A year ago, ABC television had to run a special line into Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis so that Canadian race driver James Hinchcliffe could watch the Indy 500.

The race is shown live everywhere else, but is blacked out in the immediate, area, so special arrangements had to be made for the injured driver to watch it as it happened.

A little more than a week earlier — May 18, to be exact — Hinchcliffe had very nearly lost his life in a crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Determined to see the race, Oakville’s Hinchcliffe had mused about going to the speedway by ambulance, but ABC stepped in and made sure he could watch from his bed.

What a difference a year makes.

On Sunday, Hinchcliffe wasn’t laid up in any hospital. A little before 6 p.m. Eastern time, he went out and won the pole position for next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, becoming just the second Canadian to do so after Alex Tagliani in 2011.

Hinchcliffe was able to joke about the situation after qualifying, recalling how his parents were away on vacation when he crashed last year.

“Mom moved in on May 1,” he told reporters Sunday. “She didn’t want to miss a lap, just in case I tried to kill myself again.”

Hinchcliffe’s pole-winning speed of 230.760 miles an hour (an average over four laps) just edged Josef Newgarden. Former 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will start outside on the front row.

“I don’t think anyone can describe nearly losing your life at a track, then going back there to go 240 m.p.h. into a corner,” Hunter-Reay, one of the many drivers to congratulate Hinchcliffe, told The Associated Press.

In a cruel twist of fate, Tagliani crashed his A.J. Foyt Racing team car on the warmup lap and didn’t get to set a qualifying time. He will start the race 33rd and last in the 100th anniversary race.

To let the other drivers know how serious he was about landing the big prize, Hinchcliffe set the fastest time in Saturday’s final practice for Sunday’s time trials.

Only the fastest nine drivers from Saturday’s runs were eligible for the pole. The mighty Team Penske got three drivers into the fast nine, but not Juan-Pablo Montoya, who won last year‘s 500.

Hinchcliffe, at a media conference Saturday after his run, paid tribute to his Schmidt-Peterson Racing team (co-owned by Canadian Ric Peterson of Calgary), then said: “Being fastest doesn‘t really mean anything or pay anything, but it’s certainly a nice cherry on top. What a difference a year makes.”

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In an interview with the Star before the weekend, Hinchcliffe said he felt he and the team were peaking at just the right time.

“If you look at it, we’ve improved our position at every race this year (including a third-place finish at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the speedway’s road course last weekend). If we keep that trend up we’re looking pretty good heading for Memorial Day.”