1956 USAC Championship Car season

1956 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races	12
Start date	May 30
End date	November 12
Awards
National champion	Jimmy Bryan
Indianapolis 500 winner	Pat Flaherty

The 1956 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Speedway, Indiana, on May 30 and concluding in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 12. This was the first year the National Championship was sanctioned by the United States Automobile Club (USAC), which replaced the American Automobile Association (AAA) after the withdrawal of AAA from all forms of racing after the 1955 season.^[1][2]

There were also three non-championship events. The National Champion was Jimmy Bryan and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Pat Flaherty. Flaherty was unable to race after the Springfield race as he was severely injured in a crash during the race which essentially ended his full time racing career. The defending series champion Bob Sweikert was killed on June 17th during a Sprint Car race at Salem Speedway that was not part of the national championship.

Rnd	Date	Race name	Track	Location	Type	Pole position	Winning driver
1	May 30	International 500 Mile SweepstakesA	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Paved	Pat Flaherty	Pat Flaherty
2	June 10	Rex Mays Classic	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Paved	Johnny Boyd	Pat Flaherty
3	June 24	Langhorne 100	Langhorne Speedway	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Billy Garrett	George Amick
4	July 4	Pee Dee 200	Darlington Raceway	Darlington, South Carolina	Paved	Andy Linden	Pat O'Connor
NC	July 4	Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb	Pikes Peak Highway	Pikes Peak, Colorado	Hill	Slim RobertsB	Bobby Unser
5	July 14	Atlanta 100	Lakewood Speedway	Atlanta, Georgia	Dirt	Bob Veith	Eddie Sachs
NC	July 22	Indianapolis Sweepstakes	Williams Grove Speedway	Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania	Dirt	Ed Elisian	Jimmy Bryan
NC	August 12	Dayton 25	Dayton Speedway	Dayton, Ohio	Paved	Pat O'Connor	Ed Elisian
6	August 19	Springfield 100	Illinois State Fairgrounds	Springfield, Illinois	Dirt	Rex Easton	Jimmy Bryan
7	August 26	Milwaukee 250	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Paved	Johnny Boyd	Jimmy Bryan
8	September 3	Ted Horn Memorial 100	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds	Du Quoin, Illinois	Dirt	Johnny Thomson	Jimmy Bryan
9	September 8	Syracuse 100	New York State Fairgrounds	Syracuse, New York	Dirt	Earl Motter	Tony Bettenhausen
10	September 15	Hoosier Hundred	Indiana State Fairgrounds	Indianapolis, Indiana	Dirt	Jud Larson	Jimmy Bryan
11	October 21	Golden State 100	California State Fairgrounds	Sacramento, California	Dirt	Jud Larson	Jud Larson
12	November 12	Bobby Ball Memorial	Arizona State Fairgrounds	Phoenix, Arizona	Dirt	George Amick	George Amick

^A Indianapolis 500 was USAC-sanctioned and counted towards the 1956 FIA World Championship of Drivers title.

^B No pole is awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, in this schedule on the pole is the driver who started first. No lap led was awarded for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, however, a lap was awarded to the drivers that completed the climb.

Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LAN DAR ATL SPR MIL2 DQSF SYR ISF SAC PHX Pts 1 Jimmy Bryan 19 4 6 8 1 1 1 2 1 3 2 1860 2 Pat Flaherty 1 1 14 5 5 18 1500 3 Don Freeland 3 6 7 10 2 24 17 11 9 2 13 1280 4 George Amick DNP DNQ 1 4 13 DNQ 6 5 5 12 13 1 1050 5 Jimmy Reece 9 7 9 12 7 2 9 DNQ DNQ 6 3 1040 6 Johnny Boyd 30 5 3 7 5 11 4 11 8 6 980 7 Bob Veith 7 10 10 DNS 6 15 8 4 17 7 4 8 903 8 Rodger Ward 8 DNP DNS 19 16 6 3 DNQ 10 3 16 19 862 9 Sam Hanks 2 800 10 Johnny Thomson 32 2 18 9 3 10 14 2 3 16 DNP 710 11 Pat O'Connor 18 11 DNQ 1 17 5 21 DNQ 13 2 15 DNQ 680 12 Eddie Sachs DNQ 21 1 3 4 DNQ 12 DNQ DNQ 650 13 Johnnie Parsons 4 17 11 DNQ DNP DNQ 650 14 Al Keller 14 9 3 DNS 2 4 12 16 5 585 15 Bob Sweikert 6 3 540 16 Dick Rathmann 5 21 15 15 DNQ 25 DNQ DNQ 9 DNQ 540 17 Jack Turner 25 13 11 2 20 17 7 12 DNQ DNQ DNQ 500 18 Ed Elisian 23 DNQ 4 6 18 DNQ 22 13 6 DNQ 7 16 420 19 Gene Hartley 11 8 2 22 11 16 DNQ DNP 6 410 20 Elmer George 18 8 7 19 DNQ 20 6 18 14 5 7 410 21 Andy Linden 27 DNQ 12 13 8 8 23 7 9 8 11 4 400 22 Jud Larson  RY  4 1 DNQ 320 23 Jim Rathmann 20 19 11 4 DNQ 15 3 DNQ 15 300 24 Tony Bettenhausen 22 DNS DNS 8 1 18 14 9 290 25 Johnnie Tolan 21 DNQ 10 DNQ 10 5 205 26 Earl Motter DNQ 17 9 DNQ 9 14 7 13 200 27 Cliff Griffith 10 DNQ 13 150 28 Mike Magill DNQ 5 DNQ 10 130 29 Billy Garrett  R  16 14 13 23 10 12 17 DNQ 8 DNQ DNQ 90 30 Jim McWithey  R  DNQ DNQ 16 15 9 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 11 60 31 Don Branson  R  11 26 10 15 DNQ 50 32 Fred Agabashian 12 50 33 Art Bisch  R  17 10 30 34 Bill Cheesbourg  R  DNQ DNQ 14 16 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 14 10 35 Keith Andrews 26 12 10 36 Dempsey Wilson  R  DNQ DNQ 12 10 37 Bob Carpenter  R  12 10 - Rex Easton 15 13 DNQ 0 - Bob Christie  R  13 0 - Jimmy Daywalt 24 DNQ 15 14 DNQ 0 - Eddie Russo DNS 17 18 14 DNQ 0 - Roy Graham  R  14 DNQ 0 - Eddie Johnson 15 DNQ 0 - Mel McGaughy DNQ 15 0 - Shorty Templeman DNQ 16 19 DNQ 0 - Ken Gottschalk  R  DNQ DNQ 16 DNQ DNP DNQ 0 - Charles Musselman DNQ 16 DNQ 0 - Tommy Hinnershitz DNQ 17 17 0 - Duke Dinsmore 17 DNQ 18 DNP 0 - Van Johnson  R  DNQ DNQ DNP 18 0 - Jimmy Davies DNQ 18 DNQ 0 - Len Sutton DNQ 18 0 - Troy Ruttman 31 20 DNS 0 - Gene Force 20 0 - Danny Kladis 22 0 - Al Herman 28 DNQ DNQ DNS 0 - Ray Crawford 29 DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Paul Russo 33 0 – Chuck Weyant DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Johnny Kay DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Leroy Warriner DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 - Marvin Pifer DNQ DNQ 0 - Bud Randall DNQ DNQ 0 - Jay Abney DNQ 0 - Johnny Baldwin DNQ 0 - Tony Bonadies DNQ 0 - Buddy Cagle DNQ 0 - Len Duncan DNQ 0 - Edgar Elder DNQ 0 - Giuseppe Farina DNQ 0 - Ernie McCoy DNQ 0 - Roy Newman DNQ 0 - Cal Niday DNQ 0 - Dickie Reese DNQ 0 - Gig Stephens DNQ 0 - Marshall Teague DNQ 0 - Dick Fraizer DNQ 0 - Paul Howe DNQ 0 - Chuck Rodee DNQ 0 - Speed McFee DNQ 0 - Roger McCluskey DNQ 0 Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LAN DAR ATL SPR MIL2 DQSF SYR ISF SAC PHX Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

• Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1956". Driver Database. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
• "1956 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
• Harms, Phil. "1956 Championship Driver Summary" (PDF). Motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
• http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (p. 282-283)

• 1956 Indianapolis 500