Tom Sneva

Template:Infobox person Tom Sneva (born Thomas E. Sneva on June 1, 1948) is a former Indy Car driver who was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005.

Sneva is best remembered for winning the 1983 Indianapolis 500. Nicknamed "The Gas Man," Sneva was an outstanding qualifier, winning the pole position for the Indianapolis 500 three times (1977, 1978, 1984). He was also the fastest qualifier on a fourth occasion in 1981, but because of qualifying rules did not start the race from the pole position.

Sneva won two consecutive USAC National Championships for Indycars in 1977 and 1978.

Career

Sneva was born in Spokane, Washington, and worked as a math teacher before becoming an auto racer. His brother, driver Jerry Sneva, also competed at Indy.

On May 14, 1977, Sneva drove his famed Norton Spirit McLaren M24/Cosworth racer for car owner Roger Penske, becoming the first driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 at a speed more than Template:Convert/mi/h. His one-lap track record was Template:Convert/mi/h.

Sneva's March 84C at Laguna Seca in 1984.

On May 12, 1984, Sneva became the first driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 over Template:Convert/mi/h in his Texaco Star March 84C/Cosworth driving for the new Mayer Motor Racing team. His one and four lap track records were Template:Convert/mi/h and Template:Convert/mi/h.

Sneva's career at the Indianapolis 500 was known for fast qualifying, second place finishes, near misses and several crashes. Three times (1977, 1978, 1980) Sneva ended up the bridesmaid by finishing second. Finally, Sneva broke through in dramatic fashion in 1983 after a thrilling late race duel with Al Unser, Sr. and the lapped car of Unser's rookie son, Al Jr. It was Sneva's 1983 win in his Texaco Star March 83C/Cosworth for Bignotti-Cotter Racing that led to his nickname of "The Gas Man." That win was also famous for it being the last of George Bignotti's record seven Indianapolis 500 wins as a chief mechanic. For Sneva, the victory was sweet revenge, as he had been fired by Roger Penske prior to the race for never winning the Indy 500.

Sneva's second-place finish in 1980 is notable as it is one of only two occasions of such a finish by a driver starting last. It is also the only time the driver who started last (33rd) led laps during the race. Several other times Sneva was in contention for the win, but did not make it to the end of the race. In 1981, Sneva charged hard from his 20th starting position to lead early in the race, but his newly untested Blue Poly March 81-C/Cosworth was fragile and his clutch failed early on.

One year later, Sneva was in a duel with eventual winner Gordon Johncock and eventual runner-up Rick Mears when his engine in his Texaco Star March 82-C/Cosworth began losing power and eventually failed near the end of the race. In 1984, Sneva was dueling with Mears only 32 laps from the finish, when his CV joint failed, enabling Mears to win. The 1985 race was a testament to Sneva's ability as he drove an ill-handling Skoal Bandit Eagle/Cosworth to second place before exiting in a crash with the lapped car of Rich Vogler. It was this series of near misses combined with second-place finishes and hard-charging qualifying and racing style that made Sneva a fan favorite at Indianapolis.

He suffered one of the most famous crashes at Indianapolis during the 1975 race. After touching wheels with Eldon Rasmussen, Sneva flipped up into the catch fence and tore his car in half. Sneva would walk away with only minor burns. In 1986, Sneva was warming up his car during the pace lap, but lost control and crashed before the race started. In 1987, Sneva crashed three cars, two in practice, and one during the race. He would ultimately suffer crashes during the Indianapolis 500 in 1975, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1992, a record for crashes during the race.

After Sneva's Indy victory in 1983, he never finished the race again. He dropped out of the race in 1984-1990, failed to qualify in 1991, and dropped out of the 1992 race as well. Some observers have attributed his decline in success to the switch to radial tires (the series transitioned to radials over a period from 1985–1987). His driving style was more apropos to bias ply tires.

Sneva showed his versatility by competing in eight NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) events in his career, spanning from 1977 to 1987. He earned one top-ten, a 7th in the 1983 Daytona 500.

