Stunt World1
Official Auto Thrill Show Web Site Network for the 21st Century
Featuring Joie Chitwood
Heir to the legendary daredevil act finds a place in the Brickyard's front office. (Hey, Joie, keep your helmet close by.)
BY BOB ZELLER

The 2005 racing season was Joie Chitwood III's first as president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it seemed at times to mimic the famous automotive daredevil and stunt show his grandfather brought to America's heartland a half-century ago, particularly when Bernie Ecclestone arrived last June with his clown act and presented a six-car precision-driving exhibition instead of the Formula 1 race he had promised.
In 2004, the speedway's vaunted reputation for speedy, efficient crash response took a hit in the wake of the excruciatingly slow response of the Formula 1 rescue team after Ralf Schumacher's crash in the banked Turn 13 (Turn One on the oval). The 2005 debacle was spawned by a tire failure that sent Schumacher back into the same wall, same turn. Neither the rescue controversy nor the race boycott was viewed as the speedway's fault, since it had no control.

Joie strapped on a helmet and ran 175 mph at Talladega. Chitwood, however, is all about management professionalism and polish, enhanced by an abundance of enthusiasm and backed by an MBA degree from the University of South Florida that included a summer studying history at Queens College at Cambridge, England. The only thing Chitwood controlled on June 19 was himself, and he did a commendable job of that.

"Well, obviously, in the short span of seven months since I was promoted to president in December, we've had some very good highs and some very bad lows," Chitwood said. He is known, however, for resilience. He has been bounced around before, mostly as a third-generation stunt performer in his grandfather's thrill show, spending his teenaged summers as the "Human Battering Ram," and living with a name that was a result of a typographical error.

Joie's grandfather was born George Rice Chitwood on April 14, 1912, the day before the Titanic sank, and did not become "Joie" until he was 25. The first Chitwood had already raced the full season of 1936 under his real name when he entered the Central States Racing Association series in 1937, driving a sprint car owned by the Lawhon brothers of St. Joseph, Missouri.
in seeing Chitwood's dark complexion, immediately pronounced him a full-blooded Cherokee Indian and His nickname was "the Chief."

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