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.

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.

Schedule and results

Rnd Date Race name Track Location Type Pole position Winning driver 1 May 30 International 500 Mile Sweepstakes 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'ConnorNC July 4 Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Pikes Peak Highway Pikes Peak, Colorado Hill Slim Roberts Bobby Unser 5 July 14 Atlanta 100 Lakewood Speedway Atlanta, Georgia Dirt Bob Veith Eddie SachsNC July 22 Indianapolis Sweepstakes Williams Grove Speedway Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Dirt Ed Elisian Jimmy BryanNC 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 Syracuse Mile 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

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

Final points standings

Pos Driver INDY MIL1 LHS DAR LAK SPR MIL2 DQSF SYR ISF CSF ASF 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 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 16 14 13 23 10 12 17 DNQ 8 DNQ DNQ 90 30 Jim McWithey DNQ DNQ 16 15 9 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 11 60 31 Don Branson 11 26 10 15 DNQ 50 32 Fred Agabashian 12 50 33 Art Bisch 17 10 30 34 Bill Cheesbourg DNQ DNQ 14 16 DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 14 10 35 Keith Andrews 26 12 10 36 Dempsey Wilson DNQ DNQ 12 10 37 Bob Carpenter 12 10 - Rex Easton 15 13 DNQ 0 - Bob Christie 13 0 - Jimmy Daywalt 24 DNQ 15 14 DNQ 0 - Eddie Russo DNS 17 18 14 DNQ 0 - Roy Graham 14 DNQ 0 - Eddie Johnson 15 DNQ 0 - Mel McGaughy DNQ 15 0 - Shorty Templeman DNQ 16 19 DNQ 0 - Ken Gottschalk 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 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 LHS DAR LAK SPR MIL2 DQSF SYR ISF CSF ASF 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competing In-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

References

General references

http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 282-283)

See also 1956 Indianapolis 500