1956 Indianapolis 500

1956 Indianapolis 500
Previous←	1956 Monaco Grand Prix
Round	3 of 1956
Next→	1956 Belgian Grand Prix
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race Details
Date	30 May, 1956
Race Number	51
Official Name	40th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana, USA
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.023 km (2.500 mi)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Distance	200 laps, 804.6 km (499.955 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Pat Flaherty Watson-Offenhauser
Time	4:07.26
Fastest Lap
Driver	Paul Russo Kurtis Kraft-Novi
Time	1:02.32 on lap 19
Podium
First	Pat Flaherty Watson-Offenhauser
Second	Sam Hanks Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
Third	Don Freeland Phillips-Offenhauser
Lap Leaders

Weather Conditions
Time Trial 1	Sunny
Time Trial 2	Sunny
Time Trial 3	Rain
Time Trial 4	Sunny
Race	Cloudy

The 1956 Indianapolis 500, or officially known as the 40^th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes, was the third round of the 1956 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, on Wednesday, the 30^th of May.

Qualifying

• Saturday, 16^th of May – Pole Day time trials
• Sunday, 17^th of May – Second Day time trials
• Saturday, 23^rd of May – Third Day time trials (rained out)
• Sunday, 24^th of May – Fourth Day time trials

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 1956 Indianapolis 500 are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Ave. Speed
1	8	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	4:07.26	145.596 mi/h
2	24	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:08.07	145.120 mi/h
3	7	Pat O'Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:08.31	144.980 mi/h
4	73	Dick Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:08.72	144.741 mi/h
5	99	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:08.96	144.602 mi/h
6	98	Johnnie Parsons (W)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:09.75	144.144 mi/h
7	42	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:09.88	144.069 mi/h
8	29	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	4:10.79	143.546 mi/h
9	5	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:11.65	143.056 mi/h
10	1	Bob Sweikert (W)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:11.69	143.033 mi/h
11	53	Troy Ruttman (W)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:12.66	142.484 mi/h
12	15	Johnny Boyd	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:12.92	142.337 mi/h
13	4	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:13.43	142.051 mi/h
14	10	Ed Elisian	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:14.63	141.382 mi/h
15	19	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:15.01	141.171 mi/h
16	48	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:15.36	140.977 mi/h
17	49	Ray Crawford	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:15.53	140.884 mi/h
18	88	Johnny Thomson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:07.34	145.549 mi/h
19	2	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:10.45	143.741 mi/h
20	89	Keith Andrews	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:11.79	142.976 mi/h
21	26	Jimmy Reece	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	4:11.95	142.885 mi/h
22	82	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:12.02	142.846 mi/h
23	14	Bob Veith (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:12.57	142.535 mi/h
24	54	Jack Turner (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:12.82	142.394 mi/h
25	57	Bob Christie (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:13.10	142.236 mi/h
26	16	Don Freeland	Phillips-Offenhauser	4:14.06	141.699 mi/h
27	12	Al Herman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:14.22	141.610 mi/h
28	55	Al Keller	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:14.97	141.193 mi/h
29	41	Billy Garrett (R)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:16.12	140.559 mi/h
30	27	Cliff Griffith	Stevens-Offenhauser	4:14.47	141.471 mi/h
31	34	Johnny Tolan (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:17.03	140.061 mi/h
32	81	Eddie Johnson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	4:18.82	139.093 mi/h
33	64	Duke Dinsmore	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	4:19.87	138.430 mi/h

• (W) represents as previous winners.
• (R) represents as race rookies.
• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.

Grid

Pos	Pos	Pos
Driver	Driver	Driver
______________
1	______________
Pat Flaherty	2	______________
	Jim Rathmann	3
		Pat O'Connor
______________
4	______________
Dick Rathmann	5	______________
	Tony Bettenhausen	6
		Johnnie Parsons (W)
______________
7	______________
Fred Agabashian	8	______________
	Paul Russo	9
		Andy Linden
______________
10	______________
Bob Sweikert (W)	11	______________
	Troy Ruttman (W)	12
		Johnny Boyd
______________
13	______________
Sam Hanks	14	______________
	Ed Elisian	15
		Rodger Ward
______________
16	______________
Jimmy Daywalt	17	______________
	Ray Crawford	18
		Johnny Thomson
______________
19	______________
Jimmy Bryan	20	______________
	Keith Andrews	21
		Jimmy Reece
______________
22	______________
Gene Hartley	23	______________
	Bob Veith (R)	24
		Jack Turner (R)
______________
25	______________
Bob Christie (R)	26	______________
	Don Freeland	27
		Al Herman
______________
28	______________
Al Keller	29	______________
	Billy Garrett (R)	30
		Cliff Griffith
______________
31	______________
Johnny Tolan (R)	32	______________
	Eddie Johnson	33
		Duke Dinsmore

