1997 CART PPG World Series

The 1997 CART PPG World Series season was the nineteenth in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 17 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 2 and concluding in Fontana, California on September 28. The PPG CART World Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi. Rookie of the Year was Patrick Carpentier. Mercedes-Benz won their first and only CART engine-manufacturer's title.

After a settlement with the Indianapolis 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. The CART 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 rival Indy Racing League, and was part of a concerted and necessary effort to distance the series from the Indianapolis 500, to which it no longer had any link. This was also the last year of title sponsorship by PPG Industries, although the Driver's Championship continued to be known as the PPG Cup until 1999. This was the first season since 1983 not to feature Emerson Fittipaldi.

Drivers and constructors The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 CART World Series season. TeamChassisEngineTiresNoDriversRoundsPrimary Sponsors Target Chip Ganassi Reynard 97i Honda HRR 1 Jimmy Vasser All Target 4 Alex Zanardi 1–16 Arie Luyendyk 17 Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-26-97 Ilmor-MercedesIC108D 2 Al Unser Jr. All Marlboro 3 Paul Tracy All Walker Racing Reynard 97i Honda HRR 5 Gil de Ferran All Valvoline Newman-Haas Racing Swift 007.i Ford XD 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco-Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi 1–2, 9–17 Budweiser Roberto Moreno 3–8 Team Rahal Reynard 97i Ford XD 7 Bobby Rahal All Miller Lite 8 Bryan Herta All Shell Hogan Racing Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D 9 Dario Franchitti (R) 1–16 Hogan Racing Robby Gordon 17 Bettenhausen Racing Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D 16 Patrick Carpentier (R) 1–14, 17 Alumax Roberto Moreno 15–16 PacWest Reynard 97i Mercedes IC108D 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Hollywood Cigarettes 18 Mark Blundell All Motorola Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. 11, 14, 16 Herdez Lola T97/00 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 Dennis Vitolo 17 SmithKline Beecham Patrick Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD 20 Scott Pruett All Brahma 40 Raul Boesel All Della Penna Motorsports Lola T97/00 Ford XD 21 Richie Hearn 1–16 RalphsSwift 007.i17 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 97i Toyota RV8B 24 Hiro Matsushita All Panasonic 25 Max Papis All MCI Worldcom Team KOOL Green Reynard 97i Honda HRR 27 Parker Johnstone All KOOL Tasman Motorsports Reynard 97i Honda HRR 31 André Ribeiro 10–17 LCI Communications Lola T97/00 1–9 32 Adrian Fernández All Tecate All American Racing Reynard 96iReynard 97i Toyota RV8B 36 All Castrol 98 P. J. Jones All Project Indy Lola T97/00 Ford XD 64 Dennis Vitolo 1, 3–4, 15–16 SmithKline Beecham Arnd Meier (R) 2, 5–6, 8–14, 17 Hasseröder Davis Racing Reynard 97i Ford XD 77 Gualter Salles (R) All Davis Racing Indusval Forsythe Racing Reynard 96iReynard 97i Mercedes IC108D 99 Greg Moore All Player's

Schedule Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuit

Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location TV Broadcaster 1 March 2 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Homestead Motorsports Complex Homestead, Florida ABC 2 April 6 Sunbelt IndyCarnival Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia ABC 3 April 13 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California ABC 4 April 27 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania ABC 5 May 11 Hollywood Rio 400K Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ABC 6 May 24 Motorola 300 Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois ABC 7 June 1 Miller 200 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin ESPN 8 June 8 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan ABC 9 June 22 Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon ESPN 10 July 13 Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio ABC 11 July 20 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario ABC 12 July 27 U.S. 500 Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan ABC 13 August 10 Miller 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio ABC 14 August 17 Texaco/Havoline 200 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin ESPN 15 August 31 Molson Indy Vancouver Streets of Vancouver Vancouver, British Columbia ESPN 16 September 7 Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California ESPN 17 September 28 Marlboro 500 California Speedway Fontana, California ESPN * The Australian Indy Grand Prix was supposed to run 182 miles, but was shortened due to time constraints. * Portland was supposed to be 193 miles, but was shortened due to rain.

