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1997 Phoenix 200

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United States 1997 Phoenix
Race details
4th round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League season
DateMarch 23, 1997
Official namePhoenix 200
LocationPhoenix International Raceway
CoursePermanent racing facility
1.000 mi / 1.609 km
Distance200 laps
200.000 mi / 321.869 km
WeatherDry with temperatures reaching up to 89.6 °F (32.0 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h)[1]
Pole position
DriverTony Stewart (Team Menard)
Time21.175
Fastest lap
DriverTony Stewart (Team Menard)
Time22.135 (on lap 11 of 200)
Podium
FirstJim Guthrie (Blueprint Racing)
SecondTony Stewart (Team Menard)
ThirdDavey Hamilton (A. J. Foyt Enterprises)

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 1.000 mi (1.609 km) Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, and was won by the unheralded Jim Guthrie, who raced unsponsored, owing a big sum of money and having taken a second mortgage on his house. His win, beating IRL stalwart Tony Stewart after leading 74 laps, went down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of Indy car racing.[2][3]

Report

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Pre-Race

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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. The Indy Racing League addressed them by mandating a seven-pound attenuator fixed behind the gearbox, to act as a 'crash-box' and better dissipate the energy in that area.[4]

On February 4–7, the week after the Copper World Classic, Goodyear ran a tire test at Phoenix with 5 drivers.[5] After fielding newcomer Jeff Ward at Orlando, Galles Racing sought a replacement for the injured Jones, and gave a chance to 1996 Formula 3000 runner-up Kenny Bräck, who had only run an oval in 1993 during his Barber Saab Pro Series title run at New Hampshire. 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.[6]

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.[7]

From February 24–28, 24 drivers took part in the 'Test in the West' at Phoenix, which was missed by Beck Motorsports, still without engines, and Chitwood Motorsports.[4] Two drivers stood out over the rest, as Scott Sharp and Tony Stewart shared the lead over the five days, being the only drivers to break the 170 mph mark.[8] A. J. Foyt Enterprises had bought a G-Force chassis to evaluate its performance against the Dallara,[9] and Sharp drove it to a fastest lap of 170.777 mph.[10] His teammate Davey Hamilton finished third overall, a distant 3.5 mph behind, but just in front of the surprising Jim Guthrie, while early favourite Arie Luyendyk and championship leader Mike Groff lagged behind.

Infiniti also had problems with its scarce contingent, as Buddy Lazier, Groff and Jack Miller had engine issues throughout the week because of a faulty bearing application. Sam Schmidt, who had finished fourth in the U.S. F2000 in 1996, passed his rookie test in order to race in the second Blueprint Racing car. Schmidt had planned to debut at Orlando, but it had been pushed to Phoenix due to the lack of testing brought by engine shortages.[8] Team Menard, on the other hand, 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 would get the drive in the end. Also, Darrin Miller and Pat Abold both passed their rookie tests in the PDM Racing mule car.[10]

The entry list for the Phoenix 200 was unveiled on March 5 with 23 entries, including Danny Ongais, Robbie Buhl and the second Menard car, still unassigned. EuroInternational, with the legendary George Bignotti as chief mechanic, also filled an entry for Phoenix resident Billy Roe, who had attempted to race the previous year.[11] The day after, Team Menard confirmed Robbie Buhl as their second driver, leaving Beck Motorsports without a driver.

Further tire testing was conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the following week, as Fermín Vélez drove for Goodyear,[12] while Tony Stewart, who topped out at 216.080 mph, and John Paul Jr. did it for Firestone.[13] 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.[12] 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.[14]

Practice and qualifying

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On race week, Chitwood Motorsports replaced Danny Ongais with Affonso Giaffone, originally in a one-race deal with the support of General Motors do Brasil.[15] As in Orlando, Tony Stewart swept both practice sessions during the first day with a 165.983 mph lap in the morning,[16] and a 164.865 mph lap in the afternoon.[17] Jim Guthrie doubled down on his testing results and emerged as Stewart's main contender, being second in the morning and third in the afternoon behind Arie Luyendyk.

