The 24th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1936. The race was part of the 1936 AAA Championship Car season. The race is remembered for three noteworthy Indy traditions getting their start.

Louis Meyer became the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. He notably celebrated in victory lane with a bottle of buttermilk, which later started the famous tradition of serving milk in victory lane at Indianapolis.

Lawson Harris served as Meyer's riding mechanic. Harris, who also rode with Meyer in 1933, became the first two-time Indianapolis 500 winning riding mechanic.

The Borg-Warner Trophy debuted for the winner in 1936. Also, pace car driver Tommy Milton suggested that the race winner should be awarded the official pace car as part of his complement of prizes. Louis Meyer was given the keys to the Packard after the race, and it has been a tradition ever since (with only a handful of exceptions).

Time trials

Ten-lap (25 mile) qualifying runs were utilized. Rex Mays won the pole position for the second consecutive year.

Results

Finish	Start	No	Name	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	Qual	Rank	Laps	Led	Status
1	28	8	Louis Meyer  W	Louis Meyer	Stevens	Miller	114.171	18	200	96	Running
2	11	22	Ted Horn	Harry Hartz	Wetteroth	Miller	116.564	8	200	16	Running
3	4	10	Doc MacKenzie	Kelly Petillo	Wetteroth	Offenhauser	116.961	5	200	0	Running
4	30	36	Mauri Rose	Four Wheel Drive Auto Company	Miller	Miller	113.890	21	200	0	Running
5	3	18	Chet Miller	Boyle Motor Products	Summers	Miller	117.675	3	200	0	Running
6	25	41	Ray Pixley  R	Clarence Felker	Miller	Miller	116.703	7	200	0	Running
7	9	3	Wilbur Shaw	W. Wilbur Shaw	Shaw	Offenhauser	117.503	4	200	51	Running
8	14	17	George Barringer	Phil Shafer	Rigling	Offenhauser	112.700	27	200	0	Running
9	32	53	Zeke Meyer	Boyle Motor Products	Cooper	Studebaker	111.476	30	200	0	Running
10	5	38	George Connor	Joe Marks	Adams	Miller	116.269	9	200	0	Running
11	12	35	Freddy Winnai	Midwest Racing Team	Stevens	Offenhauser	116.221	10	199	0	Flagged
12	24	9	Ralph Hepburn	Ralph Hepburn	Miller	Offenhauser	112.673	28	196	0	Flagged
13	27	28	Harry McQuinn	Alden Sampson II	Stevens	Miller	114.118	19	196	0	Out of gas
14	10	7	Shorty Cantlon	William S. White	Weil	Miller	116.912	6	194	0	Out of gas
15	1	33	Rex Mays	Paul Weirick	Adams	Sparks	119.644	1	192	12	Out of gas
16	23	54	Doc Williams  R	Race Car Corporation	Cooper	Miller	112.837	26	192	0	Out of gas
17	29	32	Lou Moore	Lou Moore	Miller	Offenhauser	113.996	20	185	0	Out of gas
18	33	19	Emil Andres  R	J. Stewart Carew	Whippet	Cragar	111.455	31	184	0	Flagged
19	15	4	Floyd Roberts	Joe Lencki	Stevens	Offenhauser	112.403	29	183	0	Out of gas
20	20	14	Frank Brisko	Elgin Piston Ring Company	Miller	Brisko	114.213	17	180	0	Out of gas
21	17	12	Al Miller	Boyle Motor Products	Smith	Miller	116.138	11	119	0	Crash FS
22	7	42	Cliff Bergere	Bowes Seal Fast Corporation	Stevens	Miller	113.377	22	116	0	Engine support
23	26	15	Deacon Litz	A. B. Litz	Miller	Miller	115.997	13	108	0	Crankshaft
24	2	21	Babe Stapp	Gil Pirrung	Shaw	Offenhauser	118.945	2	89	25	Crankshaft
25	19	5	Billy Winn	James W. Winn	Miller	Miller	114.648	16	78	0	Crankshaft
26	22	52	Frank McGurk  R	Charles Worley	Adams	Cragar	113.102	24	51	0	Crankshaft
27	8	27	Louis Tomei	Babe Stapp	Wetteroth	Miller	111.078	33	44	0	Engine support
28	6	44	Herb Ardinger	Bowes Seal Fast Corporation	Stevens	Miller	115.082	15	38	0	Transmission
29	18	6	Chet Gardner	Chester L. Gardner	Duesenberg	Offenhauser	116.000	12	38	0	Clutch
30	16	43	Jimmy Snyder	Murrell Belanger	Stevens	Miller	111.291	32	21	0	Oil leak
31	21	47	Johnny Seymour	William L. Cantlon	Stevens	Miller	113.169	23	13	0	Clutch
32	31	46	Fred Frame  W	Moore & Fengler	Miller	Miller	112.877	25	4	0	Piston
33	13	2	Bill Cummings  W	Boyle Motor Products	Miller	Offenhauser	115.939	14	0	0	Clutch
[3][4]

Alternates

• First alternate: Al Putman  R ^[5]

Failed to Qualify

Race summary

To slow the cars, a fuel limit of 37.5 gallons of gasoline was implemented for the race distance. Engine tuners struggled to make their engines more efficient.

At the start, polesitter Rex Mays led but soon dropped out with a faulty throttle. Wilbur Shaw then took the lead, but lost time with a 17-minute pit stop to re-fasten loose rivets on his engine hood.

Louis Meyer steadily moved up through the field and took the lead by halfway. He pitted for fuel at 350 miles, allowing Ted Horn to take the point. But Meyer caught him, pulled away and became the first 3-time "500" winner. He wasn't sure his fuel would last until the end. He said, "That last lap, I held my breath."^[7]

• For 1936, riding mechanics were required.^[8]
• After numerous fatalities in the 1935 race, additional safety measures were introduced for 1936. All new drivers were required to pass a rookie test prior to qualifying. In addition, the inside wall was removed in several locations, the outside walls were angled inward to keep cars from going over them, and several portions of the track were paved over in asphalt. In a sharp contrast to previous years, the 1936 race saw zero fatalities amongst the competitors and/or spectators. It marked the only year from the span of 1929-1940 (the Depression Era) in which no fatalities occurred at the Speedway.
• Bill Cummings car failed to pull away from the grid due to clutch and transmission failure. He became the first driver in Indy history to line up for the grid, but fail to pull away and start the race.