Johnny Thomson

Johnny Thomson

Nation:	United States
Automobile world championship
First start:	Indianapolis 500 1953
Last start:	Indianapolis 500 1960
Constructors
1953  Dr. RN Sabourin 1954 NA Chapman 1955 and 1956 Peter Schmidt 1957 Racing Associates 1958 Racing Associates 1959 and 1960 Racing Associates
statistics
World Cup balance:	Twelfth World Cup ( 1959 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 8th - 1 1
World Cup points :	10
Podiums :	1
Leadership laps :	55 over 221.265 km

John "Johnny" Thomson (born April 9, 1922 in Lowell , Massachusetts , † September 24, 1960 in Allentown , Pennsylvania ) was an American racing driver .

Career

Johnny Thomson, nicknamed the “Flying Scotsman”, won the Midget UCOA New England Championship in 1948 with 32 wins this season. He was able to repeat this title win in 1950. In 1952 he won the overall ranking of the AAA Eastern Midget Championship.

Thomson contested 69 AAA National Series races between 1953 and 1960 , seven of which he won. He finished in the top ten 43 times. In 1955, 1958 and 1959 he was third in the championship.

The 500-mile Indianapolis he was seven at the start, once this he took over the car of another driver. His best result was third in 1959 in a Lesovsky - Offenhauser , after he had held pole position, and in 1955 he was fourth in a Kuzma- Offenhauser. Since the 500 miles from Indianapolis were part of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960 , Thomson also took part in eight world championship races. Overall, Thomson scored ten points for the drivers' championship.

With his victory at the Langhorne 100 in 1957, Thomson became the first driver to finish a 100-mile race under an hour. He crowned his career in 1958 with overall victory in the USAC Sprint Car Series.

On September 24, 1960, he had a fatal accident in a sprint car race in Allentown on the first lap.

statistics

Indy 500 results

year	Start number	begin	Agony (km / h)	Result	Round	guide	failure
1953	56	33	217.660	32	6th	0	ignition
	62			19 3	45	0	drove Webb's car; Rd. 113–157
1954	43	4th	223,325	24 3	113	0	Handover to Linden
1955	44	33	215.810	4th	200	0
1956	88	18th	234.203	32	22nd	0	Lathe operator
1957	10	11	230,952	12	199	5
1958	7th	22nd	229.955	23	52	0	steering
1959	3	1	234.782	3	200	40
1960	3	17th	235.651	5	200	10

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Rick Popely, L. Spencer Riggs: Indianapolis 500 Chronicle. Publications International Ltd., Lincolnwood IL 1998, ISBN 0-7853-2798-3 .

Web links

• Image: Johnny Thomson in a 1957 midget car

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography: Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Champ Car-Starts: [1]
3. ↑ Biography: Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.