Spaniard Fermín Vélez also surprised in the morning 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.[18] 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 his drivers.

On Saturday, Stewart led the last practice session with a 167.973 mph lap, over Guthrie by just 0.021 seconds and Luyendyk.[19] He later asserted his dominance in qualifying, putting his car on pole with a 170.012 mph lap.[20] 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.[21]

Guthrie was competing unsponsored and had bought his chassis by taking out a loan against his house for a second time, owing $185,000 to his creditors. Blueprint Racing, co-owned by Guthrie, arrived at the track with a rental flatbed trailer and a race crew composed of volunteers. The engine on their car had run 640 miles and had been rebuilt three times, as they could not afford a new one. Because of this, Guthrie likened their efforts with "the David and Goliath story". Although the 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 an 18th place in that grid.[3][20]

In his first IRL qualifying, 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. In 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 and crashed in Turn 4, forfeiting his 5th place on the grid as he needed a back-up car.[21] For the first time in series' history, all the drivers that took part in the practice sessions would start the race.

Key Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner
Pos No. Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Best (in mph)
1 2 United States Tony Stewart 21.424 21.175 170.012
2 27 United States Jim Guthrie R 21.364 21.241 169.484
3 6 Canada Scott Goodyear 21.975 21.681 166.044
4 5 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk W 21.736 21.715 165.784
5 3 United States Robbie Buhl 21.956 22.257 163.964
6 16 United States Sam Schmidt R 22.141 21.973 163.837
7 51 United States Eddie Cheever 22.059 22.017 163.510
8 22 Brazil Marco Greco 22.064 22.019 163.495
9 4 Sweden Kenny Bräck R 22.051 22.027 163.436
10 21 Colombia Roberto Guerrero W 22.129 22.075 163.080
11 18 United States John Paul Jr. Waved off 22.100 162.896
12 30 United States Jeret Schroeder R 22.136 22.166 162.631
13 91 United States Buddy Lazier 22.148 22.202 162.543
14 14 United States Davey Hamilton 22.161 22.209 162.448
15 33 Spain Fermín Vélez R 22.235 22.477 161.907
16 10 United States Mike Groff 22.593 22.520 159.858
17 50 United States Billy Roe R 22.916 22.650 158.940
18 40 United States Jack Miller R 22.933 22.779 158.040
19 77 France Stéphan Grégoire 23.386 23.235 154.939
20 1 United States Scott Sharp1 Didn't qualify No speed
21 17 Brazil Affonso Giaffone2 R Didn't qualify No speed
22 12 United States Buzz Calkins3 22.217 21.947 164.032
Source:[22]
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Changed to a backup car following a crash in a practice session after qualifying.

Race

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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.[23] Despite that, the race was won by Jim Guthrie, who ended the day with 860 miles of running in its engine.[24]

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.[25] 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 to take the lead again on the restart to no avail, this time on the inside, having to defend himself from Arie Luyendyk. In that restart, John Paul Jr. gained four spots and was already in 4th place, having passed three cars at the start.

On Lap 12, Luyendyk lost an engine that had been mounted just the day before, triggering the second caution of the day.[25] At the restart on Lap 19, Paul Jr. passed Guthrie for second, 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 barely 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.

On Lap 52, Scott Goodyear lost his engine on the exit of Turn 1 while running sixth. Marco Greco spun on the oil and Buhl, who had been passed by Greco on the restart, was slightly hit by Sam Schmidt as he braked to avoid an accident. Just behind them, Jeret Schroeder lost control of the car and crashed into the outside wall. He was transported by ambulance with a mild concussion and a shoulder abrasion.[26] Out of all the drivers involved, only Greco, who stayed in 7th place, and Schmidt (a lap down) continued. During the caution, Affonso Giaffone, Kenny Bräck and Eddie Cheever made their pit stops, handing the lead to Stewart, who made a late splash-and-go while retaining the race lead. Giaffone spun on the grass during the restart and would stop again on Lap 61.

