A Jewish rookie won the pole at the Indy 500! There is gonna be lots of kvelling!

(Looking at the Jew Score...) There will be some kvelling? Just not that much?

First, for the accomplishment: 25-year-old Robert Shwartzman, who has never raced on an oval before, astonished the racing world by winning the pole at Indy. And, yes, he is Jewish, an Israeli Jew. A Russian-Israeli Jew... Let's unpack.

Even though Shwartzman competes under the Israeli flag, he has done so only since 2022, because Russia was rightfully banned from most international sport. Much of Shwartzman's early success (he won Formula 3 and finished second in Formula 2) was due to the sponsorship of Boris Rotenberg, one of Russia's notorious oligarchs.

Rotenberg's racing team, SMP Racing, has gone into hiding since (probably not coincidentally) 2022. Shwartzman now races for Prema, an Italian team. (Despite being a Russian-Israeli, he has lived mostly in Italy.) But we wouldn't bet against Rotenberg still having the youngster in his clutches...

But there is no proof of that. Until then, some kvelling.