1956 INDIANAPOLIS 500

The '1956 Indianapolis 500' was held on Wednesday, 30 May 1956 at Indianapolis. As with other Indy 500s of the 1950s, it was counted as a round of the World Drivers' Championship.
The 1956 race would be the first 500 to be governed by the United States Automobile Club as the American Automobile Association withdrew the previous August. Another change would have a more immediate effect on the current race. The track had been resurfaced with asphalt with only a small line of bricks still remaining on the main stretch. With the new surface, a new track record was expected. Pat Flaherty did not disappoint with a pole speed of 145.596mph, over 4.5mph faster than the 1954 record. 29 drivers qualified opening weekend. The second weekend saw heavy rain that completely canceled Saturday and left only a small window on Sunday for 4 drivers to fill the field. Nino Farina was one of the drivers left out when he didn’t get a chance to qualify his Bardahl-Ferrari.
The early part of the race turned into a three man duel between Russo, O’Connor, and Flaherty. Russo was the first to retire when his tyre failed and his car crashed and caught fire. At quarter distance due to yellows and the pit stops, Parsons took the lead followed by Freeland. By the 200 mile mark Flaherty took over the lead followed by Freeland, Sweikert, and Parsons but Hanks was working his way through the fields after sustaining some damage in the Russo crash, eventually taking second. Flaherty had built up such a lead that he was able to make his last pit stop and remain in front. He crossed the finish line with Hanks the only other car on the lead lap. The only real change in the top cars toward the end was both O’Connor and Jim Rathmann having to drop back with mechanical problems while both drivers were in the top 5.

Contents

Classification

Notes

Classification

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Team	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	8	'Pat Flaherty'	'Watson-Offenhauser'	145.59	1	200	127	3:53'28.84	'8'
2	13	4	'Sam Hanks'	'Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser'	142.05	21	200	0	+0'20.45	'6'
3	26	16	'Don Freeland'	'Phillips-Offenhauser'	141.69	22	200	4	+1'30.23	'4'
4	6	98	'Johnnie Parsons'	'Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser'	144.14	7	200	16	+3'25.69	'3'
5	4	73	'Dick Rathmann'	'Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser'	144.47	6	200	0	+4'21.81	'2'
6	10	1	Bob Sweikert	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.03	12	200	0	+5'35.05
7	23	14	Bob Veith	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.53	16	200	0	+6'25.63
8	15	19	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.17	27	200	0	+6'32.31
9	21	26	Jimmy Reece	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	142.88	14	200	0	+6'38.31
10	30	27	Cliff Griffith	Stevens-Offenhauser	141.47	24	199	0	+1 Lap
11	22	82	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	142.84	15	196	0	+4 Laps
12	7	42	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.06	8	196	0	+4 Laps
13	25	57	Bob Christie	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.23	20	196	0	+4 Laps
14	28	55	Al Keller	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.19	26	195	0	+5 Laps
15	32	81	Eddie Johnson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	139.09	32	195	0	+5 Laps
16	29	41	Billy Garrett	Kuzma-Offenhauser	140.55	30	194	0	+6 laps
17	33	64	Duke Dinsmore	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	138.53	33	191	0	+9 laps
18	3	7	Pat O'Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.98	4	187	39	+13 Laps
19	19	2	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma-Offenhauser	143.74	9	185	0	+15 Laps
20	2	24	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	145.12	3	175	0	Engine
21	31	34	Johnnie Tolan	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	140.06	31	173	0	Engine
22	5	99	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	144.6	5	160	0	Accident
23	14	10	Ed Elisian Eddie Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.38	25	160	0	Brakes
24	16	48	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	140.97	28	134	0	Accident
25	24	54	Jack Turner	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.39	18	131	0	Engine
26	20	89	Keith Andrews	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.97	13	94	0	Transmission
27	9	5	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	143.05	11	90	0	Oil Leak
28	27	12	Al Herman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	141.61	23	74	0	Accident
29	17	49	Ray Crawford	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	140.88	29	49	0	Accident
30	12	15	Johnny Boyd	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.33	19	35	0	Oil Leak
31	11	53	Troy Ruttman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	142.48	17	22	3	Spun Off
32	18	88	Johnny Thomson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	145.54	2	22	0	Spun Off
33	8	29	'Paul Russo'	'Kurtis Kraft-Novi'	143.54	10	21	11	Accident	'1'

Notes

★ Pole position: Pat Flaherty - 4'07.26 (time over four laps)

★ Fastest Lead Lap: Paul Russo - 1'02.32

★ Shared Drive: Car# 10: Ed Elisian 123 laps and Eddie Russo 37 laps