Jake Friedman has no fear. Put him behind the wheel of his race car and stay clear. Some might say he was born that way. The grandson of 1983 Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva, racing is in his gene pool and this 10-year-old from Malibu is quickly learning the ropes in open wheel quarter midget racing with the help of his famous patriarch.
“My grandpa was an Indy car driver and he built me a car and I started racing one day. I wanted to go faster and faster. Before I know it, I’m racing,” Friedman said. “There is so much fun in racing. It’s a good experience. It gets in your blood after a while and you just want to do more of it. I have no fears when I am racing those cars.”
Friedman, a fourth grader at Point Dume Marine Science School, began racing at the age of six. Between the months of September and May, he competes in Phoenix as a member of the Valley of the Sun Quarter Midget Association.
When not involved with flag football, soccer, basketball or baseball in Malibu, Friedman will frequently fly to Phoenix to meet up with his grandfather to either practice or compete at the South Mountain Speedway every other weekend. During the summer, Friedman can be found racing at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino as a member of the Orange Show Quarter Midget Racing Association.
Sneva retired from Indy car racing in 1992 and now enjoys teaching, mentoring and inspiring his grandson. He owns two midget cars that he and Friedman take pride in for racing: a Stanley 120 and a Sherman 160 that reach speeds up to 45 mph on the track.
Having Sneva as your grandfather and mentor has been very special for Friedman.
“It’s pretty awesome he won the Indy 500 and now he works on my car. I’m going pretty darn fast,” Friedman said. “He will tell me if a tire is loose and to get higher on the walls to dip down in the corners to go faster. Sometimes I go too low on the straight-aways and he will tell me.”
While Friedman lists Indy’s Tony Kanaan and NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch as his favorite racers, one can’t help but admire the relationship between Sneva and little Jake. It’s a bond that has flourished with Jake having already won six races in his brief career.
“I am having a ball now watching him develop. I’m trying to give him assistance to get better as a driver and a person,” Sneva said. “It’s all about competition. What makes a kid stronger is being in competitive situations.”
Sneva, known as “The Gas Man” during his 19-year career, competed in America’s greatest race 18 times. He defeated Al Unser in 1983 and was runner-up three other times. Sneva was the first race driver ever to break 200 miles per hour (200.535) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while qualifying for the 1977 Indy 500.
Competing against Indy legends A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears and Unser, Sneva held his own as he won two consecutive United States Auto Club National Championships for Indy cars in 1977 and 1978.
“I was just very fortunate to be involved in the sport and to do something that I enjoyed and be able to make a living out of it,” said Sneva, who was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. “But I was never one that had to have the need for speed necessarily. Give me a set of rules and I want to go faster than everybody else.
“To win the Indy 500 was a huge deal. It’s the biggest race in the world. This year we are celebrating our 30th anniversary of the win. I still dream that I qualified in the pole for the race. It’s funny how it stays with you.”
Now Sneva spends time adjusting air pressure, shocks, sway bars, panhard bars and spring rates while teaching his 4-foot-11, 85-pound grandson the nuances of how to race around an oval that is 1/20th of a mile.
“One of his strengths is that he uses his head very well. He looks ahead and not just staring over the front of the steering wheel. He’s able to see things in front of him as they develop and make pretty good decisions most of the time,” Sneva explained. “He has good instincts and he has good hand-eye coordination. Now it’s a matter of keeping an open mind and forcing himself to try things to get better.” When asked what lies ahead for his future, “Jake the Snake” was pretty clear on the direction he’s headed.
“I would like to go to Sprint (next level after Quarter Midget) and then go to NASCAR or Indy car,” Friedman said. “But I like open wheel because it’s open, more dangerous and it pays more.”
