Race · Round 3 of 8 · 30 May 1956

1956 Indianapolis 500

Pat Flaherty won for Watson-Offenhauser from pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the first championship race win for Pat Flaherty, and the first championship podium for Don Freeland.

High of 29 °C, 6.7 mm of rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana, United States of America
Winner: Pat FlahertyWatson-Offenhauser
Pole: Pat Flaherty
Fastest lap: Paul Russo
Entries: 3434 classified

This race includes a shared drive. Two drivers took turns in one car and both are classified in the same position, so a position below appears twice. That is correct, not a duplicated row.

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Pat Flaherty	Watson-Offenhauser	Indy Roadster	1	200	Finished	8
2	Sam Hanks	—	KK500C	13	200	Finished	6
3	Don Freeland	—	Phillips	26	200	Finished	4
4	Johnnie Parsons	—	Indy Roadster	6	200	Finished	3
5	Dick Rathmann	—	KK500C	4	200	Finished	2
6	Bob Sweikert	—	Indy Roadster	10	200	Finished	0
7	Bob Veith	—	KK500C	23	200	Finished	0
8	Rodger Ward	—	KK500C	15	200	Finished	0
9	Jimmy Reece	—	Lesovsky	21	200	Finished	0
10	Cliff Griffith	—	Stevens	30	199	Finished	0
11	Gene Hartley	—	Indy Roadster	22	196	Finished	0
12	Fred Agabashian	—	KK500C	7	196	Finished	0
13	Bob Christie	—	KK500D	25	196	Finished	0
14	Al Keller	—	—	28	195	Finished	0
15	Eddie Johnson	—	Indy Roadster	32	195	Finished	0
16	Billy Garrett	—	Indy Roadster	29	194	Finished	0
17	Duke Dinsmore	—	KK500A	33	191	Finished	0
18	Pat O'Connor	—	KK500D	3	187	Magneto	0
19	Jimmy Bryan	—	Indy Roadster	19	185	Finished	0
20	Jim Rathmann	—	KK500C	2	175	Engine	0
21	Johnnie Tolan	—	KK500C	31	173	Engine	0
22	Tony Bettenhausen	—	KK500C	5	160	Accident	0
23	Ed Elisian shared	—	KK500C	14	160	Brakes	0
23	Eddie Russo shared	—	KK500C	—	—	Finished	0
24	Jimmy Daywalt	—	KK500D	16	134	Accident	0
25	Jack Turner	—	KK500B	24	131	Engine	0
26	Keith Andrews	—	KK500B	20	94	Transmission	0
27	Andy Linden	—	KK500C	9	90	Oil leak	0
28	Al Herman	—	KK500B	27	74	Accident	0
29	Ray Crawford	—	KK500B	17	49	Accident	0
30	Johnny Boyd	—	KK500E	12	35	Oil leak	0
31	Troy Ruttman	—	KK500C	11	22	Spun off	0
32	Johnny Thomson	—	Indy Roadster	18	22	Spun off	0
33	Paul Russo	—	KK500F	8	21	Accident	1	fastest lap

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout indianapolis-1 · 4.023 km · 4 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap. Drivers who shared a car have a line each.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Pat Flaherty	1	1	200
Sam Hanks	13	2	200
Don Freeland	26	3	200
Johnnie Parsons	6	4	200
Dick Rathmann	4	5	200
Bob Sweikert	10	6	200
Bob Veith	23	7	200
Rodger Ward	15	8	200
Jimmy Reece	21	9	200
Cliff Griffith	30	10	199
Gene Hartley	22	11	196
Fred Agabashian	7	12	196
Bob Christie	25	13	196
Al Keller	28	14	195
Eddie Johnson	32	15	195
Billy Garrett	29	16	194
Duke Dinsmore	33	17	191
Pat O'Connor	3	18	187
Jimmy Bryan	19	19	185
Jim Rathmann	2	20	175
Johnnie Tolan	31	21	173
Tony Bettenhausen	5	22	160
Ed Elisian shared	14	23	160
Jimmy Daywalt	16	24	134
Jack Turner	24	25	131
Keith Andrews	20	26	94
Andy Linden	9	27	90
Al Herman	27	28	74
Ray Crawford	17	29	49
Johnny Boyd	12	30	35
Troy Ruttman	11	31	22
Johnny Thomson	18	32	22
Paul Russo	8	33	21

1 entry with no recorded grid slot or lap count is in the classification and not drawn.

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Pat Flaherty	—	8	4:07.260	—	0 m	—
2	Jim Rathmann	—	24	4:08.070	+0.810	13 m	+0.810
3	Pat O'Connor	—	7	4:08.310	+1.050	17 m	+0.240
4	Dick Rathmann	—	73	4:09.180	+1.920	31 m	+0.870
5	Tony Bettenhausen	—	99	4:08.960	+1.700	28 m	-0.220
6	Johnnie Parsons	—	98	4:09.750	+2.490	41 m	+0.790
7	Fred Agabashian	—	42	4:09.880	+2.620	43 m	+0.130
8	Paul Russo	—	29	4:10.790	+3.530	57 m	+0.910
9	Andy Linden	—	5	4:11.650	+4.390	71 m	+0.860
10	Bob Sweikert	—	1	4:11.690	+4.430	72 m	+0.040
11	Troy Ruttman	—	53	4:12.660	+5.400	88 m	+0.970
12	Johnny Boyd	—	15	4:12.920	+5.660	92 m	+0.260
13	Sam Hanks	—	4	4:13.430	+6.170	100 m	+0.510
14	Ed Elisian	—	10	4:14.630	+7.370	120 m	+1.200
15	Rodger Ward	—	19	4:15.010	+7.750	126 m	+0.380
16	Jimmy Daywalt	—	48	4:15.360	+8.100	132 m	+0.350
17	Ray Crawford	—	49	4:15.530	+8.270	135 m	+0.170
18	Johnny Thomson	—	88	4:07.340	+0.080	1 m	-8.190
19	Jimmy Bryan	—	2	4:10.450	+3.190	52 m	+3.110
20	Keith Andrews	—	89	4:11.790	+4.530	74 m	+1.340
21	Jimmy Reece	—	26	4:11.950	+4.690	76 m	+0.160
22	Gene Hartley	—	82	4:12.020	+4.760	77 m	+0.070
23	Bob Veith	—	14	4:12.570	+5.310	86 m	+0.550
24	Jack Turner	—	54	4:12.820	+5.560	90 m	+0.250
25	Bob Christie	—	57	4:13.100	+5.840	95 m	+0.280
26	Don Freeland	—	16	4:14.060	+6.800	111 m	+0.960
27	Al Herman	—	12	4:14.220	+6.960	113 m	+0.160
28	Al Keller	—	55	4:14.970	+7.710	125 m	+0.750
29	Billy Garrett	—	41	4:16.120	+8.860	144 m	+1.150
30	Cliff Griffith	—	27	4:14.470	+7.210	117 m	-1.650
31	Johnnie Tolan	—	34	4:17.030	+9.770	159 m	+2.560
32	Eddie Johnson	—	81	4:18.820	+11.560	188 m	+1.790
33	Duke Dinsmore	—	64	4:19.870	+12.610	205 m	+1.050

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Where this comes from

Round: 3 of 1956
Grand Prix: Indianapolis 500
Dates: 30 May 1956
Layout raced: Oval · 4.023 km · 4 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Watson-Offenhauser
Entrant: Watson-Offenhauser
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.