Non-Qualifiers

The full list of non-qualifiers for the 1956 Indianapolis 500 is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Constructor
58	Eddie Sachs (R)	Schroeder-Offenhauser
87	Jay Abney (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
33	George Amick (R)	Epperly-Offenhauser
91	Johnny Baldwin (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Ferrari
25	Tony Bonadies (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
81	Buddy Cagle (R)	Kuzma-Offenhauser
84	Bill Cheesbourg (R)	Lesovsky-Offenhauser
87		Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
31	Jimmy Davies	Kurtis Kraft-Novi
51	Len Duncan	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
41	Edgar Elder (R)	Kuzma-Offenhauser
9	Giuseppe Farina (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Ferrari
35	Johnny Kay (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
74	Mike Magill (R)	Templeton-Offenhauser
77	Jim McWithey (R)	Schroeder-Offenhauser
9	Earl Motter (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Ferrari
41		Kuzma-Offenhauser
74	Roy Newman (R)	Templeton-Offenhauser
75	Marvin Pifer (R)	Ewing-Offenhauser
10	Eddie Russo (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
27		Stevens-Offenhauser
33		Epperly-Offenhauser
85	Gig Stephens (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
62	Len Sutton (R)	Lesovsky-Offenhauser
3	Marshall Teague	Kuzma-Offenhauser
47		Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
46	Shorty Templeman	Hillegass-Offenhauser
93	Leroy Warriner (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
22	Chuck Weyant	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
22	Dempsey Wilson (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser
79		Silnes-Offenhauser

Race

Results

The full results for the 1956 Indianapolis 500 are outlined below:

Pos.	Grid	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Led	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	8	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	200	127	3:53:28.84	8
2	13	4	Sam Hanks	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200	0	+20.46s	6
3	26	16	Don Freeland	Phillips-Offenhauser	200	4	+1:30.23	4
4	6	98	Johnnie Parsons (W)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200	16	+3:25.64	3
5	4	73	Dick Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200	0	+4:21.81	2
6	10	1	Bob Sweikert (W)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	200	0	+5:34.99
7	23	14	Bob Veith (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200	0	+6:25.66
8	15	19	Rodger Ward	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	200	0	+6:32.27
9	21	26	Jimmy Reece	Lesovsky-Offenhauser	200	0	+6:38.27
10	30	27	Cliff Griffith	Stevens-Offenhauser	199	0	+1 Lap
11	22	82	Gene Hartley	Kuzma-Offenhauser	196	0	+4 Laps
12	7	42	Fred Agabashian	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	196	0	+4 Laps
13	25	57	Bob Christie (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	196	0	+4 Laps
14	28	55	Al Keller	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	195	0	+5 Laps
15	32	81	Eddie Johnson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	195	0	+5 Laps
16	29	41	Billy Garrett (R)	Kuzma-Offenhauser	194	0	+6 Laps
17	33	64	Duke Dinsmore	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	191	0	+9 Laps
18	3	7	Pat O'Connor	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	187	39	+13 Laps
19	19	2	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma-Offenhauser	185	0	+15 Laps
20	2	24	Jim Rathmann	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	175	3	Rings
21	31	34	Johnny Tolan (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	173	0	Mechanical
22	5	99	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	160	0	Accident
23	14	10	Ed Elisian	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	123	0	Brakes
			Eddie Russo (R)		37
24	16	48	Jimmy Daywalt	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	134	0	Accident
25	24	54	Jack Turner (R)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	131	0	Mechanical
26	20	89	Keith Andrews	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	94	0	Transmission
27	9	5	Andy Linden	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	90	0	Oil Leak
28	27	12	Al Herman	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	74	0	Accident
29	17	49	Ray Crawford	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	49	0	Accident
30	12	15	Johnny Boyd	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	35	0	Oil Leak
31	11	53	Troy Ruttman (W)	Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser	22	0	Spin
32	18	88	Johnny Thomson	Kuzma-Offenhauser	22	0	Spin
33	8	29	Paul Russo	Kurtis Kraft-Novi	21	11	Accident	1FL

• ^FL Indicates a driver scored one point for fastest lap.

Milestones

• Only pole position and victory for Pat Flaherty.
• Only fastest lap for Paul Russo.

References

Images and Videos:

References:

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