| Career Summary | Picture Index |
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| Last updated: 8-August-2001 | |
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1972-76
Works for Kaimann, toying with Vee designs |
When is a 5th placing in a World Championship Grand Prix not worth 2 points? When you're ineligible, that's when. And Josef 'Jo' Gartner (also known by the nicknames 'Spatzi' and 'Seppi') had to drive his entire Formula One career knowing that he couldn't possibly score them. Not that he didn't deserve them - a fine performance in the Italian GP of 1984 showed that he had what it took. But that's what you get when your team only officially entered one car for the whole season.
Born in Vienna, Austria, Jo was a late starter in motor racing. Having a technical education, at the age of 18 he met Kurt Bergmann, the only of the Kaimann company, a maker of cars for Formula Vee and Formula Super Vee racing. Gartner got himself a job with Kaimann and set about designing and redesigning some models. But wanting to taste some action for himself, he got hold of an old Vee chassis and took it for a spin around Zeltweg and the Salzburgring before selling it and buying a second car. |
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1977-79
F3 cocktail sees him in a Martini for Jim Beam |
With this car, he made his racing debut in a hill climb in Bad Muhlacken, before participating in other Super Vee races in Austria and Germany. This continued into 1977, when Gartner decided to take on driving seriously, and left his Kaimann job. In 1978, he raced in the European Super Vee championship, taking an excellent 3rd overall.
This was enough for him to move up to German F3 in 1979, where he raced for the Jim Beam team, which was really his own private operation. Although his Martini Mk 27 had a Renault engine, and the whole effort had the nominal support of Renault Germany, Jo was forced to run the campaign on a shoestring. Where possible though, he was looking to impress. |
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1979
Impresses with 4th place in Euro F3 race; wins at German GP |
The first race of the season at the Nurburgring was cancelled due to excessive snowfall, and the team missed the next few events as, unfortunately, money was severely lacking. But they was back in business for the race at the Diepholz airway. Failing to make the grade there, Gartner's next chance was at Zolder, where he drove to a disappointing 15th place.
But it was during the round at Kassel-Calden, which doubled as a round in the European F3 Championship, that he impressed, taking a fine 4th place only 24 seconds behind the victor Michael Korten. The 3 points left him equal 21st in the European championship. Similar forays that year, in the same car, in the British F3 Championship, though, saw him make no impression at all. As a consolation, he dipped back into Super Vees for the support race at the German GP, and won it convincingly. |
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1980
Main focus was F2; then he joins Marko in Procar |
Although in 1980 he would make one more F3 start at the Nurburgring, failing to finish for the Deutsch Renault AG team, his main preoccupation was in European F2, for which he bought a 1978 March 782 chassis, competing in 6 races in the European championship with his team of four people, scoring no points in the process despite some useful drives, including 7th at Silverstone, and winning some national events.
However, in his first European F2 race, tragedy struck when countryman Markus Hottinger was killed. Hottinger had been driving for Dr Helmut Marko in the latter's Procar team, and Gartner was brought in as a replacement. The Procar series was one for BMW M1s accompanying some GPs, with both F1 and non-F1 drivers competing. In Jo's first start at Donington, he beat Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann, but after that struggled to finish races, and he split with Marko at the end of the series. |
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1981
Cost-cutting Jo toughs it out in F2, racing on a shoestring |
Nevertheless, 1981 saw him remain European F2 - but results were hard to come by and he struggled with sub-standard machinery, even acting as his own mechanic on occasions, and with his girlfriend Doris acting as his team manager helping to lower costs. Driving a year-old Toleman-Hart TG280, with a self-designed rear suspension, his best finish was a 6th place at Enna, leaving him equal 19th, and last, with Brian Robinson, in the Championship with a single point.
However, things were starting to come together. His sponsorship woes were temporarily allayed by sponsorship from Emco, and at Spa he was running in a comfortable third position before being punted off the track by a backmarker. One report says that the miscreant in question was fellow Austrian Sewi Hopfer, although Tom Prankerd tells us that it was Paul Smith. |
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1982-83
Runs with Arturo in F2; Emco and Chauvet help finance Jo's team |
Unfortunately, 1982 brought little better. Behind the wheel of a March-BMW 822 operated by Team Merzario, a semi-works team, his best finish was again 6th, this time at Silverstone. With another solitary point, he was equal 17th this time. He also tried his hand at sports car racing, joining "Pierre Chauvet" in a TOJ SC205 BMW for the Brands Hatch 1000km. Starting a promising 7th on the grid, an minor accident put paid to their hopes. They had also been entered at Mugello, but they did not show.
However, Gartner's stint with Merzario was far from what he hoped for, and before the end of the season he and team-mate Richard Dallest had been dumped in favour of others. For 1983, he had tried to get a drive in F1 with ATS, but the deal had fallen through. But there was new hope, with Gartner deciding to start his own F2 team, buying ex-works Spirit 201s, powered by BMW engines, still sponsored by Emco. Chauvet also brought some money to drive a second car for the team. |
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1982-83
Gartner takes an F2 win when the Maurers are DQ'd |
Yet, he made a slow start to the season, a 4th place at Hockenheim being his best result come late May. But at Pau, although his car wasn't at its best, he drove a stunning race on his Bridgestone wets in the wet-dry conditions, only to be edged out by the Michelin slick-shod Maurer BMW of Alain Ferte on the last lap, although he stayed ahead of Stefan Bellof, also in a Maurer.
