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.

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.

Less than a month after the season opener at New Hampshire, the Indy Racing League was set to cut the ribbon of the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway, even though some amenities and facilities within the track were still under construction.

In the meantime, Michel Jourdain Jr. raced in the last two Indy Car events of the year at Vancouver and Laguna Seca, sharing the grid in the latter with Richie Hearn.

Tony Stewart took part in all three of the NASCAR Busch Series held between the IRL events, and John Paul Jr. had successful outings in IMSA GT, with a win at Mosport and a third place in a street course at Dallas.

[6] One week before the race, Della Penna Motorsports announced it would leave the IRL in 1997 to complete its expected full-time move to the IndyCar World Series, with Richie Hearn as a driver.

[8] Scandia also entered another car, to be run as a second entry by the Arizona Motorsports crew, for Brazilian rookie Affonso Giaffone, who had finished third in the 1995 Indy Lights season.

[9] Like Carbonell and Steele, Giaffone was required to pass the USAC rookie test, along with Stan Wattles, who had not run in a superspeedway-type event during a race weekend.

He had been allowed to qualify despite topping at 202 mph, but his Lola T92 was too damaged and ABF Motorsports lacked a back-up car, which forced them to withdraw from the event.

[15] Among the newcomers, Affonso Giaffone qualified in 23rd place and Juan Carlos Carbonell was last with a very slow lap of 181.208 mph, six seconds off Luyendyk's time.

During a Shelby Pro Series support race, held before the last IRL practice session, a 49-year-old retired Las Vegas police officer named R.C.

"Rod" Mathis suffered multiple injuries in a crash at Turn 4, at 3:20 p.m.[14] He was airlifted to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m., becoming the first fatality at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Electrical issues left Davey Hamilton immediately out of contention, and John Paul Jr. took advantage of some drivers checking up, jumping from 12th to 6th.

[18][19] During the caution, John Paul Jr. took a pit stop from third, and Tony Stewart did so a few laps later as a precautionary measure, removing a punctured tire in the process.

Richie Hearn gained positions over Groff and Scott Sharp, and battled with Luyendyk for fifth place after the race went back to green, both closing on Gordon and Dismore afterwards.

There were six cars on the lead lap, among them Michele Alboreto in third after passing Jourdain and Sharp in the pit stops, and Johnny O'Connell in sixth place.

[18] The order at the top remained unchanged in the subsequent pit stops, but Gordon regained the lead over Hearn at the restart on Lap 161, just before a brief caution period for debris.

Gordon remained within 1.5 seconds of Hearn when, ten laps later, he suffered the fourth wheel bearing failure of the day and retired from the race.

With just two cars on the lead lap, only Michel Jourdain Jr. was in position to fight for the win, but Richie Hearn had a great restart and maintained a small gap until the end.

Coincidentally, both drivers had competed in selected CART races that season, having partaken in the IRL as a stepping stone for a full-time switch in 1997.

Paul Page was the play-by-play announcer along former IndyCar champions Danny Sullivan and Bobby Unser in his final race as a regular TV analist for ABC.

Only a handful of moments of the remaining laps were shown on late-night news for viewers of East Coast broadcasts, including the aftermath of Johnny O'Connell's crash.