Jo Schlesser

Joseph Schlesser (May 1928 - 7 July 1968): French racing driver from Liouville, Northern France (though some sources indicate he was born in the French colony of Madagascar) who began his motor sport career in 1952 rallying a Panhard, with his first victory coming at the 1952 Rallye Lorraine-Alsace driving a Panhard Dyna. In 1954 he tried the then-popular French class of racing known as Monomill. In 1955 he purchased a Mercedes 300SL and took victory in the Circuit de Majunga and the Grand Prix de Fianarantsoa on Madagascar. In 1963 Schlesser teamed up with Guy Ligier and became a Ford dealer in Paris while winning the French Formula Junior Title in a Brabham BT6 Ford.

He competed in racing for more than 15 years, winning the 1967 Reims 12-hour race in a Ford France GT40 with Guy Ligier, taking third in a Porsche 907 at Daytona in 1968 with Joe Buzzetta, and finishing 13th in the 1964 Daytona 500 as a teammate to Ned Jarrett. He participated in the 1966 German Grand Prix at Nürburgring with a Formula Two specification Matra, finishing 10th overall and third in the Formula Two classification. In 1967 he was forced to retire with a clutch problem after two laps at the same event. An opportunity for a Formula One seat came in the 1968 French Grand Prix with Honda.

The Honda team had completed an experimental air-cooled car (the RA302) which had been tested by their works driver John Surtees, who pronounced it not ready for racing. Joseph Schlesser was killed at the 1968 French Grand Prix after crashing his magnesium-bodied Honda RA302 with 58 laps worth of fuel which ignited instantly, leaving Schlesser trapped inside the wreck with no chance of survival. Guy Ligier established his company Ligier Cars shortly after Schlesser's death, with Ligier cars receiving type designators beginning with 'JS' as a tribute to Schlesser. He was the uncle of Jean-Louis Schlesser who himself became a Formula One driver in the 1980s.