Joseph Edward Russo (December 27, 1901 – June 10, 1934) was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

active in the 1930s.

Life

Russo was known for performing a stunt of driving around the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

blindfolded. Russo died in a hospital in

Bristol, Pennsylvania Bristol is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northeast of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City in Philadelphia opposite Burlington, New Jersey, on the Delaware River. Bristol was s ...

after a crash at

Langhorne Speedway Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. According to the book ''Langhorne! No Man's Land'' by L. Spencer Riggs: "With ...

. He is buried in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. His son,

Eddie Russo Edward Leon Russo (November 19, 1923 – October 14, 2012) was an American racing driver. Russo won the midget car track championship at Raceway Park in Chicago in 1950. He competed in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series in the 1952-1957 ...

, and his brother,

Paul Russo Paul Frank Russo (April 10, 1914 – February 13, 1976) was an American racing driver. Racing career Midget car career Russo started racing midget cars in 1934. He went with a contingent of midget-car drivers to Hawaii in the winter of 1 ...

also competed in the Indianapolis 500.

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Joe 1901 births 1934 deaths Indianapolis 500 drivers Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Racing drivers from Wisconsin Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Pennsylvania AAA Championship Car drivers 20th-century American sportsmen