Sneva's final start was the 1992 Indy 500. He arrived at Indy without a ride for 1993, and was unsuccessful in landing a car for the race. He retired with 13 career Indy car wins and 14 pole positions.

After Sneva retired from driving, he was a color commentator for ABC television network's Wide World of Sports program and called several Indy 500s. He is also heavily involved in the golf course business where he resides in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Personal

Sneva's father, Edsol ("Ed") was a local racer in the Spokane region.

Sneva is the oldest of five brothers: Jerry, Jan, Blaine, and Ed ("Babe"). Tom Sneva said the brothers were always racing something growing up. Babe raced, too, but succumbed to injuries from a race crash in 1975 in British Columbia.

Sneva was an ace in mathematics, and graduated from what is now Eastern Washington University with an education degree. He became a math teacher in a tiny school district outside of Spokane city limits, and drove the school bus.

Induction tribute by Robin Miller

The following short article was written by the racing journalist Robin Miller regarding Sneva's entry into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

He was the first man to break the 200 mph barrier at Indianapolis and the first back-to-back national champion to be fired. He was adored by the fans and media but managed to get sideways with A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford and both Unser brothers during his career. Mechanics loved his savvy behind the wheel, yet wanted to strangle him because he was never satisfied with the chassis. He was well-spoken and outspoken -- but never at a loss for words.

Gordon Johncock once said: "If nine people pushed the up button in the elevator, Sneva would press down."

And that combination of talent, bravado, personality and unpredictability is what made Tom Sneva one of Indy-car racing's most entertaining performers for the better part of two decades.

He quit driving a school bus for Indy cars in 1973, packing up his wife and two young daughters and moving from Spokane, Wash. to Indianapolis where he immediately received instant respect and victories in the tough USAC sprint series.

Sneva qualified for his initial Indy 500 in '74 with a low-buck team and ran so quick all season that Roger Penske signed him up for '75. That was the start of a tumultuous four years where arguments ran a close second to success.

After surviving one of the most spectacular crashes in IMS history in May 1975, Tom came back to score his first win at Michigan a few weeks later. By 1977, nobody in the USAC paddock was quicker. The day after crashing and drawing the ire of his team for trying to run through Turn 4 flat out, Sneva stormed back to run the first 200 mph lap and win the pole position.

And, even though he captured the USAC title in '77 and '78, Penske didn't like drivers who thought outside the box or freely gave their opinion so he fired the national champion. Sneva soldiered on and by 1981 he had hooked up with George Bignotti. They fought like the Honeymooners but got along well enough to win six races together—including Indy in 1983.

A bridesmaid three times at the Speedway, "The Gas Man" (as he was nicknamed by fellow driver Johnny Parsons) drove the Texaco Star around Big Al Unser and into Victory Lane in a win that was as popular as it was overdue.

Sneva set another track record for his third Indy pole in 1984 and was fixin' to have a shootout with Rick Mears for the win when he lost a CV joint. He did triumph three times and lost the CART title to Mario Andretti by 13 points.

As road racing became more and more prominent, The Gas Man became an Indy-only specialist and competed for the final time in 1992. His career stats read 14 poles, 13 wins, two titles and 1,695 laps led. He was a master in traffic, especially at Phoenix and Milwaukee.

And whether he made you laugh, cuss or shake your head in awe, whenever he strapped on his helmet, Tom Sneva was always worth the price of admission.

