The Indy Racing League's first race on normally aspirated engines ended in a downpour, with an owner-driver taking the win after the front-runner's late oil line failure.
Eddie Cheever won the 1997 Indy 200 at Walt Disney World after rain stopped the race at 149 of its 200 scheduled laps. Mike Groff and Scott Goodyear completed the podium, and the event marked the debut of the series' normally aspirated engine formula.
The Indy 200 staged at Walt Disney World in 1997 was an open-wheel race held in Bay Lake, Florida, on 25 January 1997. Eddie Cheever won after a downpour stopped the event before its scheduled 200 laps, following mechanical failures for the two leaders. It was the first race run under the Indy Racing League's new normally aspirated engine rules, and it produced one of the more surprising results of the early IRL years.
What was the Indy 200 held at Walt Disney World in 1997?
It was round three of a ten-race 1996-97 Indy Racing League calendar, and the second time the event had been held at Walt Disney World Speedway. The United States Auto Club sanctioned it, and an estimated 54,000 spectators watched. It was scheduled for 200 laps but was stopped after 149 when heavy rain arrived.
The circuit is a 1.6 km (1 mile) tri-oval whose banking changes from turn to turn, at 10 degrees in turn one, 8.5 degrees in turn two and seven degrees in turn three. Buzz Calkins had won the previous running, so he arrived as the defending champion. The race was held on 25 January, the first event of the 1997 calendar, although it was not the season opener.
The championship picture going in was tight. Going in, Groff topped the standings with 63 points, while Calkins and Michele Alboreto were tied on 62. Roberto Guerrero and Richie Hearn sat next on 60 and 59 points, so a single result could reshuffle the top of the table.
A rain-shortened race on new engines handed an owner-driver the win after the front-runner's oil line failed.
How did the new engine formula change the field?
The new formula replaced the turbocharged 2.65 L (0.70 U.S. gal) engines of 1996 with normally aspirated 4.0 L (1.1 U.S. gal) V8s. The aim was to reduce both costs and speeds. Oldsmobile's Aurora and Nissan's Infiniti Indy were the two engines on offer.
Dallara and G-Force built the new chassis, each with an airbox above and behind the cockpit to feed air into the engine bay. Development had begun earlier. The G-Force car with the Aurora engine made its first appearance at Phoenix International Raceway in November 1996, where Arie Luyendyk ran near 261 km/h (162 mph) in a two-day test.
Engines were scarce. Oldsmobile had produced few units, and Infiniti was not ready when the first open test took place in December. Only Luyendyk, Tony Stewart and Scott Sharp took part in that early session. Scott Goodyear then set the fastest overall speed of the pre-holiday tests at 270.603 km/h (168.145 mph) on 23 December.
Testing resumed in January. Stewart posted the quickest speed among the ten participating drivers at 273.259 km/h (169.795 mph), and the Infiniti unit finally debuted in Mike Groff's car. The same month, Eliseo Salazar lost control on oil from his engine and hit the wall in turn one, leaving him with a compression fracture of the lower back. He was not expected back in a car until early May.
Who lined up on the grid?
Nineteen drivers started the race, representing 16 teams. The tentative list of 23 cars, revealed on 21 January, shrank as Johnny Unser, Sam Schmidt, Robbie Buhl and Mark Dismore pulled out because of the engine shortage. The remaining entries used Oldsmobile, Infiniti and Ford engines.
Several changes came with the new season. Scott Goodyear left CART for Treadway Racing, and Danny Ongais made what turned out to be the final start of his Indy car career with Chitwood Motorsports. Richie Hearn, who had won the Las Vegas race in October 1996, switched to CART.
Practice ran in four sessions, two on Thursday and two on Friday. Davy Jones crashed heavily in the opening session and was taken by helicopter to hospital, and Galles Racing later replaced him with Jeff Ward. Stewart set the fastest time of the first session at 21.465 seconds.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Stewart won the pole with a lap of 21.685 seconds, 0.138 seconds faster than Luyendyk in second. Calkins started third despite fuel pressure problems that day, followed by Sharp in fourth and Cheever in fifth. Buddy Lazier qualified 11th after a gearbox failure in morning practice.
It was Stewart's second career pole. He regarded this one as his first, because the earlier pole at the 1996 Indianapolis 500 had been inherited rather than earned on the track. He also said the new cars were a little more forgiving than the previous year's machines.
