Quite a special club

It's quite a special club considering out of the 8 billion people on Planet Earth there are just 67 members, those the different winners in the 109 year history of the Indianapolis 500.

That most recent person to have the laurel wreath hung over his neck, to drink the traditional milk toast and kiss the last remaining yard of bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is Spain's Álex Palou on May 25.

Palou earned $3.8 million from a purse of $20.283 million, up from 2024's $18,456 million.

The 2.5 mile iconic rectangular speedway oval that can hold 350,000 people did not earn the nickname "Brickyard" just because. It was once paved by an estimated 3.2 million "pavers" of which only 576 remain following its 1911 opening.

Of all the endless trivia that exists surrounding Indy, and might be forgotten by all but those is the fact that 42 years ago in 1983 Spokane's Tom Sneva and the state of Washington became home to one the 67 birthplaces of '500 winners.

Not surprisingly, Indiana boasts the all-time high of seven winners born in that state, followed by Texas and Ohio with five each.

I actually remember some of the 67th running of the Indy 500 on Sunday, May 29, 1983. We were sitting under rare blue skies at the family's traditional Memorial Day weekend destination of "Cow Camp" on Deadman's Creek in Ferry County.

The radio was just able to pull in the scratchy signal from AM 1240 KCVL in Colville. And many of those gathered hung by the play-by-play, flag-to-flag and featuring legendary race broadcaster, Paul Page.

That race finish, brought to mind not from the memory banks, but rather Google, reminded of the duel Sneva staged with Al Unser and son Al Unser Jr. in order to claim the 500 victory.

For Sneva, it was the culmination of a dream journey initiated by his father, Edsol, a pioneer regional racer in his own right in the 1950s. One that unlike today where money buys a seat in a race car, Tom Sneva did it the old-fashioned way in one of the minor leagues of open-wheel racing called the Canadian American Modified Racing Association, or CAMRA.

If there's a companion to minor league baseball's "bus leagues" it was CAMRA where racing took place across a geographical expanse stretching from Prince George, British Columbia to Salt Lake City, Utah.

It was, perhaps, good that following graduation from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Tom Sneva went on to earn a degree in Education from Eastern Washington State College and land his first teaching job in the Sprague School District teaching math - and driving a school bus!

Summer's off allowed Sneva to race, earn his stripes and make his first Indy start in 1975.

Not long after he was involved in one of the most spectacular crashes in speedway history and obviously live to tell about it. Sneva reportedly walked to the ambulance before being briefly placed in the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital.

From there he'd become the first driver to surpass the 200 mile-per-hour barrier qualifying at 200.535 in 1977. By 1984 he upped that mark to over 210 mph. His penchant for speed earned Sneva the nickname "the Gas Man."

There was of course the joy of 1983 but also heartbreak of three more runner-up finishes in 1977, 1978 and 1980. Following the 1983 victory 1983, he never finished the race again.

Sneva's story is broad and bold yet surprisingly has never been captured in a book? It would be a big one!

Winning Indy is the equivalent to an Olympic gold medal with the investment of both time and money somewhat similar.

The dividend is not unlike that of an Olympian. You're forever an Indy 500 champion. Sneva parlayed that moment in time to eventually retire to life in Arizona where golf and volunteer work take up some of his spare time. Wish Tom "happy birthday" as he turns 77 on June 1.

It's quite a special club and one not just anyone can become a member.

Paul Delaney can be reached at sports@cheneyfreepress.com.