On September 15, 1956, the Hoosier Hundred was held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds as the tenth race of the 12-race 1956 USAC Championship Car season, with an 18-car field contesting 100 laps on the one-mile dirt track.
Jud Larson captured the pole with a record qualifying time of 37.4 seconds in the #8 John Zink Watson/Offy. Jimmy Bryan, starting tenth in the #2 Dean Van Lines Kuzma/Offy, scored the victory by less than one car length over Pat O’Connor. Rodger Ward finished third, followed by Jud Larson and Al Keller. Bryan collected $6,296 (from a total purse of about $30,100) for the win—his third consecutive Hoosier Hundred victory—and led the final 29 laps. He averaged 80.727 mph in a race delayed more than an hour by muddy track conditions after an early-morning rain and slowed by multiple spins and accidents in the southeast turn.
