The 1997 Samsonite 200 (also referred to as the Colorado 200 on ABC's TV coverage) was the seventh round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League. The race was held on June 29, 1997, at the Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado.

Qualifying

# 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.

Failed to qualify or withdrew

* Jim Guthrie R for Blueprint Racing - crashed during Friday's first practice session and was hospitalised with a fractured vertebra. * Robbie Buhl for Team Menard - suffered a concussion during testing on June 13 and was unable to compete. * Mike Groff for Byrd-Cunningham Racing - entered for the race, but not cleared to drive because of the injuries suffered at Texas. Replaced by Johnny Unser * John Paul Jr. for

PDM Racing PDM may stand for: Computing * .pdm (disambiguation), several file formats * Personal data manager - portable hardware tool enabling secure storage and easy access to user data * Phase dispersion minimization, a data analysis technique for fin ...

- entered for the race, but not cleared to drive because of the injuries suffered at Indianapolis. Replaced by Billy Boat R * Alessandro Zampedri for

Team Scandia Team Scandia was a team in the Indy Racing League owned by Andy Evans that fielded a record 7 cars in the 1996 Indianapolis 500. Evans bought the team from Dick Simon during the 1996 season and Simon was listed as the owners of some of Scandia ...

- Although not officially withdrawn for the weekend, he didn't appear at the track, as

downgraded its operation from five to three cars following an engine shortage at Texas and a reshuffle of the team's lineup,

Race Recap

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He i ...

came into this race having just missed victory in the past three IRL races, but he put the issue beyond doubt by dominating this race, leading all but seven of the 200 laps. The race started off with polesitter Scott Sharp wrecking on the first lap. He suffered a non-contact brain injury, despite relatively minor damage to the car. The accident (following a similar accident 2 weeks before which forced Stewart's teammate Robbie Buhl to miss the race) revived concern about the cars' inability to absorb energy in a rear-end accident, leading to changes in the gearbox case and bellhousing. Sharp would miss the rest of the season as the result of the injury. Turns 2 and 4 were treacherous all day, and several early crashes resulted in lengthy cleanups and many laps under caution. Eddie Cheever dogged Stewart all day long, and Stéphan Grégoire led his first-ever laps in an IRL race. In the end neither of them had enough for Stewart, but after a late caution Cheever, Davey Hamilton, and Grégoire dueled three-wide for second. Grégoire broke out and attempted to slingshot Stewart at the finish line, missing by about a car length. Cheever and Hamilton finished side-by-side with Hamilton taking third. The win was Stewart's first in his Indy car career, and the first win for team owner

John Menard Jr. John Robert Menard Jr. (born January 22, 1940) is an American billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Menards, a Midwestern chain of home improvement stores. He is a former INDYCAR racing team owner, and the father of former NASCAR ...

after 18 years of Indy car competition. Seven cars finished the race on the lead lap, an IRL record.

Box Score

Race Statistics

*Lead changes: 5 among 4 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:Samsonite 200, 1997 1996–97 in IndyCar Samsonite 200 Motorsport in Colorado