Joseph Anello was 26 years old when he died. According to his death certificate, the cause was auto traumatism with fracture-dislocation of the 7th and 8th thoracic vertebrae and fractured ribs on the right and hemothorax. There is a note that he wrecked driving in a night auto race and died enroute to St. Joseph Hospital. The certificate notes his parents were Tony Anello and Phillipina Orlando, both from Italy and Joseph is noted to have been born in Kansas City.

Here is what a very generous contributor sent me:

Joseph Anello was known by all as "Tony." His parents, Thomas and Jennie Anello, who both immigrated from Italy in 1888, ran a restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri. Thomas had started as a worker at the restaurant; twenty years later he owned it. Tony had lots of relatives. His siblings were Josephine, Vincent, Eveline and Salvatore. In addition, he had grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins living nearby - it was the typical Italian-American family of the time.

Little is known about the 26-year-old Tony Anello. He was the youngest child, and was working in a clay factory at age 18. It is not known if he married, or had any children.

Tony was only a part-time race car driver, not having a regular ride. This Sunday, 11 September 1938, was probably like most Sundays evenings in the summer - he went out to the weekly midget races at Olympic Stadium to see if he could find a ride. The track, a 1/5-mile flat dirt oval, was built around an old baseball diamond, which is why it was called a Stadium, and was located in his hometown of Kansas City. Anello bought a ticket and probably hung around the pits, seeing if anything was available for him to drive. If so, he found nothing, and, when the racing began, he went up and sat in his seat in the stands.

In one of the qualifying heat races, driver Louie Nicolosi was involved in a minor incident. The car wasn't hurt, but the driver had banged his lip in the process, probably on the steering wheel. With a bruised and swollen lip, Nicolosi didn't feel like racing in the consolation. So Tony Anello was called out of the grandstands. He gladly came to the pits and hopped into Nicolosi's No. 10 midget.

During the consi, Anello was dicing for position when his car brushed the guardrail. This caused him to lose control of the car, and it smashed into a pole. Tony Anello died in the ambulance on the was to a hospital. He was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in St. Louis.

The next Sunday evening Olympic Stadium held a benefit race in memory of Tony Anello, with all proceeds going to his family.

Note: One wire service and one reference book misspells his last name as Annello, and gives him a completely wrong first name (Carl), but his tombstone has Joseph Anello on it.


Sources:

•Missouri Death Certificate 31287.
•United States Federal Census Records, Year: 1930; Census Place: Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri; Roll: 1198; Page: 22B; Enumeration District: 143; Image: 938.0.
•United States Federal Census Records, Year: 1920; Census Place: Kansas City Ward 16, Jackson, Missouri; Roll: T625_928; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 258; Image: 749.
•United States Federal Census Records, Year: 1910; Census Place: Kansas City Ward 7, Jackson, Missouri; Roll: T624_786; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 78; Image: 647.
•Book "The History of America's Speedways - Past & Present", by Allan E. Brown, third edition, first printing, November 2003, America's Speedways, PO Box 448, Comstock Park, MI, 49321-0448, United States, ISBN 0-931105-61-7, page 423.
•Book "The Tribute Project", Ed Watson, editor, 1997, page 3, contribution from Crocky Wright. [wrong state, name: Carl Annello]
•Newspaper The Corpus Christi Times (Corpus Christi, Tezas, USA) issue of Monday, 12 September 1938, page B-1, article titled "Midget Driver Killed", wire feed from United Press. [name: Carl Annello]
•The Wilson Howard Davis Archives.