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Joel 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.[1]
[edit] Indy 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 |
|
[edit] References
- ^ 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
