The 1997 Phoenix 200 was the fourth round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League. The race was held on March 23, 1997, at the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, and was won by the unheralded Jim Guthrie, who beat IRL stalwart Tony Stewart after leading 74 laps. Guthrie's win, with no sponsorship, a huge monetary debt and a second mortgage on his house, went down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of Indy car racing.
Pre-race news Shortly after the race at Walt Disney World Speedway, the significant injuries sustained by both Davy Jones and Eliseo Salazar in rear-first crashes raised some safety concerns. As a result, the Indy Racing League mandated a seven-pound attenuator fixed behind the gearbox, to act as a 'crash-box' and help dissipate the energy in that area.
On February 4–7, the week after the Copper World Classic, Goodyear held a tire test at Phoenix with 5 drivers. Galles Racing took part with 1996 Formula 3000 runner-up Kenny Bräck, who was being evaluated as a long-term replacement for the injured Jones after fielding newcomer Jeff Ward at Orlando. Bräck had only run once on an oval, during his Barber Saab Pro Series title run at New Hampshire back in 1993. After posting the fastest time of the week at 165.975 mph, the 30-year old Swede was signed for the rest of the season a few days later.
On February 18, Texas Motor Speedway held its first ever IRL test with Tony Stewart and Buddy Lazier, although the three-day program devised by Firestone was cut in half because of windy conditions and the threat of rain.
From February 24–28, 24 drivers took part in the 'Test in the West' at Phoenix, with the absence of Beck Motorsports, which still had no engines available, and Chitwood Motorsports. Scott Sharp and Tony Stewart shared the lead over the five days, being the only drivers to break the 170 mph mark. Sharp had the fastest lap at 170.777 mph with a brand-new G-Force chassis bought by A. J. Foyt Enterprises to evaluate its performance against the Dallara. His teammate Davey Hamilton finished third overall, a distant 3.5 mph behind, but just ahead of the surprising Jim Guthrie, while early favourite Arie Luyendyk and championship leader Mike Groff lagged behind.
A faulty bearing application on the scarce contingent of Infiniti engines cause Buddy Lazier, Groff and Jack Miller to have engine issues throughout the week. Sam Schmidt, who had finished fourth in U.S. F2000 in 1996, passed his rookie test and was approved to race the second Blueprint Racing car. Schmidt's planned debut at Orlando had been postponed due to the lack of testing caused by engine shortages. Team Menard had unofficially parted ways with Mark Dismore, and evaluated Billy Boat and Dave Blaney as contenders for their second seat. Both finished in the overall top 10, Boat being slightly faster, but neither got the drive in the end. Darrin Miller and Pat Abold both passed their rookie tests in the PDM Racing mule car.
The entry list for the Phoenix 200 was unveiled on March 5 with 23 entries, including Danny Ongais and Robbie Buhl. EuroInternational, with the legendary George Bignotti as chief mechanic, also filed an entry for Phoenix resident Billy Roe, who had attempted to race the previous year. A day later, Team Menard confirmed Robbie Buhl as their second driver, leaving Beck Motorsports without a driver.
Tire testing was conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the following week. Fermín Vélez drove for Goodyear, while Tony Stewart, who topped out at 216.080 mph, and John Paul Jr. tested for Firestone. During this period, Stan Wattles confirmed that Metro Racing Systems would become the second team to take on the Riley & Scott chassis, with a delivery date expected for July. On March 19, Team SABCO had a 300-mile test at Indianapolis with Robby Gordon, who was due to attempt the Double Duty in May.
Practice & qualifying report On race week, Chitwood Motorsports replaced Danny Ongais with Affonso Giaffone, originally a one-race deal with the support of General Motors do Brasil. As in Orlando, Tony Stewart swept both practice sessions during the first day with a 165.983 mph lap in the morning, and a 164.865 mph lap in the afternoon. Jim Guthrie doubled down on his testing results and emerged as Stewart's main contender, placing second in the morning session and third in the afternoon session behind Arie Luyendyk.
Spaniard Fermín Vélez also surprised during first practice by posting the third fastest time, just before blowing an engine. Marco Greco and Scott Sharp had engine problems in the morning too, while Roberto Guerrero and Giaffone crashed in the afternoon. Guerrero's crash was triggered by another engine failure, which brought concerns on the Oldsmobile camp regarding a potential oil link issue in their engines. Despite also entering a couple of Dallaras, Foyt decided to run the G-Force chassis for both of its drivers.
On Saturday, Stewart led the last practice session with a 167.973 mph lap, just ahead of Guthrie by 0.021 seconds and Luyendyk. He later asserted his dominance in qualifying, putting his car on pole with a 170.012 mph lap. Guthrie was the last driver scheduled to qualify and, despite running the fastest first lap, he came up short at 169.484 mph, comfortably qualifying in a career-best second place as the only driver within 4 mph of Stewart's mark. Treadway Racing swept the second row with Scott Goodyear and Luyendyk, in front of Buzz Calkins and Robbie Buhl, the early leaders before Stewart's run.
Blueprint Racing was co-owned by Guthrie, who had no sponsorship on his mustard yellow Dallara. The car had been bought after Guthrie took out a loan against his house for a second time, owing $185,000 to his creditors. With minimal resources, the team arrived at the track with a rental flatbed trailer and a race crew composed of volunteers. As Blueprint could not afford a spare engine, their lone Oldsmobile engine had been rebuilt three times, with 640 miles run until that point. Because of this, Guthrie likened their efforts with "the David and Goliath story". Although the new IRL cars were 15 mph off 1996's speeds, Guthrie qualified 6 mph faster than his own time in 1996, which was only good enough for 18th place in that grid.
