1956 Indianapolis 500^®                     
Car #19 Rodger Ward 
Order Item# 4503 

Rodger Ward's career at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway began in 1951, when his car broke, and he placed 27^th. Ward persevered, but his Speedway career seemed beset by mechanical misfortunes, and through 1955 he never finished a 500.

For the 1956 Indy 500®, Ward hooked up with car owner Ed Walsh and chief mechanic Harry Stevens to drive the Kurtis Kraft KK500C "Filter Queen Special." Ward qualified the car on the first Saturday of qualifying at 141.171 mph, good for a 15^th place starting spot in the field. From the beginning of the 1956 Indy 500, Ward ran steadily, and by the 150-mile mark he was running in 8^th place, behind Johnny Parsons, Pat Flaherty, Bob Sweikert, Pat O'Connor, Don Freeland, Tony Bettenhausen, Jimmy Bryan, and Dick Rathmann. Through the pit stops, Ward remained in the top ten, and he was still in 8^th as the race reached its halfway mark.
At 400 miles in, Ward hung onto 8^th, but with just twenty laps to go he had edged forward one place to 7^th. Ward finished the race in 8^th place. Pat Flaherty, driving the first Watson Roadster, won the 1956 Indy 500 with a speed of 128.490 mph. Ward was credited with a speed of 124.990, good enough to earn him membership in the famed "100 Mile An Hour Club."

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