Three drivers missed the qualifying order. Roberto Guerrero was waiting on a new Infiniti engine, while Jack Miller and Stephan Gregoire were off the pace. All three had to take part in a 30-minute systems check session, and Guerrero and Miller were allowed to start 17th and 18th. Gregoire inherited the final place on the grid.
What happened during the race?
Rain pushed the systems check back to 11:09 a.m., and the field finally took the green flag at 12:40 p.m. in front of an estimated 54,000 spectators. The track was 29 C (85 F) at the start. Stewart pulled clear of Luyendyk immediately and built a lead of 6.9 seconds.
Luyendyk then came under pressure for second from Calkins. Gregoire retired early with a fuel pump problem. Calkins's car began to smoke, and he was later black-flagged to pit road. Several other cars stopped with mechanical trouble during the early running, and the field was thinned long before the midpoint.
Calkins led until his engine blew on the 145th lap. He limped to the pits trailing smoke and retired. Stewart got back in front, yet his oil line failed while he was nearing turn three. His car struck the outside wall and then slid down the front straight, and that spin brought out the second caution on lap 146.
Cheever inherited a full-lap advantage over Groff. He pitted on the 148th lap, just before a sudden downpour crossed the track. Officials red-flagged the race on lap 149. When the rain persisted, the race was declared official and the result stood as it was.
Why was Cheever's victory significant?
Cheever won his first Indy car race in his 87th start, and it was his first motor racing victory since 1988, when he took the 1000 km of Fuji. He was the first owner-driver to win an Indy car race since A. J. Foyt at the 1981 Pocono 500. The win paid $170,000.
The race also set several records for the series. Only three drivers led at least one lap, the fewest of any IRL race to that point. Only two cautions were needed, and five cars finished on the lead lap. Attrition was severe, with ten of the 19 starters failing to finish.
Cheever praised his crew and said the race was among the most enjoyable of his career. He said that not having to manage a turbocharger had made the car far easier to live with. He also described how he had avoided Stewart, who had come out of the pits in the wrong sequence and then slid sideways.
What was the final classification?
Cheever won ahead of Mike Groff, who took the third and last podium finish of his career. Scott Goodyear was third, Scott Sharp fourth and Buddy Lazier fifth. Jim Guthrie, Davey Hamilton, Marco Greco and Fermin Velez completed the classified finishers.
| Position | Driver | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eddie Cheever | Winner after 149 laps, Cheever Racing |
| 2 | Mike Groff | Third and final podium finish of his career |
| 3 | Scott Goodyear | Treadway Racing |
| 4 | Scott Sharp | Fourth place |
| 5 | Buddy Lazier | Fifth place |
After the race Groff led the Drivers' Championship on 96 points, 10 clear of Calkins. Sharp rose to third with 85 points, Davey Hamilton was fourth on 82 and Marco Greco fifth on 81. Seven races remained in the season, and the title chase was still open.
Goodyear, who finished third, said the result did not feel like his team's own achievement. He pointed out that Team Menard had done far more testing than his group, so the points arrived on terms that were not entirely theirs.
Why did the rear-first crashes lead to new rules?
Salazar and Davy Jones were both injured in rear-first crashes, and the IRL responded by requiring an attenuator behind each gearbox. Emco, which made the gearboxes, agreed to cut 4.5 kg (10 pounds) from them. The changes were designed to absorb the energy of a rear impact.
Salazar recovered in time to race at the 1997 Indianapolis 500. Jones had head and neck injuries and was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital in Indiana for treatment. He stepped away from racing briefly and returned for a 1999 endurance race at Sebring. The following year he failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, which ended his IRL career.
How did drivers and officials react?
Cheever praised his team, Stewart blamed his oil line for the spin, and IRL founder Tony George was delighted with how the cars held together. Press reaction was mixed, with some critics finding the race dull and others welcoming the new machinery.
George said the engines had survived the race well, although some oil lines and other non-engine parts had broken. Stewart insisted that his team was among the best in the series and that its preparation was unmatched. Groff was pleased with the reliability of his Infiniti engine, which was only a few weeks old on the track.
Newspapers and magazines were divided. Ned Wicker of Indy Car Racing Magazine thought the race was not great but liked the new cars for giving the IRL its own identity. The New York Times found it relatively free of excitement until the final five laps. The Globe and Mail argued that the series attracted drivers who had fallen short in CART.
The result gave the new engine formula an early benchmark, and the cars had held together well under a long and damp afternoon. Groff's Infiniti engine had covered very few miles on track, yet it was reliable throughout, which pleased the team.
