 Joe Leonard
By Dennis Mattish
Joe Leonard was born and in 1932 and raised in San Diego, CA. Baseball was Joe's passion growing up and he had a promising career in the sport until a shoulder injury on his pitching arm ended his career. Motor Sports soon became his new passion and motorcycle racing was his new love.
Still a teenager, Joe moved to San Jose, CA in 1951.
One of his first local motorcycle races was on the San Jose Mile during 1951, and right out of the gate, Joe smashed the one lap qualifying record. That was just a forbear of what was to come. For the next ten years Joe would have one of the most successful motorcycle racing careers in United States history. During that time Joe was crowned the A.M.A Grand National Champion in 1954, 1956 and 1957. On three other occasions Joe finished in second place. His record totals 27 wins, including the 1957 and 1958 Daytona 200.
In the meantime, while Joe was racing motorcycles, he also had his eyes on the racing machines with four wheels. His first ride in that genre was in 1956 and it was a 500-lap Midget race on the high banks of San Jose Speedway. Even to this day, Joe says that is one of the most grueling races he had ever been in. The reason was the high g-forces on his neck from the 1,000 left turns. Joe would continue to race USAC and BCRA midgets when the opportunity presented itself for the next eight years, racking up a pair of main event wins.
During the early 1960s Joe started racing in the powerful NASCAR Modified Hardtops, which eventually evolved into the Super Modifieds. His biggest victory came at Clovis Speedway when he won the 1963 Pacific Coast Championship 100. Another win of note came on opening day in 1964 at San Jose Speedway when he had to hold off the challenges of the great Al Pombo to secure the win before a packed house.
Also during 1964 Joe started driving Stock Cars in the USAC Stock Car division. His teammate was none other than A.J. Foyt. Joe had a good year driving a Dodge, winning races on the Springfield and DuQuoin Fairgrounds mile tracks. He was crowned Rookie of the year.
1964 was also the year that Joe would make his USAC National Championship debut in the Indy Car series. The following year Joe joined the All American Racers team and became teammates with Dan Gurney, the team's owner. Joe would win his first Indy Car race, the Milwaukee 150 on August 14, 1965 at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. It is noted that during this era in Indy Car racing dirt tracks was part of the schedule. Joe showed his versatility by finishing in the top 3 three times on that surface.
During the summer of 1965 Leonard saved the life of Mel Kenyon's at Langhorne Speedway. Kenyon crashed and was knocked unconscious with his car engulfed in fire. As he sat slumped in his burning car, Leonard jumped out of his car and pulled Kenyon to safety. Although badly burned, Mel lived to race another day.
In 1968 Joe started the season driving for Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, and had a best finish of 3rd place.
One of Joe's signature moment came when he joined forces with Andy Granatelli and the STP Oil treatment team to drive the controversial Turbine car in the 1968 Indy 500. During qualifying Leonard would qualify on the pole position at a new track record speed of 171.5 mph. During the race Joe would lead 31 laps and had victory in his sights when his fuel pump broke with nine laps to go.
In 1969 legendary car builder Smokey Yunick hired Joe to drive in both the Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Firecracker 400 at Daytona Speedway. After starting in the12th position at Daytona, Leonard got caught up in a crash and didn't finish. Although Joe raced in NASCAR's premier division, the record will show that he scored no points because he held a USAC license, which was not allowed in the NASCAR Grand National Series at the time.
Two years later in 1970 Joe was running in second place during the Indy 500 when once again his car quit running. An Indianapolis 500 victory proved to be elusive for Joe with his best finish being 3rd, which he accomplished twice.
In 1971, Leonard became a full-time driver at Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing, becoming teammates with Al Unser and Mario Andretti. He enjoyed the best two years of his career with the team, winning 4 Indy Car races and the 1971 and 1972 USAC championships.
Two years later during the 1974 California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway, Joe was heading into turn one on lap 146 when his tire blew. At that point he was just a passenger as his car slammed head-on into the wall. Joe suffered a gash to his head and extensive career ending injuries to his legs and feet. Thus brought to an unfortunate end to a brilliant racing career.
John Surtees remains the only man ever to win F1 World Championships on a bike and in a car, but America has its own crossover hero. Winner of both the AMA Grand National and USAC Indianapolis Champ Car titles, Joe Leonard is that man.
On June 22, 2017 Joe will be inducted into his 12th Hall of Fame. The ceremony, which is open to the public, will take place at the Meritage Resort in Napa, CA.
His memorial service is Saturday, May 13, at 1:15 at San Jose's Oak Hill Memorial Park.
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