The 14th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 31, 1926. Louis Chevrolet drove the Chrysler pace car for the start.^[3]

Rain halted the race at lap 72, and officials waited for the track to dry out. The race was resumed over an hour later. Rain fell again, and the race was called at the 400 mile mark (160 laps).

Rookie Frank Lockhart moved up from 20th to fifth by lap 5, having had passed 14 cars on that lap alone.^[4] He moved up to second on Lap 16.^[4] After the rain delay, Lockhart and Dave Lewis battled for the lead for about 20 laps, until Lewis dropped out.^[4] After Lewis retired with a broken valve, Harry Hartz closed on Lockhart and briefly took the lead at about 250 miles as the crowd roared. But soon afterward Hartz was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. ^[5] Lockhart then stretched out a two-lap lead when the race was called, and he was declared the winner. It was the first rain-shortened race in "500" history, and Lockhart was the fourth rookie to win the race. Lockhart may have actually completed as many as 163 laps (407.5 miles), but official scoring results reverted to the completion of lap 160.

Four-lap (10 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Earl Cooper won the pole position. Frank Lockhart set a new 1-lap track record during his first attempt at 115.488 mph, but the run was aborted after a tire failure on the second lap. He later blew an engine during another attempt, and finally put a car in the field 20th on the grid.^[6]

More information Finish, Start ...

Finish	Start	No	Name	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Qual	Rank	Laps	Status
1	20	15	Frank Lockhart  R	Pete Kreis	Miller	Miller	95.780	19	160	Running
2	2	3	Harry Hartz	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	109.542	2	158	Flagged
3	14	36	Cliff Woodbury  R	Cliff R. Woodbury	Miller	Miller	105.109	10	158	Flagged
4	13	8	Fred Comer	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	100.612	16	155	Flagged
5	27	12	Peter DePaolo  W	Duesenberg Brothers	Duesenberg	Duesenberg	96.709	18	153	Flagged
6	8	6	Frank Elliott	Frank Elliott	Miller	Miller	105.873	8	152	Flagged
7	16	14	Norman Batten  R	Norman Batten	Miller	Miller	101.428	15	151	Flagged
8	15	19	Ralph Hepburn	Ralph Hepburn	Miller	Miller	102.517	14	151	Flagged
9	28	18	John Duff  R	Al Cotey	Miller	Miller	95.549	20	147	Flagged
10	5	4	Phil Shafer	Phil Shafer	Miller	Miller	106.647	5	146	Flagged
11	12	31	Tony Gulotta  R	Harry Hartz	Miller	Miller	102.789	13	142	Flagged
12	7	16	Bennett Hill	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	105.876	7	136	Flagged
13	21	33	Thane Houser  R	George G. Abell	Miller	Miller	93.672	22	102	Flagged
14	17	27	Douglas Hawkes	E. A. D. Eldridge	Eldridge	Anzani	94.977	21	91	Camshaft
15	4	1	Dave Lewis	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	107.009	4	91	Valve
16	1	5	Earl Cooper	Harry A. Miller	Miller	Miller	111.735	1	73	Transmission
17	11	9	Cliff Durant	R. Cliff Durant	Fengler	Locomobile	104.855	12	60	Fuel tank leak
18	18	29	Ben Jones  R	Duesenberg Brothers	Duesenberg	Duesenberg	92.142	24	54	Crash
19	23	26	Ernest Eldridge  R	E. A. D. Eldridge	Eldridge	Anzani	89.777	25	45	Tie rod
20	24	23	L. L. Corum  W	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	88.849	26	44	Shock absorbers
21	22	24	Steve Nemesh  R	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	92.937	23	41	Transmission
22	6	7	Jules Ellingboe	F. P. Cramer	Miller	Miller	106.376	6	39	Supercharger
23	3	10	Leon Duray	R. Cliff Durant	Fengler	Locomobile	109.186	3	33	Broken axle
24	26	17	Fred Lecklider  R	Earl Devore	Miller	Miller	100.398	17	24	Rod
25	25	28	Jack McCarver  R	Chevrolet Brothers	Ford T	Fronty-Ford	86.418	28	23	Rod
26	9	34	Bon MacDougall  R	R. G. McDougall	Miller	Miller	105.180	9	19	Valve
27	10	22	W. E. Shattuc	Dr. W. E. Shattuc, M.D.	Miller	Miller	104.977	11	15	Valve
28	19	39	Albert Guyot	Albert Schmidt	Schmidt	Argyll	88.580	27	8	Piston
[7][8]

Close

 W  Former Indianapolis 500 winner

 R  Indianapolis 500 Rookie

• For 1926, riding mechanics were optional,^[9] however, no teams utilized them.
• First alternate: none^[10]
• This would be the first Indy 500 where a driver from the inaugural Indy 500 did not compete.