George "Ziggy" Snider (born December 8, 1940 in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

) is a retired American race car driver. A longtime driver in the

United States Automobile Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

Silver Crown series, Snider is also a 22-time starter of the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...

, the most starts without winning the race. His best finish was eighth in the

1975 Indianapolis 500 The 59th 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 25, 1975. A. J. Foyt started on the pole position and Bobby Unser won his second Indianapolis 500. Dan Gurney, one of the ...

. Snider made many starts driving for his good friend A. J. Foyt. His last Indy start was in 1987. Snider is known to many fans by his nickname "Ziggy". Snider is the 1971 USAC Silver Crown Champion and the 1981-1982 USAC Champ Car champion, the last "big car" championship to include pavement races other than the Indy 500. Snider owns Silver Crown race cars and, in 2005, allowed Foyt's grandson

A. J. Foyt IV Anthony Joseph Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984) is an American football scout and former racing driver. He is a scouting assistant for the Indianapolis Colts, and drove in the IndyCar Series and briefly the NASCAR Busch Series. He is the third gener ...

to race a car at the Milwaukee Mile. Snider is currently a partner in ownership of non wing 360ci and 410ci sprint car teams in California (BUSTER AND ZIGGY RACING). Peter Murphy (originally from Australia now residing in Fresno, CA) currently drives their 360ci non wing sprint car in USAC West Coast 360 competition. Bud Kaeding (multi time USAC champion and Oval Nationals champion) drove the 410ci sprint car for the team on August 14, 2010 at Santa Maria Speedway in a USAC/CRA racing event where he placed 3rd.

Complete USAC Championship Car results

*¹: At the

1981 Indianapolis 500 The 65th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 24, 1981. The race is widely considered one of the most controversial races in Indy history. Bobby Unser took the checkered flag as the wi ...

, Snider initially qualified 29th, but the sold the car to

Tim Richmond Timothy Lee Richmond (June 7, 1955 – August 13, 1989) was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio. He competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. Richmond was one of the first drivers to change fro ...

. Richmond drove the car on race day.

Complete PPG Indy Car Series results

Indianapolis 500 results

External links

Driver Database Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snider, George 1940 births American racing drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Living people Sportspeople from Fresno, California Racing drivers from Fresno, California Racing drivers from California USAC Silver Crown Series drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers EuroInternational drivers Team Penske drivers USAC Gold Crown champions