The 80th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 26, 1996. This was the first Indy 500 contested as part of the new Indy Racing League, under the overall sanctioning umbrella of USAC. It was the third and final race of the 1996 IRL season. Veteran driver and 1988 AIS champion Buddy Lazier won the race, his first career victory in top-level Indy car competition. It came just over two months after Lazier suffered a broken back in a crash at Phoenix. Lazier's victory marks the last (as of 2026) Indy victory for Ford, and the second of two all-time victories for Reynard. It was also the first victory for Firestone tires since 1971.
The race was surrounded by months of controversy, and was a key component of "the Split", the name given in racing circles to the twelve-year organizational dispute in American open-wheel racing between the upstart Indy Racing League (IRL) and the established Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). The debate centered around the 25/8 Rule, which reserved 25 spots in the 33-car starting grid for the top 25 drivers/entries in IRL points during the previous races. In addition, 1996 model-year chassis and engines were not approved for competition. Citing a perceived lockout, almost all of the CART teams chose to boycott the event, including Penske, Ganassi, Newman/Haas, Rahal, and many others. As a further protest, CART scheduled a competing race the same day, the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway.
Most of the top teams and drivers in Indy car racing sided with CART. However, participants in the 1996 Indy 500 included several familiar teams and owners such as A.J. Foyt, Dick Simon, Hemelgarn, and Menard, along with many new teams, some of which moved up from Indy Lights, AIS, or sports cars. More than half of the drivers entered were rookies, some from an obscure range of racing backgrounds, giving the impression of a field of replacement drivers. There was only one former Indy 500 winner in the field (Arie Luyendyk), and three former pole position winners entered. In addition, there were no former national champions in the field for the first time since 1928.
During practice, the month activity was marred by the death of pole position winner Scott Brayton, who was killed on May 17, while testing a back-up car. The month was plagued by rain, as May 1996 was the fifth-wettest month of May at Indianapolis on record, and the fourth-wettest month of May in Indy 500 history. Off the track, this would also be the final "500" in which Mary F. Hulman delivered the starting command. The widow of Tony Hulman, and chairman of the board emeritus of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hulman died April 10, 1998.
This was the final year of the turbocharged engine formula that had dominated the race since the late-1960s. The IRL/IndyCar would switch to normally-aspirated engines for 1997–2011. The track had been newly repaved, and all-time track record speeds were set during practice and time trials. Arie Luyendyk set the official one-lap track record (237.498 mph), the four-lap track record (236.986 mph), and the fastest practice lap in Indy history (239.260 mph) just a fraction of a second shy of breaking the 240 mph barrier, while Eddie Cheever ran the fastest race lap (236.103 mph) in Indy 500 history – records that all still stand as of 2025.
The field was filled to the traditional 33 cars, but only one car was bumped (then-unknown Billy Boat). A total of 17 rookies qualified for the race, a post-WWII record, led by reigning USAC Silver Crown, Sprint and Midget champion Tony Stewart, the future IRL and NASCAR champion. Stewart qualified for the front row, was elevated to the on pole position due to Brayton's death, and took home rookie of the year honors. While comprising half the field, only two rookies managed to finish in the top ten.
Media attention of the open wheel "split" was highly critical going into the race, as a number of the IRL participants were ridiculed and the prestige of the Indianapolis 500 itself was brought into question. The "split" embittered a significant portion of the fanbase, and journalist Robin Miller of The Indianapolis Star was among the most outspoken of critics. However, the race itself was found to be competitive and entertaining, while the rival U.S. 500 suffered a multi-car pile-up prior to the green flag.
Background
IRL/CART split See also 1996 Indy Racing League season
The IRL/CART "Split" stemmed from earlier issues of USAC and CART sanctioning of Indy car racing since the 1970s. The first USAC/CART "split" in 1979 had already caused major controversy in the sport. Unsatisfied with the way USAC was running and promoting the sport, a group of owners broke off and formed Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), a new sanctioning body to run Indy car racing. As retribution, USAC rejected the entries for six key CART teams into the 1979 Indianapolis 500. A court injunction was filed to allow the teams to compete, and though under layers of controversy, the race was run without further major disruption. Two separate championship seasons were contested in 1979, one by USAC and one by CART. Though the Indy 500 was sanctioned by USAC, it paid points towards the CART championship.
A short-lived truce came about in 1980 under the Championship Racing League (CRL) banner, which ended acrimoniously halfway through the season. USAC unsuccessfully tried to revive their own championship, and therefore the Indianapolis 500 did not pay points towards the CART title in either 1981 or 1982. By that point, the "500" was the lone paved championship race sanctioned by USAC. Nevertheless, CART entrants comprised the majority, while other part-time or "Indy only" entries competed mostly on a one-off basis.