CART Indy Car Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1979	Jerry O'Connell Racing	PHX 17	ATL 3	ATL 5	INDY 15	TRE 6	TRE 15	MCH 21	MCH 2	WGL 10	TRE 3	ONT 17	MCH 2	ATL 8	PHX 5				7th	1360
1980	Jerry O'Connell Racing	ONT 2	INDY 2	MIL 6	POC 3	MDO 11	MCH 6	WGL 4	MIL 16	ONT 26	MCH 6	MEX 4	PHX 1						3rd	2930
1981	Jerry O'Connel Racing	PHX 3																	8th	96
	Bignotti-Cotter Racing		MIL 4	ATL	ATL	MCH 23	RIV 24	MIL 1	MCH 19	WGL 21	MEX 20	PHX 1
1982	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	PHX 7	ATL 17	MIL 4	CLE 20	MCH 32	MIL 1	POC 19	RIV 2	ROA 9	MCH 19	PHX 1							5th	144
1983	Bignotti-Cotter Racing	ATL 14	INDY 1	MIL 1	CLE 5	MCH 25	ROA 4	POC 12	RIV 5	MDO 7	MCH 21	CPL 15	LAG 18	PHX 3					4th	96
1984	Mayer Racing	LBH 3	PHX 1	INDY 16	MIL 1	POR 5	MEA 6	CLE 19	MCH 2	ROA 20	POC 4	MDO 7	SAN 20	MCH 2	PHX 4	LAG 10	CPL 1		2nd	163
1985	Curb-All American Racers	LBH 8	INDY 20	MIL 2	POR 24	MEA 6	CLE 11	MCH 3	ROA 21	POC 8	MDO 15	SAN 7	MCH 5	LAG 19	PHX 19	MIA 21			7th	66
1986	Curb-All American Racers	PHX 2	LBH 4	INDY 33	MIL 2	POR 4	MEA 17	CLE 5	TOR 9	MCH 18	POC 15	MDO 12	SAN 13	MCH 5	ROA 12	LAG 22	PHX 18	MIA 22	10th	82
1987	Curb Racing	LBH 3	PHX 17	INDY 14	MIL 13	POR 21	MEA 7	CLE 8	TOR 6	MCH 30	POC	ROA	MDO	NAZ	LAG				14th	37
	Machinists Union Racing															MIA 9
1988	Hemelgarn Racing	PHX	LBH	INDY 27	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	MEA	MCH 22	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	MIA			45th	0
1989	Vince Granatelli Racing	PHX DNS	LBH 10	INDY 27	MIL 22	DET 23	POR 26	CLE 20	MEA 27	TOR	MCH	POC	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG			28th	3
1990	Vince Granatelli Racing	PHX	LBH	INDY 30	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MCH	DEN	VAN	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG		44th	0
1991	Team Menard	SRF	LBH	PHX	INDY DNQ	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	MEA	TOR	MCH	DEN	VAN	MDO	ROA	NAZ	LAG	NC	-
1992	Team Menard	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY 31	DET	POR	MIL	NHA	TOR	MCH	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LAG		62nd	0

Indy 500 results

Year Car Start Qual Rank Finish Laps Led Retired 1974 24 8 185.147 9 20 94 0 Drive Gear 1975 68 4 190.094 5 22 125 0 Crash T2 1976 68 3 186.355 8 6 101 1 Flagged 1977 8 1 198.886 1 2 200 3 Running 1978 1 1 202.156 1 2 200 3 Running 1979 1 2 192.999 2 15 188 0 Crash T4 1980 9 33 185.290 19 2 200 16 Running 1981 2 20 200.691 1 25 96 25 Clutch 1982 7 7 201.028 7 4 197 31 Engine 1983 5 4 203.687 4 1 200 98 Running 1984 1 1 210.029 1 16 168 31 Left CV Joint 1985 2 13 208.927 13 20 123 0 Crash T1 1986 33 7 211.878 9 33 0 0 Crash T2 1987 33 21 207.254 16 14 143 0 Crash T2 1988 81 14 208.659 18 27 32 0 Crash T4 1989 7 22 218.396 10 27 55 0 Pit Fire 1990 9 25 216.142 22 30 48 0 CV Joint 1991 59 failed to qualify (Bumped) 1992 59 30 219.737 30 31 10 0 Crash T4 Totals 2180 208

Starts 18 Poles 3 Front Row 5 Wins 1 Top 5 5 Top 10 6 Retired 13

Award

He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005.

External links

• NASCAR Stats from Racing-Reference.info
• The Greatest 33

Preceded by: Gordon Johncock

Indianapolis 500 Winner 1983

Succeeded by: Rick Mears

Template:USAC Drivers' Champions

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Tom Sneva. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.