by Jake Grubb
Average four-lap speed around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit; 203.620 miles an hour! A mind numbing speed to contemplate — yet it seemed an impossible speed to imagine in spring 1978. But it happened, it was documented, and it was achieved by little known former school teacher-come-racer Tom Sneva, in the Penske PC-6 Indy car during qualifying for the 67th Indianapolis 500. Few would have believed the feat had it not been for the frenzied media that ferociously covered it and the official proofs that documented it. Indianapolis Motor Speedway officially-measured speed records are gospel, and definitive history was made on that auspicious day in May, 1978. In the previous year, after the 200 mph 1-lap speed of The Speedway was originally broken (also by Tom Sneva) in May 1977 — the entirety of the ensuing year [from May 1997 until May 1978] saw the motor sports world waiting and wondering: what driver and what car could achieve the next and most challenging step – a four-lap qualifying average of 200+ miles per hour at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? And now the deed was cemented in the history of motor racing.
It was America’s Race. Every year the cars went faster. Every year, speeds were scarier. Of the twenty Indy 500 events between 1977 and 1996, the lap record was broken in fifteen of those years! In that amazing time, one of the bravest drivers drove the very car in these photos: Indy qualifying master Tom Sneva in the Roger Penske 1978 PC-6, chassis number 002. This car, now owned by the Malloy Foundation in California, was originally created by respected British racecar designer Geoff Ferris, and powered by a 2.4 liter turbocharged Cosworth DFX V8 engine, mated with a Hewland LG-500 4-speed gearbox. The engine developed 1,000 reported horsepower in a chassis/engine package weighing only 1,525 pounds. The result: F18-like speed. But would it stay on the track?
The Penske PC-6 was the outgrowth of an uncommon alchemy. And in a way, it could be argued that its roots were in Penske’s mid-1970s efforts to develop a car for Formula 1 racing in Europe. Stemming from Roger Penske’s 1973-1976 efforts to compete in Formula 1 with its PC-series 1, 2, 3 and 4 cars, the program abruptly shifted its focus to USAC Champ cars for 1977, fusing the firm’s F1 design and engineering knowledges into its fielding of two McLaren M24-Cosworth cars for Tom Sneva and Mario Andretti. Labeled Penske PC-5s, Sneva drove one of these cars three times in 1977 USAC races, achieving the first 200+ mph lap during qualification for the 1977 Indy 500. A stunning accomplishment, heard around the world. Simultaneously, at Penske design and engineering development headquarters in Poole, England, designer Geoff Ferris was busy modifying his earlier Penske PC-4 Formula 1 car into what would become the PC-6 USAC Champ/Indy car. Soon, driver Tom Sneva would rocket the PC-6 into the Indy history books, setting the first-ever 200+ mph four-lap average at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At the Indy 500 race in 1978, the front row consisted of Tom Sneva, the persistently fast Danny Ongais, and then-rookie sensation Rick Mears, Tom Sneva’s Penske teammate. At the green flag, Danny Ongais got the jump and rocketed into the lead, with Sneva tracking closely in 2nd place. Mears, initially in 3rd position, dropped pace as he realized he had forgotten to fasten his helmet and it nearly blew off! As Ongais aggressively gained ground, a track yellow condition from a Spike Gehlhausen crash allowed a pit-stop shuffle that put Sneva in the lead. But Ongais mounted another charge and again vaulted to 1st place. By lap 76, veteran Al Unser Sr. got by both Sneva and Ongais, steeling the lead.
Throughout the middle of the race Unser maintained a narrow margin over Ongais, with Sneva sustaining 3rd place. However at the three-quarter point on lap 145, Ongais’ engine blew, elevating Sneva to 2nd place – but Sneva was nursing a fuel system diaphram issue, which caused the team to order Sneva to conserve enough fuel to finish the race. To all appearances, Unser had a cushy 20-second+ lead as a result. But no lead is cushy at the Indy 500; Unser overshot his pit box on lap 180 for his last fuel stop, seemingly blowing a 30-second 1st place margin. Unser’s miscalculation caused him to hit a tire lying in the pit, damaging his front wing and causing the team to send Unser back out without a new wing or fresh tires, so as to minimize lost time. While these errors would slow Unser’s pace, the Penske/Sneva pit stop had issues also, leaving Sneva also without fresh tires and nineteen laps to reel-in a then 30-second deficit. Against all odds Sneva closed the gap by over a second a lap, but in the end Al Unser was able to take the 1978 Indy 500 win with an 8.3-second lead.
Tom Sneva’s 1978 Indy qualifying lap record of 203.620 mph in the Penske PC-6, followed by his four-lap pole winning average of 202.156 set the stage for three more Indy poles that he would garner in follow-on years, plus four P-1 Indy qualifying times, five Indy 500 front row positions and an Indianapolis 500 victory in 1983. Sneva’s 1978 historic four-lap 200+ mph barrier-breaking Indy qualifier in the Penske PC-6 established the modern record for speed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that stands as auto racing’s defining benchmark to this day, much like pilot Chuck Yeager’s blast through the “sound barrier” changed aviation forever in 1947.
