There had been big changes at The Brickyard since the disastrous 1955 race with the whole track having been resurfaced. Qualifying was disrupted by torrential rain and flooding which meant that Giuseppe Farina, who had turned up to race a Ferrari, was unable to record a lap having missed the early qualifying days. Pat Flaherty was on the pole but at the start it was Jim Rathmann who led the way. The race was disrupted by several serious accidents but Flaherty avoided them all to win in his John Zink Special.