An arrangement was put in place to recognize the Indianapolis 500 on the CART schedule starting in 1983, with USAC remaining as the sanctioning body for the event singly. The Indy 500 would be contested by the CART-based teams, along with numerous part-time and "Indy only" entries. Stability returned, and the sport settled into a relative harmony through 1995. Rules between the two sanctioning bodies were largely similar, and for the most part, the same chassis and engines were used by both, with only minor technical differences.
In the early 1990s, newly named Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George began exploring options of changes in the sport of Indy cars. Sharply rising costs, the lack of many ovals on the schedule, and the dwindling number of American participants were among his stated concerns. As early as May 1991, George announced intentions to change the engine formula to normally aspirated powerplants (very similar to the engines used in Formula One and Group C at the time), a proposal that never got past the planning stages. George joined the CART board of directors in 1992 as a non-voting member, but resigned in 1994 due to disagreements with the direction of the series and a lack of influence in prospective changes.
In the summer of 1994, George announced that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would create its own series, the Indy Racing League, with the Indianapolis 500 as its centerpiece. George blueprinted the new series as a lower-cost alternative to CART, with an emphasis on attracting American grassroots drivers, an all-oval schedule, and new cars from 1997 with normally-aspirated, "production-based" engines, targeting a reduction in performance. As a result, the Indy 500 would no longer be recognized on the CART calendar, and machines used in the CART series would no longer be allowed at the Speedway starting in 1997. Furthermore, due to a planned "rules freeze", CART's 1996 model year chassis and engines were excluded as well.
Almost immediately, a turbulent political controversy erupted, with participants, media, fans, manufacturers, and sponsors all apprehensive of the sport's direction and pending shakeup. The prevailing opinion around the CART paddock was largely negative regarding the formation of the IRL. The 1995 season and 1995 Indy 500 were held as normal, but under a growing cloud of uncertainty about the future of the sport. During the summer of 1995, and into the offseason, the two factions of CART and the IRL were unable to reconcile on much of anything, and the "split" began to take shape. The biggest salvo was made on July 3, 1995, when IRL officials announced that the top 25 drivers in IRL points would be guaranteed starting positions in the 1996 Indy 500 (see 25/8 Rule and locked-in entries).
Boycott by CART teams Throughout much of the summer and fall of 1995, CART teams were generally ambivalent regarding the formation of the IRL and expressed no interest in participating in any IRL race other than Indianapolis. CART announced their 1996 schedule on June 10, 1995, which initially featured no races in May and an open date on Memorial Day weekend. The IRL put together five races for 1996, with the Indianapolis 500, former CART series venues Phoenix and Loudon, along with two new races at Walt Disney World and Las Vegas. The plan was to have split-calendar seasons, such that the season would end at the Indy 500. The 1996 season would consist of three races: WDW, Phoenix, and Indy. Loudon and Las Vegas would be part of the 1996–97 season
While no direct conflicts with the three-race 1996 IRL schedule were created, CART scheduled international races at Rio and Australia the weekend before and the weekend after the IRL race at Phoenix, respectively. With lengthy and logistically complicated international trips bookending Phoenix, there would be no realistic way for the CART teams to participate in that event. Since they were not planning to enter any other IRL events, the CART-based teams would be "Indy 500 only" entries, and not be eligible for guaranteed spots as part of the 25/8 rule.
In November 1995, Penske Racing (who failed to qualify at the 1995 race), and other CART teams participated in a private tire test at Indy. Meanwhile, rumors began circulating of a planned boycott, and a possible competing event. When invitations were sent out by the IRL management, all CART teams were included in the distribution.
On December 18, 1995 CART teams, convinced they were being deliberately locked out from the 1996 Indy 500, and the victims of a "power grab" by Tony George, announced their intentions to boycott the event. They jointly announced plans for a new race, the Inaugural U.S. 500, to be held at Michigan International Speedway the same day.
The official reaction from IMS/IRL was one of disappointment and dismay, suggesting that CART was preparing to do considerable damage to Indy car racing. CART participants were convinced of the opposite. The only CART teams that entered were Galles and Walker, but neither fielded their regular full-time CART drivers. Galles entered an Ilmor Mercedes-Benz 265-D (the only Mercedes entered) in a one-off entry for its test driver Davy Jones, while Walker fielded a car for Mike Groff, who raced with the team in Nazareth a week before practice began as a warm-up event. Out of the 33 starters from the previous edition, only 11 drivers re-entered the event, with Eliseo Salazar (4th) and Arie Luyendyk (7th) being the only top 10 finishers from 1995.