Results of the 1996 Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis on Sunday, May 26, 1996. This was the first Indianapolis 500 run under the Indy Racing League, but still under USAC sanction. The majority of teams and drivers present in 1995 chose to boycott the race following the creation of Tony George's Indy Racing League. Instead, the boycotting teams staged a competing race, the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on the same day as the Indy 500, touting the "Stars and Cars" fans would be more familiar with.

Recap

In the first Indianapolis 500 held under IRL sanctions (though technically remaining under the sanction of USAC), Davy Jones grabbed the lead from teammate Alessandro Zampedri on lap 190. Buddy Lazier moved in turn past Jones on the main straight on lap 193, and won as a multiple shunt in the last turn wiped out Zampedri, leaving him with severe leg and foot injuries. Scott Brayton was the original pole winner for this race, but was killed in a practice accident the next Friday after, leaving teammate Tony Stewart, who had qualified second, to line up as the new pole-sitter race day morning. Mary Fendrich Hulman delivered the command to start engines for the final time.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Qual	Rank	C	E	T	Laps	Led	Status	Entrant
1	5	91	Buddy Lazier	231.468	7	R	F	F	200	43	Running	Hemelgarn Racing
2	2	70	Davy Jones	232.882	4	L	MB	G	200	46	Running	Galles Racing
3	15	4	Richie Hearn (R)	226.520	20	R	F	G	200	0	Running	Della-Penna Motorsports
4	7	8	Alessandro Zampedri	229.595	10	L	F	G	199	20	Accident T4	Team Scandia
5	6	21	Roberto Guerrero	231.373	8	R	F	G	198	47	Accident T4	Pagan Racing
6	3	7	Eliseo Salazar	232.684	5	L	F	G	197	0	Accident T4	Team Scandia
7	33	32	Danny Ongais	233.718	2	L	M	F	197	0	Running	Team Menard
8	30	52	Hideshi Matsuda	226.856	19	L	F	F	197	0	Running	Beck Motorsports
9	23	54	Robbie Buhl (R)	226.217	21	L	F	F	197	0	Running	Beck Motorsports
10	21	11	Scott Sharp	231.201	9	L	F	G	194	0	Accident	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
11	4	3	Eddie Cheever	231.781	6	L	M	F	189	0	Running	Team Menard
12	10	14	Davey Hamilton (R)	228.887	13	L	F	G	181	0	Running	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
13	8	22	Michel Jourdain, Jr. (R)	229.380	11	L	F	G	177	0	Running	Team Scandia
14	18	45	Lyn St. James	224.594	26	L	F	F	153	0	Accident T1	Zunne Group
15	32	44	Scott Harrington (R)	222.185	33	R	F	G	150	0	Accident T1	Harrington Motorsports
16	20	5	Arie Luyendyk (W)	236.985	1	R	F	F	149	0	Prev. Accident	Jonathan Byrd/Teadway Racing
17	9	12	Buzz Calkins (R)	229.014	12	R	F	F	148	0	Rear Brakes	Bradley Motorsports
18	19	27	Jim Guthrie (R)	222.394	31	L	M	F	144	0	Engine	Team Blueprint Racing
19	14	30	Mark Dismore (R)	227.260	18	L	M	F	129	0	Engine	Team Menard
20	11	60	Mike Groff	228.703	15	R	F	G	122	0	Fire	Walker Racing
21	28	34	Fermín Velez (R)	222.487	30	L	F	G	107	0	Engine Fire	Team Scandia
22	31	43	Joe Gosek (R)	222.793	29	L	F	G	106	0	Radiator	Team Scandia
23	26	10	Brad Murphey (R)	226.053	23	R	F	F	91	0	Suspension	Hemelgarn Racing
24	1	20	Tony Stewart (R)	233.100	3	L	M	F	82	44	Engine	Team Menard
25	25	90	Racin Gardner (R)	224.453	27	L	F	G	76	0	Suspension	Team Scandia
26	22	41	Marco Greco	228.841	14	L	F	G	64	0	Engine	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
27	13	9	Stéphane Grégoire	227.556	17	R	F	F	59	0	Coil Pack Fire	Hemelgarn Racing
28	27	16	Johnny Parsons	223.843	28	L	M	F	48	0	Radiator	Team Menard
29	29	75	Johnny O'Connell (R)	222.361	32	R	F	F	47	0	Fuel Pickup	Cunningham Racing
30	12	33	Michele Alboreto (R)	228.230	16	L	F	G	43	0	Gear Box	Team Scandia
31	17	18	John Paul, Jr.	224.757	25	L	M	G	10	0	Ignition	PDM Racing
32	24	96	Paul Durant (R)	225.404	24	L	B	G	9	0	Engine	ABF Motorsports
33	16	64	Johnny Unser (R)	226.115	22	R	F	G	0	0	Transmission	Project Indy

(R)-Rookie, (W)-Winner

*C Chassis: L=Lola, Reynard

*E Engine: B=Buick, F=Cosworth-Ford, M=Menard (Buick), MB=Ilmor Mercedes-Benz

*T Tire: F=Firestone, G=Goodyear

Failed to qualify:

Justin Bell (R)

Driver	#	C	E	T	Entrant
15	L	B	G	Tempero-Giuffre Racing
Billy Boat (R)	84	L	F	G	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
	87	L	B	G	Pagan Racing
	99	R	F	G	Pagan Racing
Butch Brickell (R)	77	L	M	G	Brickell Racing Group
Tyce Carlson (R)	36	L	B	G	Loop Hole Racing
	77	L	M	G	Brickell Racing Group
Dan Drinan (R)	36	L	B	G	Loop Hole Racing
Dave Kudrave (R)	15	L	B	G	Tempero-Giuffre Racing
Andy Michner (R)	36	L	B	G	Loop Hole Racing
Randy Tolsma (R)	24	L	F	G	McCormack Motorsports
	45	L	F	F	Zunne' Group
Rob Wilson (R)	46	L	F	G	Project Indy

Notes

Scott Brayton had qualified on pole, but was killed on a practice lap on May 17, 1996. Danny Ongais took over Brayton's car; in accordance with USAC rules Ongais had to start at the rear of the field.

Arie Luyendyk, Sr. was the fastest qualifier for the race, but he did not start on the pole. His first day qualifying run was thrown out for a technical violation, Luyendyk set one and four-lap Indy qualifying records on the second day of qualifications. He was running well until an incident with Chilean Eliseo Salazar on the pit warm-up lane.