1996 Las Vegas 500K

1996 Las Vegas

Race details
2nd round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League season
Date	September 15, 1996
Official name	Las Vegas 500K
Location	Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi / 2.414 km
Distance	200 laps 300.000 mi / 482.803 km
Weather	Dry with temperatures reaching up to 90 °F (32 °C); maximum wind speeds of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) reported throughout the day[1]
Pole position
Driver	Arie Luyendyk (Treadway Racing)
Time	23.842
Fastest lap
Driver	Richie Hearn (Della Penna Motorsports)
Time	24.636 (on lap 53 of 200)
Podium
First	Richie Hearn (Della Penna Motorsports)
Second	Michel Jourdain Jr. (Team Scandia)
Third	Mike Groff (Byrd–Cunningham Racing)

The 1996 Las Vegas 500K was the second round of the 1996-1997 Indy Racing League. The race was held on September 15, 1996, and was the inaugural event for the 1.500 mi (2.414 km) Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Clark County, Nevada.^[2] It was the fifth and last race for the IRL in the year 1996, and, thus, the last race contested under the frozen 1995 IndyCar regulations, before the arrival of a new chassis and engine formula for 1997. Richie Hearn was the winner of the race, which was defined by its multiple crashes and high attrition, with nine lengthy cautions, 83 laps under yellow, a red flag and four drivers being extricated from their cars.^[3]

At 300 miles in length, it tied the existing record for non-500 mile Indy Car oval races, alongside the Trenton 300 (1969 - 1972) and the 1966 Atlanta 300. The race was completed at an average speed of just 115.171 mph, the slowest average for an Indy car superspeedway race since the 1946 Indianapolis 500, completed at an average of 114.820 mph in a time where qualifying speeds were 100 mph slower. It would also be the slowest race held at the Las Vegas oval by a major racing series until the 2018 edition of the NASCAR Cup Series race.