The 1936 Benalla Centenary Race was a motor race staged at the Benalla Circuit at Benalla in Victoria, Australia on Easter Monday, 13 April 1936.[1] The 100-mile race, which was organised by the Victorian Sporting Car Club, was open to cars of 'all powers'.[2] It was contested on a handicap basis with the 'Limit Man', J O’Dea (MG), given a 20-minute start on the 'Scratch Man', Jack Day (Day Special").[3] The race, which was organised to celebrate the centenary of the town of Benalla,[4] was claimed to be the first road race to be contested on the Victorian mainland.[5]
B Dentry (Riley Special), was flagged in as the winner of the race but rechecks after protests had been lodged saw the victory awarded to Les Murphy (MG P-type).[2] Further checks conducted overnight resulted in Vin Maloney (MG Magna) being declared the winner from Dentry and Murphy.[6]
| Position | Driver[7] | No. | Car | Entrant | Race time | Laps | |
| 1 | Vin Maloney | MG Magna | 1:47:27 | 40 | |||
| 2 | B Dentry | Riley Special | 1:44:11 | 40 | |||
| 3 | Les Murphy | MG P-type | W Brown | 1:53:24 | 40 | ||
| 4 | Bob Lea-Wright | Terraplane | 1:39:14 | 40 | |||
| 5 | J O'Dea | MG | |||||
| ? | G Martin | MG Magna | |||||
| ? | L Allen | Singer | |||||
| ? | W Hope | Singer | |||||
| ? | M Wreford | Riley Imp | |||||
| ? | C Keefer | Riley Imp | |||||
| ? | L Jackson | Riley Imp | |||||
| ? | B Tinckham | Bugatti | |||||
| ? | Harry Beith | Terraplane | |||||
| ? | K Latty | Ford V8 | |||||
| ? | J Phillips | Ford V8 | |||||
| DNF | A Roseborough | Chrysler | |||||
| DNF | Jack Day | Day Special | 22 | ||||
| DNF | H Reeve | MG Magna | 18 |