But not all was kosher with the Maurers. Both Ferte and Bellof were subsequently disqualified for being underweight - specifically, Ferte had lost his nosecone and run a good part of the race 7kg under. Gartner was gifted his maiden F2 victory, and Ferte had the good grace to personally deliver the trophy at the next round. Gartner was unable to sustain this form though, and a 5th place at Enna was his best for the rest of the season, leaving him 6th overall with 14 points in a championship won by Dr. Jonathan Palmer. |
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1984 Osella Team enters a second car for home GP |
While 1984 brought Palmer a drive with RAM, Gartner's hard work and persistence were rewarded when he was able to find some financial support, especially from Milde Sorte, and, a few races into the season, landed a drive for Osella in hallowed F1. In order to prepare for his F1 debut, he had a single test in the Osella, and also raced in the first two F2 races of the season.
But he finally got his chance at Imola, when Osella decided to run a second car to partner the team number one, Piercarlo Ghinzani. As Osella had only officially entered one car for the season, it was determined Gartner would be ineligible for points. This San Marino GP was a race of firsts, and lasts. While it was the first F1 race for Jo, it was the last for Osella's FA1E chassis and 3.0 litre V12 Alfa Romeo non-turbo powerplant. |
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1984
Bumps teammate off the grid on his F1 debut |
It was the first race in which Ayrton Senna, driving a Toleman-Hart, failed to qualify after disputes with tyre supplier Pirelli. It was also the last time such an event would happen! It was also the first, and last, time that season that Ghinzani failed to make the grid. Who bumped him off last place at his home GP? Why our man (and his teammate) Jo, of course! By 1.8 seconds, too.
The race itself, though, wasn't hugely interesting. It was an Alain Prost benefit up front (the Frenchman led from start to finish and won by 14 seconds which included a spin and an extra pit-stop) and Gartner suffered a blown engine just 14 laps from home. Financial concerns then limited Osella to just one car (Ghinzani's) in France, Monaco and across the Atlantic in Canada, Detroit and Dallas. |
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1984
Gets caught up in Brands Hatch melee |
But Jo was back in town come Brands Hatch. In fact, after Johnny Cecotto injured himself in a practice accident in his Toleman, Gartner had tried to negotiate a deal to take over that seat (and become Senna's team-mate!), but the asking price was too great. So he had to be content with his Osella.
Both Italian cars made the grid this time, but Gartner had an early shower come race day. He was not alone, though, thanks to a pile-up started by Riccardo Patrese losing control of his Alfa Romeo, causing Eddie Cheever and Stefan Johansson behind him to brake sharply. Philippe Alliot then happily smashed into their collective behinds putting all three out, and poor Gartner, coming upon all this madness, lost it completely, slamming his car into the wall. |
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1984
Gives Berger a scare, as team relations tense; drives at Spa 24hrs |
Things didn't go Jo's way at Hockenheim, either. Despite out-qualifying both Johansson and F2 champ Palmer, he got a mere unlucky 13 laps into the race before his Alfa Romeo V12's replacement, a 1.5 litre V8 turbo, gave up the ghost. On Jo's home turf at the Osterreichring, the engine lasted only 6 laps. Just enough time, though, for Jo to give fellow Austrian Gerhard Berger (that race was his F1 debut) a scare on the first lap when he almost ran him off the road as they came off the grid.
Now the pressure was on. Part of Gartner's deal with Enzo Osella was that he would race a hundred laps before making the next payments. But after his string of retirements, relations with Osella were tense, and indeed the most racing Gartner seemed to have done was at the Spa 24hr race, where he had come 4th and enjoyed racing at night. |
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1984
Finally sees the chequered flag; head to Monza with the paddock abuzz |
Zandvoort would finally give Gartner his first GP finish, a 12th (and last) place in a race dominated by the McLarens of Prost and Niki Lauda, who had lapped Gartner five times come race end. However, it had been a heroic effort from Jo all the same, after a fuel leak had caused him burns in the cockpit.
But the best was yet to come! Back to Italy the F1 circus came, to Monza, with the paddock abuzz with gossip thanks to the recent FIA hearing into Ken Tyrrell's alleged fuel tampering and illegal ballast usage, which had resulted in Tyrrell being stripped of their points and excluded from the championship. What was more, Senna had just announced a move to Lotus for 1985. |
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1984
Takes the fifth place with pride, but can't take the points with him |
With all this going on, and as Lauda emphatically won the race by 30 seconds, it was not surprising nobody noticed a fine drive by one Jo Gartner to an amazing 5th place - and from 24th on the grid, thank you very much. After much attrition, Ghinzani had been running 5th before running out of fuel, and on the last lap Gartner's car started spluttering. With Berger's ATS in 6th drawing closer, Jo managed to fire up his engine once again, and stayed in 5th.
