joie Chitwood, whose full name was George Rice Chitwood, was born in Denison, Texas, in 1912. He began racing in 1934 on a dirt track in Winfield, Kansas, and then went on to race big cars. He finished runner-up in the Central States Racing Association points standings in both 1937 and 1938. In 1942 he won the title, taking 14 feature races in a row that season.

Between 1940 and 1950 he raced in the Indianapolis 500 seven times and finished fifth on three occasions. Starting with the 1941 race, he was the first driver to wear a safety belt. The Indianapolis 500 counted towards the Formula One World Championship from 1950 to 1960, so Chitwood's only world championship start was the 1950 race, in which he shared a Kurtis Kraft with Tony Bettenhausen. The pair came home fifth, and Chitwood was classified 20th in the drivers' standings. He retired from racing in 1950.

He became best known for the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show. He took over the stunt show and toured it across North America for decades, and his sons kept it going after he retired. He also arranged and performed vehicle stunts for the 1973 Bond film Live and Let Die. He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2010. Chitwood died in Florida in 1988.

Source: Wikipedia, “Joie Chitwood”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.