Indianapolis remained part of the World Championship and in 1952 Ferrari decided to send over Alberto Ascari to take part in the American classic. The Ferrari was not very competitive and Ascari qualified 19th, lapping at 134mph. Fastest qualifier was Fred Agabashian at 138mph. At the start, however, Jack McGrath took the lead but after just a handful of laps Bill Vukovich had moved to the front in his Fuel Injection Special. By one-third distance Vukovich was half a minute ahead and he remained the dominant player until the 191st lap when his steering failed and he crashed heavily into the wall, luckily avoiding injury. This gave victory to Troy Ruttman in his Agajanian Special who had been 20secs behind when Vukovich crashed.

Ascari climbed up to eighth before retiring with a wheel failure after 40 laps.