1916 Indianapolis 500

6th Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	AAA
Date	May 30, 1916
Winner	Dario Resta
Winning Entrant	Peugeot
Average speed	84.001 mph (135.187 km/h)
Pole position	Johnny Aitken
Pole speed	96.69 mph (155.61 km/h)
Most laps led	Dario Resta (103)
Pre-race
Pace car	Premier 6 (Model 6-56)
Pace car driver	Frank E. Smith
Starter	George M. Dickson[1]
Honorary referee	Howard Carpenter Marmon[1]
Estimated attendance	83,000[2]
Chronology
Previous Next 1915 1919

The 6th International 300-Mile Sweepstakes Race was the sixth running of the Indianapolis 500. It was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 30, 1916. The management scheduled the race for 120 laps, 300 miles (480 km), the only Indianapolis 500 scheduled for less than 500 miles (800 km).

Although the common belief is that the race distance was changed due to the onset of World War I, it was in fact Speedway management that changed the distance in order to make the race shorter and more appealing to fans. Despite the one-time altered distance, the race is still considered part of the continuous lineage of the Memorial Day classic, known as the Indianapolis 500.^[3] In addition to the altered distance, the start time was moved from 10:00 a.m. to the early afternoon (1:30 p.m.)^[4]

Eddie Rickenbacker took the lead at the start, and led the first nine laps until dropping out with steering problems. Dario Resta led 103 of the 120 laps, and claimed the victory. Resta was accompanied by riding mechanic Bob Dahnke.

Seven of the cars were entered by the Speedway or its owners, in order to ensure a strong field during the war. None of them finished in the top five. Despite the promoter's entries, the field consisted of only 21 cars, the smallest in Indy history.