The 1997 California 500 presented by NAPA was the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held at California Speedway in Fontana, California. The race was the 15th in the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Though Greg Sacks was the fastest qualifier, he had to start 26th due to not being a first day qualifier, and the pole position was instead given to Sacks' teammate, fellow Felix Sabates driver Joe Nemechek, who ran with an average speed of . The race was won by Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports, who also led the most laps with 113. A crowd of 85,000 attended the race, the first race in southern California since 1988, when Riverside International Raceway held the Budweiser 400.

Background

The track, Auto Club Speedway, was a four-turn superspeedway that was long. The track's turns were banked from fourteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was banked at eleven degrees. Unlike the front stretch, the backstraightaway was banked at three degrees.

Race The national anthem was performed by 20th Century Fox Records recording artists Ambrosia, NAPA vice president Wayne Wells gave the command for drivers to start their engines, and track executive Les Richter was the grand marshal.

On lap 29, Hut Stricklin hit the turn four wall, and was later treated for abrasions. Later in the race, Greg Sacks hit the turn two wall. Much of the race was dominated by Jeff Gordon, who led the most laps with 113 laps, though heading into the final 16 laps Mark Martin was able to pass Gordon, but had to pit to refuel three laps later. On the final lap, Gordon ran out of fuel, and with Hendrick teammate Terry Labonte closing in, Gordon coasted across the finish line to beat Labonte by 1.074 seconds and claim his fifth victory of the season. Ricky Rudd, Ted Musgrave, Jimmy Spencer and Bobby Labonte closed out the top five.

Results Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Time/Status 1 3 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 250 113 185 3:13:32 2 10 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 250 41 175 +1.074 3 39 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 250 0 165 Running, lead lap 4 20 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 250 0 160 Running, lead lap 5 19 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 250 4 160 Running, lead lap 6 15 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 250 0 150 Running, lead lap 7 7 29 Jeff Green Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 250 0 146 Running, lead lap 8 9 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 250 49 147 Running, lead lap 9 11 25 Ricky Craven Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 250 8 143 Running, lead lap 10 12 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 249 11 139 Out of gas 11 18 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 249 0 130 +1 lap 12 21 37 Jeremy Mayfield Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 249 0 127 +1 lap 13 13 30 Johnny Benson Jr. Bahari Racing Pontiac 249 0 124 +1 lap 14 16 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Ford 249 0 121 +1 lap 15 8 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 249 2 123 +1 lap 16 14 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 249 0 115 +1 lap 17 41 41 Steve Grissom Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 249 0 112 +1 lap 18 1 42 Joe Nemechek Team SABCO Chevrolet 248 1 114 +2 laps 19 24 97 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac 248 0 106 +2 laps 20 22 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 248 0 103 +2 laps 21 35 98 John Andretti Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 248 0 100 +2 laps 22 42 90 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 248 0 97 +2 laps 23 30 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 247 0 94 +3 laps 24 31 77 Morgan Shepherd Jasper Motorsports Ford 247 0 91 +3 laps 25 34 96 David Green American Equipment Racing Chevrolet 247 0 88 +3 laps 26 36 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 247 1 90 +3 laps 27 26 40 Greg Sacks Team SABCO Chevrolet 246 0 82 +4 laps 28 40 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 246 0 79 +4 laps 29 23 36 Derrike Cope MB2 Motorsports Pontiac 245 0 76 +5 laps 30 25 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 244 0 73 +6 laps 31 38 44 Kyle Petty PE2 Motorsports Pontiac 243 0 70 +7 laps 32 17 94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 241 0 67 Out of gas 33 28 31 Mike Skinner Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 225 0 64 +25 laps 34 5 33 Ken Schrader Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 219 8 66 Engine 35 6 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 215 0 58 Engine 36 29 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 206 0 55 Engine 37 2 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 202 6 57 Engine 38 33 1 Jerry Nadeau Precision Products Racing Pontiac 174 0 49 +76 laps 39 4 46 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Team SABCO Chevrolet 173 6 51 Electrical 40 32 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 146 0 43 Engine 41 37 75 Rick Mast Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 94 0 40 Engine 42 27 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 28 0 37 Crash

Failed to qualify Kenny Wallace (#81) Mike Wallace (#91) Billy Standridge (#78)

Race statistics

Lap leaders Laps Leader 1 Joe Nemechek 2–7 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 8–31 Jeff Gordon 32 Brett Bodine 33–40 Ken Schrader 41–70 Jeff Gordon 71–72 Mark Martin 73–77 Jeff Gordon 78–80 Mark Martin 81 Jimmy Spencer 82–84 Ricky Craven 85–96 Jeff Gordon 97–141 Dale Jarrett 142–146 Ricky Craven 147–152 Ernie Irvan 153–156 Dale Jarrett 157–197 Terry Labonte 198–200 Jimmy Spencer 201–202 Darrell Waltrip 203–233 Jeff Gordon 234–239 Mark Martin 240–250 Jeff Gordon

Total laps led Laps led Driver 113 Jeff Gordon 49 Dale Jarrett 41 Terry Labonte 11 Mark Martin 8 Ricky Craven 8 Ken Schrader 6 Ernie Irvan 6 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 4 Jimmy Spencer 2 Darrell Waltrip 1 Joe Nemechek 1 Brett Bodine

Cautions: 4 for 22 laps Laps Reason 31–34 #8 (Stricklin) accident turn 4 96–104 Oil on track 141–146 #40 (Sacks) spin turn 2 149–151 #1 (Nadeau) accident turn 4

Media Television The race was aired live on ABC in the United States. Bob Jenkins and 1973 Cup Series champion Benny Parsons called the race from the broadcast booth. Jerry Punch, Bill Weber and Jack Arute handled pit road for the television side.

ABC Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Bob Jenkins Benny Parsons Jerry Punch Bill Weber Jack Arute

Standings after the race Pos Driver Points Differential 1 Jeff Gordon 2295 0 2 Mark Martin 2203 -92 3 Terry Labonte 2176 -119 4 Dale Jarrett 2123 -172 5 Jeff Burton 1971 -324 6 Dale Earnhardt 1948 -347 7 Bobby Labonte 1895 -400 8 Ricky Rudd 1875 -420 9 Michael Waltrip 1753 -542 10 Jeremy Mayfield 1726 -569

References