In this great old Jam Handy film, join Joie Chitwood and his team of expert thrill drivers as they beat up on the 1956 Chevrolet line.
We first featured this popular item back in 2013, but unfortunately, at some point the video link disappeared. Since then we’ve located a cleaner version of the film for our own YouTube channel, and we’ve updated the story and brought it up to the top of the feature queue. We hope you enjoy it (again).
Joie Chitwood wasn’t the first auto thrill show operator, but he was certainly the biggest and the best known of the lot. A journeyman race car pilot who drove in seven Indy 500s between 1940 and 1950, Chitwood purchased Lucky Teter’s travelling stunt show in 1943—from Teter’s widow. Teter’s luck had run out attempting to jump a pair of buses with a ’36 Plymouth.
A sharp businessman as well as a natural showman, Chitwood had as many as five traveling companies criss-crossing the country, performing his well-rehearsed act at race tracks and county fairgrounds. In this 1956 Jam Handy film short, Chitwood is partnered up with Chevrolet to showcase the brand’s sturdy construction and great handling. Sure, it’s a little corny, and that’s the charm of it. Hey, this is how Americans occupied themselves before television and the internet. Enjoy the film. (Note: Don’t forget to click and subscribe to our YouTube channel, where we host our videos and feature tons of great content. Thanks!)
It always bothered me to see someone purposely wreck a car, especially an old sedan like the one they raked the Chevy over. Or the ones that were purposely rolled over. But it was a thrill show and cars were somewhat disposable. When I was a kid I tended to avoid thrill shows because of the wrecks. On the other hand I did’t seem to have a problem going to the races on the weekend. But in that case, they weren’t purposely wrecked…