Jo Gartner

Josef 'Jo' Gartner (24 January 1954 - 1 June 1986): Austrian racing driver from Vienna whose first involvement in racing came in 1972 as a mechanic for the Kaimann Formula Super Vee team. His driving career began in 1976 in hillclimbs before entering the 1977 European Formula Super Vee championship where he finished third. He switched to the European Formula Three Championship in 1979 with a Renault-supported Martini then to Formula 2 in 1980 with a two-year-old March. After a fourth place at Hockenheim he won the Pau Grand Prix when first-placed Alain Ferté was disqualified for an underweight car.

Thanks in part to a sponsorship deal with Austrian tobacco company Milde Sorte, Gartner landed a part-time drive with the struggling Osella team as second driver alongside Piercarlo Ghinzani for the 1984 season. He participated in eight Formula One Grands Prix for Osella during 1984, scoring no points. At the 1984 Italian Grand Prix, a race of attrition, Gartner finished fifth but earned no championship points because Osella's second car was ineligible to score points. He won the 1986 12 Hours of Sebring with Bob Akin and Hans-Joachim Stuck.

Whilst contesting the 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans for Kremer Racing with teammates Sarel van der Merwe and Kunimitsu Takahashi, Gartner's Porsche 962 suffered a mechanical failure at 2:10 am on Sunday morning. Gartner was killed on impact on 1 June 1986 due to a broken neck.