Not long ago, every kid knew about the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show. The vision of George Rice Chitwood, mistakenly called “Joe” by a track promoter, the Thrill Show was a staple of automotive excitement across North America for many years. An automotive stunt show full of death-defying driving skills, the Thrill Show carried on for many years with Joie, then later his family, carrying on the tradition as “Auto Daredevils”.
Chitwood started as a 22 year old dirt track race car driver in 1934. Going on to race sprint cars, he won the AAA East Coast Sprint Car Championship in 1939 and 1940. He also raced in the CSRA and won that Championship in 1942. He ran in the Indy 500 on seven occasions, finishing a high of 5th three times. He is credited as being the first driver to wear a seatbelt in the race during it’s running in 1941.
The Thrill Show came as a natural extension of his racing pursuits, eventually becoming so popular, Joie gave up his career turning left to pursue it full-time in 1950. He had already bought the remaining inventory of renowned stunt driver Lucky Teter after Teter was killed performing a world record jump in 1942. Eventually comprised of five separate traveling units, the first big national exposure came from being featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1967.
Stuntman Evel Knievel credited Joie Chitwood with being his inspiration to pursue stunts as a career after seeing the Thrill Show in Butte, Montana in the 1950’s.
Chitwood was a stuntman and consultant on numerous Hollywood productions, even appearing in a small cameo role in the movie To Please A Lady in 1950.
Here’s a small collection of some of the history and stunts performed by Chitwood and his family through the years.
