1997 Phoenix 200

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 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.

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. 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.

On February 4–7, the week after the Copper World Classic, Goodyear ran a tire test at Phoenix with 5 drivers. 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.

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, which was missed by Beck Motorsports, still without engines, and Chitwood Motorsports. 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. A. J. Foyt Enterprises had bought a G-Force chassis to evaluate its performance against the Dallara, and Sharp drove it to a fastest lap of 170.777 mph. 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. 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.

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. 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, while Tony Stewart, who topped out at 216.080 mph, and John Paul Jr. did it 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 in 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, 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. 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. 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.

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.

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. For the first time in series' history, all the drivers that took part in the practice sessions would start the race.

Qualifying Results

# 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, who ended the day with 860 miles of running in its engine.

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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

Race Results

Box Score

Race Statistics

* Lead changes: 10 among 5 drivers

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings.

References

External links

IndyCar official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix 200, 1997
1996–97 in IndyCar
Phoenix 200