It was a great day for Austria with three drivers in the top 6. But despite Gartner's heroics, he went home with nothing substantial on his F1 report card, as his points ineligibility status came into play. Berger's ATS was in a similar position of being unable to score points. What a waste classified 7th and 8th were Ghinzani and Huub Rothengatter - both of them could certainly have used the points on offer! |
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1984
Takes the fifth place with pride, but can't take the points with him |
The final two races of the season saw Gartner continue some good form - at the Nurburgring he outqualified Elio de Angelis' Lotus and ran solidly in the race before dropping back to last with fuel system problems. His final F1 appearance came in Portugal, and unfortunately for Jo, it was nothing special, coming a distant 16th, 5 laps behind a fascinating race up front, the result of which meant Niki took the Championship by half a point!
At the end of the season, Gartner and manager David Gulda talked to Toleman and Arrows, whilst staying in touch with Osella. Toleman once again asked for too much money, but the Arrows drive came down to either Gartner or Berger. At one stage, Gartner and Gulda thought they had a deal with Jackie Oliver, only to suddenly hear Berger announce that he had got the drive. Gartner was then on the verge of staying at Osella, only for Ghinzani to secure more sponsorship and take the drive. Gartner's F1 dream was over. |
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1985
Chooses a sports car route, 4th at Le Mans 24hrs |
Gartner must have thought he had impressed enough to deserve another chance. He had also built a reputation of being a self-made driver, gutsy on the track but friendly off it. But despite Jo's paddock popularity, there were no other seats on offer, and he was left out in the cold. Dismayed, he returned to sports cars, viewing it as nothing more than a way to return to F1, eventually. But it was not to be.
Initially, he joined up with John Fitzpatrick Racing who were running Porsche 956s in the World Sportscar Championship. A disappointing 16th place alongside Kenny Acheson at the 1000km of Monza wasn't a great start, and neither was a transmission failure at Silverstone, where he partnered David Hobbs. But Gartner performed well at the 24hrs of Le Mans, partnering Hobbs and Guy Edwards to finish a fine 4th, with Edwards having been rested from driving duties after two stints because he had been underperforming! |
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1985-86
Joins Bob Akin's outfit, takes record breaking victory at Sebring |
After deciding not to race at Fuji with Michael Roe due to the horrendous conditions, Gartner joined to Bob Akin's team in the IMSA series and finished the year on a high with a good drive to 6th at the 3hr Daytona race. Staying with Akin Racing for the start of the 1986 IMSA season, he partnered Hans-Joachim Stuck and results came immediately, with a podium finish at the 3hr Miami event, before a victory at the 12hr Sebring.
This was the last Sebring race to utilise the old airport circuit, and Stuck, Akin and Gartner had a mighty battle with the Lowenbrau Porsche of Al Holbert, Derek Bell and Al Unser Jr. Gartner and co's famous victory set all time speed and distance records for the event, covering 1,394.82 miles at 115.852 mph (2,244.74km at 186.445 kmh). With a further 15th at Atlanta, and 6th at Lime Rock, Gartner would be classified 21st in the 1986 IMSA championship, on 38 points. |
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1986
Several top ten results, including a podium at Silverstone |
Gartner then joined the Kremer Racing team back in Europe, and in a Porsche 962C had instantaneous success with a victory at the Thruxton Interserie event. It was his only Interseries start, and with 17.5 points he was classed 9th overall. An 8th at the Monza 1000km with Klaus Niedzwiedz was followed by 3rd at the 1000km of Silverstone, where he was partnered by Tiff Needell. Gartner went into the 24hrs of Le Mans full of optimism, having also agreed to a deal for the 1987 WSC with the works Rothmans Porsche team.
Again in the Kremer Porsche, he teamed up with Japanese hero and ex-F1 dabbler Kunimitsu Takahashi and South African motorsports legend Sarel van der Merwe, and they took a solid 15th on the grid. They were running strongly come the race, and Gartner was 7 laps into his stint when, at just past 3.00am, a fire ignited on the Mulsanne straight. |
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1986
Tragedy strikes Le Mans with smash on Mulsanne straight |
The pace cars were dispatched, and it was soon discovered that Gartner's Porsche had gone hard left into the Armco and ricocheted across the road. Poor Jo instantly suffered a broken neck and was beyond any help by the time the marshals reached him. A shift fork had apparently came loose on the selector rod, forcing the transmission to stay in 4th while Jo engaged 5th - the effects of engaging two gears at the same time instantly locking the rear wheels, sending the 962 into the guardrail.
Marshals worked for two-and-a-half hours, and soon the wreckage was cleared and the race resumed, but 198 laps later, when Bell, Stuck and Holbert took the chequered flag and victory, there was very little to rejoice about. Gartner was aged 32 when he died, on the 1st of June, 1986 - the last F1 driver to die in a racing accident until fellow Austrian Roland Ratzenberger 8 years later. |
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