One of the series of films produced by Jam Handy for Chevrolet, THRILL DRIVER’S CHOICE features thrill driver Joie Chitwood and his team putting 1956 Chevys through their paces as part of a “thrill show”. The film also shows Chevy’s in the showroom at the 1:20 mark, and indicates that Chitwood drives a “stock” Chevy (whether this is true or not we don’t know!)
George Rice Chitwood (April 14, 1912 – January 3, 1988), nicknamed “Joie”, was an American racecar driver and businessman. He is best known as a daredevil in the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show.
Born in Denison, Texas of Cherokee Indian ancestry, he was dubbed “Joie” by a track promoter and the name stuck.[citation needed]
Chitwood started his racecar driving career in 1934 at a dirt track in Winfield, Kansas. From there, he began racing sprint cars. In 1939 and 1940 he won the AAA East Coast Sprint car championship. He switched to the CSRA and won its title in 1942. Between 1940 and 1950 he competed at the Indianapolis 500 seven times, finishing fifth on three different occasions. He was the first man ever to wear a safety belt at the Indy 500.
Chitwood also operated the “Joie Chitwood Thrill Show”, an exhibition of auto stunt driving that became so successful he gave up racing. Often called “Hell Drivers,” he had five units that for more than forty years toured across North America thrilling audiences in large and small towns alike with their death-defying automobile stunts.
His show was so popular, that in January 1967, the performance at the Islip Speedway, New York was broadcast on ABC television’s Wide World of Sports.
On May 13, 1978, Joie Chitwood Jr.(b. Aug. 31, 1943) set a world record when he drove a Chevrolet Chevette for 5.6 miles (9.0 km) on just 2 wheels. His sons, Joie Jr. and Tim both joined the auto thrill show and continued to run the “Joie Chitwood Chevy Thunder Show” after their father’s retirement. His grandson, Joie Chitwood III, is the President of Daytona International Speedway and a former president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The show was featured during season 3 of CHiPs in an episode entitled “Thrill Show”. Joie Jr. did stunts for “Miami Vice” on several occasions.
Chitwood’s show was credited by Evel Knievel as being his inspiration to become a daredevil when his show appeared in his home town of Butte, Montana.
Chitwood was frequently hired by Hollywood film studios to either do stunt driving for films or to act as auto-stunt coordinator. On a few occasions he appeared in a minor role, notably with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck in the 1950 film about auto racing, To Please a Lady.
In 1973, Joie Chitwood Jr. was credited as a Stunt Coordinator for the hugely successful James Bond film Live and Let Die (film), where he was also the stunt driver and acted in a minor part.
Joie Chitwood Jr. also acted as a car safety consultant, intentionally crashing vehicles for subsequent investigation. He had intentionally crashed more than 3000 vehicles by the time he appeared on the game show I’ve Got A Secret in 1965. Joie Jr. and Joie Sr. test-crashed guardrails and breakaway Interstate signs for US Steel and aluminum light poles for ALCOA. The highways are safer today because of these tests.
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