Sports season
The1997 CART PPG World Series season was the nineteenth in theChampionship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era ofAmerican open-wheel car racing . It consisted of 17 races, beginning inHomestead, Florida on March 2 and concluding inFontana, California on September 28. ThePPG CART World Series Drivers' Champion wasAlex Zanardi . Rookie of the Year wasPatrick Carpentier .Mercedes-Benz won their first and only CART engine-manufacturer's title.
After a settlement with theIndianapolis Motor Speedway , CART relinquished its license of the "IndyCar" trademark for 1997 and beyond. As a result, the series was renamed for the first time since 1980. TheCART term, which had been mostly eschewed since 1992, was brought back and embraced, a new logo was unveiled, and participants were encouraged to refer to the machines of the CART series as "Champ Cars ". The revival of the historic term (and curtailing the use of the mostly generic term "Indy cars") helped to differentiate the machines from those of the rivalIndy Racing League , and was part of a concerted and necessary effort to distance the series from theIndianapolis 500 , to which it no longer had any link.[ 1] 1983 not to featureEmerson Fittipaldi .
Drivers and constructors [ edit ] The followingteams anddrivers competed in the 1997CART World Series season.
Team Chassis Engine Tires No Drivers Rounds Primary Sponsors Target Chip Ganassi Reynard 97iHonda HRRF 1 Jimmy Vasser All Target 4 Alex Zanardi 1–16 Arie Luyendyk 17 Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-26 -97Ilmor -Mercedes G 2 Al Unser Jr. All Marlboro 3 Paul Tracy All Walker Racing Reynard 97i Honda HRR G 5 Gil de Ferran All Valvoline Newman-Haas Racing Swift 007.i Ford XD G 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco -Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi 1–2, 9–17 Budweiser Roberto Moreno 3–8 Team Rahal Reynard 97i Ford XD G 7 Bobby Rahal All Miller Lite 8 Bryan Herta All Shell Hogan Racing Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D F 9 Dario Franchitti (R)1–16 Hogan Racing Robby Gordon 17 Bettenhausen Racing Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D G 16 Patrick Carpentier (R)1–14, 17 Alumax Roberto Moreno 15–16 PacWest Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D F 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 18 Mark Blundell All Motorola Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD G 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. 11, 14, 16 Herdez Lola T97/00 1–10, 12–13, 15, 17 34 Roberto Moreno 1 Data Control Paul Jasper (R)2–7 Hype Christian Danner 8–9 Payton/Coyne Racing Charlie Nearburg (R)10, 13 Nearburg Exploration Dennis Vitolo 11–12 Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 97i Charlie Nearburg (R)14, 16 Nearburg Exploration Christian Danner 15 Payton/Coyne Racing Dennis Vitolo 17 SmithKline Beecham Patrick Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD F 20 Scott Pruett All Brahma 40 Raul Boesel All Della Penna Motorsports Lola T97/00 Ford XD G 21 Richie Hearn 1–16 Ralphs Swift 007.i 17 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 97i Toyota RV8BF 24 Hiro Matsushita All Panasonic 25 Max Papis All MCI Worldcom Team KOOL Green Reynard 97i Honda HRR F 27 Parker Johnstone All KOOL Tasman Motorsports Reynard 97i Honda HRR F 31 André Ribeiro 10–17 LCI Communications Lola T97/001–9 32 Adrian Fernández All Tecate All American Racing Reynard 96i Toyota RV8B G 36 Juan Manuel Fangio II All Castrol 98 P. J. Jones All Project Indy Lola T97/00 Ford XD G 64 Dennis Vitolo 1, 3–4, 15–16 SmithKline Beecham Arnd Meier (R)2, 5–6, 8–14, 17 Hasseröder Reynard 97i Ford XD G 77 Gualter Salles (R)All Davis Racing2 15 Forsythe Racing Reynard 96i Mercedes IC108D F 99 Greg Moore All Player's
Icon Legend O Oval/Speedway R Road course S Street circuit
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location TV Broadcaster 1 March 2 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami O Homestead Motorsports Complex Homestead, Florida ABC 2 April 6 Sunbelt IndyCarnival S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise ,Australia ABC 3 April 13 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach S Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California ABC 4 April 27 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix O Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania ABC 5 May 11 Hollywood Rio 400K O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro ,Brazil ABC 6 May 24 Motorola 300 O Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois ABC 7 June 1 Miller 200 O Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin ESPN 8 June 8 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit ,Michigan ABC 9 June 22 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 R Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon ESPN 10 July 13 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio ABC 11 July 20 Molson Indy Toronto S Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario ABC 12 July 27 U.S. 500 O Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan ABC 13 August 10 Miller 200 R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio ABC 14 August 17 Texaco/Havoline 200 R Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin ESPN 15 August 31 Molson Indy Vancouver S Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia ESPN 16 September 7 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey R Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California ESPN 17 September 28 Marlboro 500 O California Speedway Fontana, California ESPN
* The Australian Indy Grand Prix was supposed to run 182 miles, but was shortened due to time constraints.
Final driver standings [ edit ] Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th place Dark Blue Finished Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify Brown Withdrawn Black Disqualified White Did not start Blank Did not Not competing
In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps RY Rookie of the Year R Rookie
Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. Åberg, Andreas."CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 1997 (sic)" . Driver Database.Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. RetrievedMay 19, 2009 . "1997 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series (sic)" . Champ Car Stats.Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. RetrievedMay 19, 2009 ."PPG Helps Penske Racing Go "Green" with ENVIROBASE High Performance Coatings" (Press release). PPG Industries. March 9, 2009.Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. RetrievedMay 20, 2009 ."Standings after California" . Champ Car World Series. Archived fromthe original on October 22, 2008. RetrievedMay 19, 2009 .
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Alex Zanardi
Reynard
Mercedes
United States
Patrick Carpentier
Brazil
England
Mexico
Scotland
Argentina
Japan
Netherlands
