Rookie Robert Shwartzman won the Indy 500 pole, what other rookies have done it?
INDIANAPOLIS -- Robert Shwartzman is the third rookie to win the pole at the Indianapolis 500, the first since Teo Fabi in 1983.
Shwartzman posted an average speed of 232.790 mph in the Fast 6 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday to beat out Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O'Ward, Takuma Sato, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon.
Fabi won the pole in 1983 and Walt Faulkner in 1950.
Tony Stewart started on the pole as a rookie in 1996 but did not win the pole. Scott Brayton won the pole at the very end of the qualifying day and Arie Luyendyk was second, with Stewart third. But Luyendyk's car failed post-qualifying inspection for being below the minimum weight.
On the Friday before race day, Brayton was running laps with his back-up car when his right-rear tire deflated as he entered Turn 2 and crashed into the outside wall. Brayton was found unconscious in the car, transported to the hospital and declared dead by a skull fracture.
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