Says It Would Make Race More Competitive : Slow Down the Indy, Warns Record-Holder Tom Sneva

Tom Sneva, a starter from the pole position three times and holder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record for most qualification laps at faster than 200 m.p.h., is an outspoken crusader for lower speeds.

“Fans come to Indianapolis to see speed most of the month of May, but on race day they want to see a race,” Sneva said. “Like I said, we don’t have to worry about this place surviving. But we have to worry about the rest of the sport.

“I wonder why nobody else can figure it out. I’m not exactly a rocket scientist. . . . This is pretty common-sense stuff.”

Sneva, the 1983 Indianapolis 500 winner, the first driver to qualify for the race at more than 200 m.p.h. and the record-holder with 42 laps in qualifications above 200, has for most of this decade advocated slowing the cars down, not only for safety, but also in the interest of greater competition.

“That’s what I’ve been saying for the past five or six years, at least,” said Sneva, who qualified for Sunday’s race on the inside of the eighth row at 218.396 m.p.h. “NASCAR slowed their guys down. You heard them at Talladega. They slowed ‘em down from 212 down to 190.

‘Fans Were Standing’

“The drivers were complaining and moaning before the race, but the fans were standing and shouting for about 500 miles in that race.”

Sneva was referring to the Winston 500 on May 7 at Talladega, Ala. Davey Allison took a stirring victory in a very competitive NASCAR stock car race after the sanctioning body imposed carburetor restricter plates to slow the cars down in the interest of safety for competitors and fans.

Talking about the Indy-car rules makers, Sneva said, “They make way too small changes. I don’t know who they’re listening to. . . . Superman died a long time ago.

“We need to be more concerned with the quality of the show from green to checker.”