Scott Sharp stayed out again and took advantage of Stewart's cold tires to grab the lead on the Lap 61 restart, only for his engine to blow up four laps later. He was able to pull into an access road located after Turn 1, but the caution came out two laps later when John Paul Jr. slowed on the backstretch. With only six drivers on the lead lap, Eddie Cheever made another pit stop, placing behind Bräck for the Lap 76 restart. Davey Hamilton had been greatly benefitted by the attrition rate and got past Greco for third, but both were passed by Bräck, who emerged as a serious contender in his debut Indy car race, although he had lost 10 seconds to Stewart and Guthrie by then. Another first timer, Billy Roe, started losing oil on Lap 82 while running 11th and was black flagged, but he was unaware of the situation until he crashed heavily on Lap 85, entering Turn 3.

During a long caution, Stewart chose to make another pit stop on Lap 95, while Guthrie's crew gambled on staying out to make their stop on Lap 120 to try and jump Stewart, providing there was another caution on that period. After the restart on Lap 99, Guthrie pulled an 11-second lead over Kenny Bräck, while Stewart climbed to third by Lap 112. Five laps later, Giaffone, running a lap down in 7th place, pulled to the side of the track with a half-shaft problem, and brought a timely caution for Guthrie's odds. Their strategy from that point was to go flat-out until the end, hoping to make it without a pit stop and the help of two more caution periods at the very least. Stewart topped off a lap later than Guthrie, and emerged in front of him, but his team was planning for a late splash-and-go. A lengthy clean-up ensued, on which Eddie Cheever retired with an oil pressure issue, after repeatedly trying to pass Marco Greco.

As the front of the field, led by lapped cars, was already on Turn 3 for a Lap 129 restart, with the Pace Car was pulling into pit lane, race officials suddenly aborted the restart for an additional track inspection, which caused Pace Car driver Johnny Rutherford to swerve back onto the left side of the track before being passed by four different drivers, including race leader Kenny Bräck, who was due to make his second pit-stop. No penalties were issued, and the race was finally underway on Lap 133, with Hamilton and Stewart passing Greco simultaneously on the outside of Turn 3; Hamilton would be passed by Stewart in the same fashion two laps later, after being blocked by Groff.

By Lap 140, Guthrie also got past Hamilton, and joined Stewart in pursuit of Bräck. All three drivers were a second apart from each other when, on Lap 146, Bräck run high into the oil dry in Turn 3, spun and crashed. Stewart pitted for a splash of fuel and some tyre pressure changes just before the Lap 155 restart, and quickly passed Greco, but he faced a crowded traffic situation afterwards. His race pace was not a match for Guthrie, who consistently lapped over 160 mph in a 26-lap green flag run, the longest of the day. By Lap 178, Stewart was 15 seconds behind Guthrie, and 4 seconds behind Hamilton, while Greco had gone a lap down.

20 laps from the end, Sam Schmidt was trying to hunt down Stéphan Grégoire for fifth place when he lost the right-rear tyre entering Turn 3, right in front of Davey Hamilton. The rear-first crash pounded a significant hole in the concrete wall that had to be fixed with a metal plate, while Schmidt was transported by ambulance with mid-back pain, although uninjured.[26] Having complained of handling issues in the previous laps, and aiming to run down Guthrie after the restart, Stewart pitted twice under the caution, the first one for drastic changes in his rear wing, and the second one for fuel and 'option' tires for better grip, briefly stalling the engine afterwards. Guthrie stayed out, looking to stretch his fuel.

