1997 Indianapolis 500

81st Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis 500
Sanctioning body	USAC/IRL
Season	1996-97 IRL season
Date	May 25-26-27, 1997
Winner	Arie Luyendyk
Winning team	Treadway Racing
Average speed	145.827 mph
Pole position	Arie Luyendyk
Pole speed	218.263
Fastest qualifier	Arie Luyendyk
Rookie of the Year	Jeff Ward
Most laps led	Tony Stewart (64)
Pre-race ceremonies
National anthem	Florence Henderson
"Back Home Again in Indiana"	Jim Nabors (recording)
Starting command	Mari Hulman George
Pace car	Oldsmobile Aurora
Pace car driver	Johnny Rutherford
Starter	Bryan Howard
Honorary starter	Ronald Fogleman
Estimated attendance	300,000 (Sun.)[1] 200,000 (Mon.)[2] 100,000 (Tue.)[3]
TV in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Paul Page, Tom Sneva, Bobby Unser, and Danny Sullivan
Chronology
Previous Next 1996 1998

The 81st Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana over three days, May 25–27, 1997. It was originally scheduled for Sunday May 25, however, rain washed out all activities for the day. The race was started on Monday May 26, but rain halted the race after only 15 laps had been completed. On Tuesday May 27, the race was resumed, and was run to completion. The rain delay, as well as two controversies (one during time trials, and one during the race), put a damper on the month. Arie Luyendyk won the race from the pole position, his second Indy victory. Treadway Racing, in only their second season of competition, finished 1st-2nd with Luyendyk and teammate Scott Goodyear. The team became the first to sweep the top two finishing position at Indianapolis since Leader Cards in 1962.

It was the second Indianapolis 500 held as part of the USAC-sanctioned Indy Racing League, and was part of the 1996-97 Indy Racing League season. It marked the introduction of a new production-based, normally aspirated engine formula as well as a new chassis design. The new engine formula resulted in a substantial drop in speeds compared to the previous year, and the chassis were noticeably different in many aspects - both visually, and mechanically.

A controversy during qualifying saw two bumped cars re-added to the starting field after the close of time trials, thus the starting grid was made up of 35 cars. It was the first time since 1979, and only the second time since 1933 that more than the traditional 33 cars comprised the starting grid. While the field had been expanded, a crash during the pace lap eliminated three cars. Two additional cars failed to start the race due to mechanical problems, and only 29 cars took the green flag.

With two laps to go in the race, polesitter Arie Luyendyk led teammate Scott Goodyear. A caution came out on the 199th lap after Tony Stewart brushed the turn four wall. The pace car did not come out to pack-up the field. Drivers and crews expected the race would finish under the caution. Without warning, the green and white flag were displayed at the starter's stand on the final lap, signifying the track was back to racing conditions. None of the cars in the field were prepared for the restart, and yellow lights around the course remained illuminated for many seconds afterwards. Luyendyk held on to win, but controversy erupted regarding the officials' poor handling of the situation. This last-lap incident, followed by a major scoring snafu two weeks later at Texas, led to the USAC being permanently removed from sanctioning the IRL and Indy 500, in favor of in-house officiating.^[4]

The win by Arie Luyendyk marked the milestone 50th Indianapolis 500 victory for Firestone. It was Luyendyk's second Indy victory (he also won in 1990), as well as Scott Goodyear's second runner-up finish (1992). It was the third time in his career that Goodyear narrowly lost the Indy 500 in the closing stages. Luyendyk became the first driver since A. J. Foyt to win the race with both a turbocharged and a normally-aspirated engine.