Jerry Sneva, a younger brother of 1983 Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Senva, and the 1977 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year himself, passed away last Saturday, January 27, in Indianapolis. He was 69.
Sneva (above, IMS Photo), made five starts in the 500 during his career, with a best finish of 10th in his Rookie of the Year run of 1977 with a five-year-old McLaren-Offy. His best start was an impressive 5th in 1980. Sneva went on to start 28 races during his Indycar career, scoring six top-10 finishes. Two weeks after finishing 5th at Milwaukee in June 1979, Sneva posted his best career finish of 4th in the Pocono 500. He finished that 1979 season 7th in points.
Sneva was one of a dozen or so drivers who came to the Midwest from a very competitive supermodified series in the Pacific Northwest called the Canadian-American Modified Racing Association. Other notables from that CAMRA series included his brother Tom, Art Pollard, Billy Foster, Jim Malloy, Dick Simon, Eldon Rasmussen and Cliff Hucul.
Having relocated from his native Spokane, Washington, to Indianapolis, Sneva was regularly seen in neighborhood hangouts and in the IMS Museum and gift shops throughout the year. He formed many longstanding friendships with IMS staff members, and each December he would stop by to gift them with wooden Christmas ornaments he’d carved and painted himself.
Sneva is survived by his wife, Kathy, and children TJ and Shelby, and to them as well as the rest of the Sneva family and his many friends in the sport, Vintage Racecar extends its sincerest condolences.