At the last restart with 9 laps to go, Stewart got going behind the lapped cars of Marco Greco and Roberto Guerrero, which he passed in the following lap. Aiming for the win, Stewart passed Hamilton on the outside of Turn 3 with five laps to go, and was gaining on Guthrie at a half second per lap, but he ran out of time, and Guthrie held on by less than a second. Just like Arie Luyendyk six years before, Guthrie won with an unsponsored car, and the $170,100 payoff helped in partially settling his debts.[27] This would be Guthrie's one-and-only podium finish of his Indy car career. A month later, the team announced a year-long sponsorship agreement with Jacuzzi, which guaranteed a proper effort for the Indianapolis 500 with new engines and a back-up.[28]

After Stewart, Davey Hamilton got his first podium finish in Indy car racing and jumped to second in the standings, while Marco Greco. keeping his top-10 streak, and Stéphan Grégoire had their first top-5 finish ever. Mike Groff, who run a cautious race and was down to 18th place at one point, kept the championship lead with a sixth place finish due to the high attrition. While leading a restart on Lap 138 as an already lapped car, Groff's car had started to smoke and it was black flagged, losing four laps to fix the issue. With a very basic setup in his back-up car, Buzz Calkins was not a factor during the race and lost several laps, but managed to see the checkered flag in 8th place.

For the fifth race in a row, the Indy Racing League had produced a first-time Indy car winner, an unprecedented feat in post-war Indy car history, and none of the top-6 drivers had ever won an Indy car race before, for the first time since the 1959 Golden State 100 at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento. This became the second slowest Indy car race ever held at Phoenix, with an average speed of just 89.19 mph, just under 3 mph faster than the 1967 Jimmy Bryan Memorial at the same track, and slower than any NASCAR Cup Series race ever held at Phoenix since their debut in 1988. At 2 hours and 14 minutes, it holds the record for the longest Indy car race at Phoenix, being 45 minutes longer than the 1986 Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200, which had the average speed record at 134 mph.

Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps
Led
Points
1 27 United States Jim Guthrie R Blueprint Racing 200 2:14:32.667 2 74 35
2 2 United States Tony Stewart Team Menard 200 + 0.854 sec 1 85 36
3 14 United States Davey Hamilton A. J. Foyt Enterprises 200 Running 14 0 32
4 22 Brazil Marco Greco Team Scandia 199 + 1 lap 8 0 31
5 77 France Stéphan Grégoire Chastain Motorsports 199 + 1 lap 19 0 30
6 10 United States Mike Groff Byrd-Cunningham Racing 195 + 5 laps 16 0 29
7 21 Colombia Roberto Guerrero W    Pagan Racing 194 + 6 laps 10 0 28
8 12 United States Buzz Calkins Bradley Motorsports 187 + 13 laps 22 0 27
9 18 United States John Paul Jr. PDM Racing 179 + 21 laps 11 0 26
10 16 United States Sam Schmidt R Blueprint Racing 176 Accident T4 6 0 25
11 4 Sweden Kenny Bräck R Galles Racing 145 Accident T4 9 24 24
12 51 United States Eddie Cheever Team Cheever 120 Overheating 7 0 23
13 17 Brazil Affonso Giaffone R Chitwood Motorsports 114 Half Shaft 21 13 22
14 33 Spain Fermín Vélez R Team Scandia 94 Electrical 15 0 21
15 50 United States Billy Roe R Eurointernational 82 Accident T3/Engine 17 0 20
16 1 United States Scott Sharp A. J. Foyt Enterprises 65 Engine 20 4 19
17 6 Canada Scott Goodyear Treadway Racing 52 Engine 3 0 18
18 3 United States Robbie Buhl Team Menard 51 Accident T2 5 0 17
19 30 United States Jeret Schroeder R McCormack Motorsports 51 Accident T2 12 0 16
20 40 United States Jack Miller R Arizona Motorsport 33 Fuel Pickup 18 0 15
21 91 United States Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing 31 Engine 13 0 14
22 5 Netherlands Arie Luyendyk W Treadway Racing 11 Mechanical 4 0 13

Race Statistics

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  • Lead changes: 10 among 5 drivers

Standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 United States Mike Groff 125
2 United States Davey Hamilton 114
3 United States Buzz Calkins 113
4 Brazil Marco Greco 112
5 Colombia Roberto Guerrero 106
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.