Results Rnd Race Pole position Fastest lap Race WinnerRace time Report Driver Team Chassis Engine 1 Homestead Alex Zanardi Michael Andretti Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford1:38:45 Report 2 Surfers Paradise Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Scott Pruett Patrick Racing Reynard Ford2:01:04 Report 3 Long Beach Gil de Ferran Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda1:46:17 Report 4 Nazareth Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Penske Mercedes1:53:31 Report 5 Rio Gil de Ferran Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Penske Mercedes2:10:47 Report 6 Gateway Raul Boesel Dario Franchitti Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Penske Mercedes2:37:54 Report 7 Milwaukee Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Greg Moore Forsythe Racing Reynard Mercedes1:43:32 Report 8 Belle Isle Gil de Ferran Dario Franchitti Greg Moore Forsythe Racing Reynard Mercedes1:52:45 Report 9 Portland Scott Pruett Raul Boesel Mark Blundell PacWest Reynard Mercedes2:00:12 Report 10 Cleveland Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda1:41:40 Report 11 Toronto Dario Franchitti Mark Blundell Mark Blundell PacWest Reynard Mercedes1:45:43 Report 12 Michigan Scott Pruett Alex Zanardi Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda2:59:35 Report 13 Mid-Ohio Bryan Herta Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda1:41:16 Report 14 Road America Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda1:57:54 Report 15 Vancouver Alex Zanardi Alex Zanardi PacWest Reynard Mercedes1:47:17 Report 16 Laguna Seca Bryan Herta Mark Blundell Jimmy Vasser Target Chip Ganassi Reynard Honda1:41:38 Report 17 Fontana Maurício Gugelmin Greg Moore Mark Blundell PacWest Reynard Mercedes3:02:42 Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver HOM SUR LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS MOH ROA VAN LAG CAL Pts 1 Alex Zanardi 7 4 1* 11 4 4 13 26 11 1 2 1* 1* 1 4 3 Wth 195 2 Gil de Ferran 22 5 21 4 11 3 7 3* 2 2* 25 3 6 3 3 5 6 162 3 Jimmy Vasser 3 12 9 5 9 5 3 4 19 13 7 24 5 8 2* 1* 2 144 4 Maurício Gugelmin 6 17 2 9 22 6 5 16 6* 15 6 6 7 2 1 9 4 132 5 Paul Tracy 2 19* 7 1* 1 1 6 DNS 7 7 10 4 27 28 28 26 26 121 6 Mark Blundell 14 8 13 19 8 24 12 17 1 9 1* 2 26 16* 7 2 1 115 7 Greg Moore 4 2 23 16 2 13 1* 1 5 24 23 27 2 18 17 24 13 111 8 Michael Andretti 1* 3 22 2 21 11* 2 2 8 23 4 21 8 26 16 27 19 108 9 Scott Pruett 5 1 3 10 3 19 9 24 17 8 5 14 9 5 18 16 7 102 10 Raul Boesel 17 7 8 8 5 14 4 6 3 16 8 18 4 21 6 8 20 91 11 Bryan Herta 10 22 6 7 6 22 15 7 21 3 17 5 24 11 8 6 21 72 12 Bobby Rahal 16 10 10 6 10* 20 11 9 24 5 9 17 3 6 24 19 5 70 13 Al Unser Jr. 27 27 4 3 7 18 20 8 25 4 20 20 22 7 5 11 22 67 14 André Ribeiro 12 6 14 26 15 10 26 25 13 14 3 23 10 22 10 4 17* 45 15 Christian Fittipaldi 26 28 4 6 11 16 21 4 9 21 9 42 16 Parker Johnstone 8 21 5 17 12 7 25 20 9 10 12 25 12 23 11 12 11 36 17 9 15 15 12 28 2 8 15 16 12 16 15 15 27 Wth 27 18 Adrián Fernández 13 11 11 23 26 8 24 27 10 17 14 26 23 12 19 23 3 27 19 Roberto Moreno 24 24 14 18 25 10 5 15 10 16 20 Gualter Salles 15 24 18 24 19 12 22 21 23 19 18 10 20 13 26 7 14 10 21 Richie Hearn 11 13 27 18 14 9 23 23 14 28 27 22 13 9 22 25 15 10 22 Dario Franchitti 25 9 12 13 27 17 16 13 26 11 26 19 11 25 13 13 10 23 20 20 26 15 20 23 21 10 22 21 19 11 25 10 12 15 27 9 24 Max Papis 19 14 25 22 13 26 19 11 28 27 15 8 14 15 20 14 12 8 25 Dennis Vitolo 23 DNS DNQ 28 7 27 20 16 6 26 Robby Gordon 8 5 27 Hiro Matsushita 21 25 20 25 23 15 17 19 15 20 22 9 19 24 14 28 23 4 28 P. J. Jones 28 26 16 21 16 21 14 14 20 25 21 28 17 14 25 17 10 3 29 Michel Jourdain Jr. 18 18 17 20 17 16 27 22 12 18 13 13 18 20 21 22 18 1 30 Arnd Meier 16 25 DNS 18 18 22 24 12 16 19 25 1 31 Christian Danner 12 27 23 1 32 Charlie Nearburg 26 28 17 18 0 33 Paul Jasper 23 19 DNQ 24 Wth 18 0 34 Arie Luyendyk 24 0 Pos Driver HOM SUR LBH NAZ RIO GTW MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS MOH ROA VAN LAG CAL Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th place Dark Blue Finished(Outside Top 12) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos Country Pts 1 United States 252 2 Brazil 238 3 Italy 198 4 Canada 190 5 England 115 6 Mexico 27 7 Scotland 10 8 Argentina 9 9 Japan 4 10 Germany 2 11 Netherlands 0 Pos Country Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos Chassis Pts Wins 1 Reynard 97I/96I 346 13 2 Penske PC-26 156 3 3 Swift 007.i 143 1 4 Lola T9700 45 0 Pos Chassis Pts Wins

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos Engine Pts Wins 1 Mercedes 316 9 2 Honda 290 6 3 Ford XD/XB 230 2 4 Toyota 15 0 Pos Engine Pts Wins

See also 1997 Toyota Atlantic Championship season 1997 Indianapolis 500 1996–97 Indy Racing League 1997 Indy Lights season Super Speedway CART World Series

References

Bibliography