In his first IRL qualifying session, Sam Schmidt put his car in a solid seventh place, while Kenny Bräck and Billy Roe qualified in 10th and 18th place, respectively. Roberto Guerrero was the fastest Infiniti qualifier in 11th place after getting his car fixed in time, unlike Affonso Giaffone, who was not able to qualify. On a similar note, Scott Sharp was in second place during the morning practice when his engine caught fire, and a spare was not ready in time for qualifying. Both were allowed to start the race at the back of the field. Coincidentally, Marco Greco was able to qualify thanks to an engine previously loaned by A. J. Foyt Enterprises, achieving his first top-10 qualifying result.
Sharp's teammate, Davey Hamilton, did not come to grips with his new chassis and could only qualify in 15th place behind Buddy Lazier, while championship leader Mike Groff was mired in 17th place. John Paul Jr. qualified 12th despite waving off his first lap for a suspected timing chain failure, and Stéphan Grégoire qualified last after losing a gear. During afternoon's final practice, Buzz Calkins had an oil leak, crashed in Turn 4 and had to use a back-up car for the race, forfeiting his 5th place on the grid. For the first time in series' history, every driver that took part in the practice sessions was able to start the race.
Qualifying Results Key Meaning R Rookie W Past winner
Pos No. Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Best (in mph) 1 2 Tony Stewart 21.424 21.175 170.012 2 27 Jim Guthrie R 21.364 21.241 169.484 3 6 Scott Goodyear 21.975 21.681 166.044 4 5 Arie Luyendyk W 21.736 21.715 165.784 5 3 Robbie Buhl 21.956 22.257 163.964 6 16 Sam Schmidt R 22.141 21.973 163.837 7 51 Eddie Cheever 22.059 22.017 163.510 8 22 Marco Greco 22.064 22.019 163.495 9 4 Kenny Bräck R 22.051 22.027 163.436 10 21 Roberto Guerrero W 22.129 22.075 163.080 11 18 John Paul Jr. Waved off 22.100 162.896 12 30 Jeret Schroeder R 22.136 22.166 162.631 13 91 Buddy Lazier 22.148 22.202 162.543 14 14 Davey Hamilton 22.161 22.209 162.448 15 33 Fermín Vélez R 22.235 22.477 161.907 16 10 Mike Groff 22.593 22.520 159.858 17 50 Billy Roe R 22.916 22.650 158.940 18 40 Jack Miller R 22.933 22.779 158.040 19 77 Stéphan Grégoire 23.386 23.235 154.939 20 1 Scott Sharp Didn't qualify No speed 21 17 Affonso Giaffone R Didn't qualify No speed 22 12 Buzz Calkins 22.217 21.947 164.032
His engine caught fire in practice, and a spare was not ready on time for qualifying. He was allowed to start the race at the back of the field. Couldn't qualify after his chassis had been damaged in a practice crash. He was allowed to start the race at the back of the field. Changed to a backup car following a crash in a practice session after qualifying.
Race report The Phoenix event resulted in a slow, attrition-filled race, as 83 of the 200 laps were run under nine caution periods. Six cautions were caused by engine failures and oil spills, five of those from Oldsmobile engines, which suffered a dozen failures overall throughout the weekend. It wasn't until after the event that the brand identified the issue as an oil line fitting that wasn't suitable in the plumbing system of the new IRL chassis. Despite that, the race was won by Jim Guthrie, whose engine 860 miles of running by the end of the day.
From his front-row position, Guthrie tried to jump Tony Stewart on the outside, but the pole-sitter held on into Turn 1, while Scott Goodyear lost two places. Roberto Guerrero suffered a battery failure and was unable to get going from 10th on the grid. After failing to bring the car up to speed, he had to pull into the apron on Lap 2, bringing out a caution. He was able to take the restart on Lap 7, albeit five laps down. Guthrie tried Stewart again on the restart, but had to defend himself from Arie Luyendyk. John Paul Jr. gained four spots and was already in 4th place, having passed three cars at the start of the race.
On Lap 12, Luyendyk's brand new engine, which had been installed the day prior, went up in smoke, triggering another caution period. Paul Jr. passed Guthrie for second in the Lap 19 restart, but he didn't have enough speed to go after Stewart, and Guthrie reclaimed the spot three laps later, staying within 3–4 seconds of the leader. Affonso Giaffone gained eight positions in ten laps, and was up to 6th place by Lap 35. After a good stint, being as high as 7th, Buddy Lazier slowly faded to 9th place before retiring on Lap 33 with an engine failure that caused extensive oil spilling on the track and pit entry, triggering a caution that lasted for 10 laps due to the cleanup.
As the leaders made their first pit stop, Guthrie had the lapped car of Roberto Guerrero on the inside, and had to swerve up the track, missing the pits. He was serviced a lap later, dropping several places. During his stop, John Paul Jr. suffered an electrical issue and lost several laps, leaving Scott Goodyear and Robbie Buhl as Stewart's main contenders. Meanwhile, Giaffone, Eddie Cheever (7th before the caution period), Kenny Bräck (10th) and Scott Sharp (11th) stayed on track, and led the restart on Lap 45, with 12 drivers on the lead lap. Stewart passed Sharp, and both were able to put Bräck behind on that lap. The three of them quickly caught up to Cheever, and passed him on Lap 51 when he run high on Turn 3 due to a misfire. In the meantime, Guthrie had passed four cars on track.