References

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  1. ^ "1997 Phoenix 200 weather information". Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
  2. ^ "THE MIRACLE IN PHOENIX: An Interview with Jim Guthrie". Sopwith Motorsports. October 21, 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Jim Guthrie the Cinderella Man". ABQ-Live. January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "News From CART and the IRL". IndyCar Magazine. January 30, 1997. Archived from the original on June 25, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  5. ^ "Sharp 1st To Run Dallara At Phoenix; Brack Tests For Galles As Part Of Goodyear Sessions". Motorsport.com. February 4, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "News from CART and IRL – Galles Signs Bräck". IndyCar Magazine. February 20, 1997. Archived from the original on June 25, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  7. ^ "Testing Ends Early At Texas Motor Speedway". Indy Racing League. February 18, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Stewart, Sharp Top 170 Miles Per Hour At The "Test In The West"". Motorsport.com. February 26, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  9. ^ "Sharp Hits 169.731 In IRL's "Test In The West"". Motorsport.com. February 25, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Record Speeds End IRL "Test In The West"". Motorsport.com. February 28, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  11. ^ "Luyendyk, '96 IRL co-champions Lead March 23 Phoenix 200 Entries". Motorsport.com. March 5, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ a b "Velez, Goodyear End First Speedway Tire Test For New IRL Cars". Motorsport.com. March 7, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  13. ^ "Stewart Reaches 216.080 On Final Day Of Speedway Test". Motorsport.com. March 12, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  14. ^ "Team Sabco Concludes "Coming Out" Party At Speedway". Motorsport.com. March 19, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  15. ^ "Cha, Cha, Cha". The Business Journals. April 14, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  16. ^ "Practice Summary – Friday 03/21/97 – AM". Indy Racing League. March 21, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  17. ^ "Practice Summary – Friday 03/21/97 – PM". Indy Racing League. March 21, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  18. ^ "1997 Phoenix 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, Friday March 21, 1997 – Trackside Notes". Indy Racing League. March 21, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  19. ^ "Practice Summary – Saturday 03/22/97 – AM". Indy Racing League. March 22, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  20. ^ a b "IRL: Phoenix qualifying report". Motorsport.com. March 22, 1997. Archived from the original on January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  21. ^ a b "1997 Phoenix 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, Saturday March 22, 1997 – Trackside Notes". Indy Racing League. March 22, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  22. ^ "Qualification Summary – Saturday 03/22/97 (archived from Archive.org)". Archived from the original on 13 July 1997. Retrieved 23 January 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^ "IRL Engine Competition Heats Up in Arizona Desert". Motorsport.com. March 27, 1998. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  24. ^ "Aurora V8 Sweeps IRL Phoenix 200". Motorsport.com. March 23, 1997. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  25. ^ a b "1997 Phoenix 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, Sunday March 23, 1997 – Trackside Notes". Indy Racing League. March 23, 1997. Archived from the original on July 13, 1997. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  26. ^ a b "IRL: Medical Updates". Motorsport.com. March 26, 1997. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  27. ^ "Guthrie Holds Back Stewart to Celebrate Phoenix 200 Win". Motorsport.com. April 23, 1997. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  28. ^ "U.S. Industries and Blueprint Racing Form Year-Long Partnership". Motorsport.com. April 30, 1997. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
[edit]
Previous race:
1997 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World
Indy Racing League
1996–1997 season
Next race:
1997 Indianapolis 500

Previous race:
1996 Dura Lube 200
Phoenix 200 Next race:
1998 Dura Lube 200