Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Date: Sunday, May 25, 1997
Start time: 12:00 noon EDT
Weather: Cool, rainy
Serial: #5 of 10 in 1996-1997 season
History: IRL race #2, Indycar race #91 at this track
Config: 2.5-mile, rectanglar
Wing package: Speedway
Arie Luyendyk became the 15th multiple winner of the Indianapolis 500 after three days. The race was not started on Sunday due to rain. The weather cruelly teased the racers and the fans, letting up just long enough to get the track dry; then, as the cars were being prepared for a start, rain struck again and forced a postponent. The following day, the race started but was red-flagged for rain after 15 laps and postponed again, until Tuesday. Tony Stewart had, for his second straight 500 jumped into the lead at the start and led all 15 laps before the rains came. It was only the third time the Indy 500 has been postponed by rain to a following day after it started. The race finally went green again on lap 18 on Tuesday, but immediately trouble struck as Robby Gordon's car developed a fire in the cockpit. Gordon stopped in turn 4 and leaped out with second-degree burns. On the attempt to restart four cars collided in turn 4. Finally, on lap 28 the green flew and the crowd was treated to some racing. Stewart pulled away as Luyendyk picked his way through traffic to second place. Phoenix winner Jim Guthrie, struggling with fuel pressure and overheating problems, blew an engine on the front stretch on lap 59. On lap 115, a collision involving Billy Roe and Paul Durant sent Durant to the hospital with a hip injury, which fortunately turned out not to be serious. Later, Jack Miller and Mike Groff collided. After the yellow, rooke Jeff Ward assumed the lead and for a while it appeared that a rookie might win the race for the first time since Graham Hill in 1966, but he finally lost the lead on a pit stop on lap 193. The last ten laps were confusing with two yellows; a green was thrown without a one-lap warning on lap 199, and in the confusion Luyendyk got the jump on his teammate Scott Goodyear and led the last lap for the victory. Goodyear finished second for the third time in his Indy 500 career. In practice, Scott Sharp and John Paul Jr. were injured and were unable to compete in the race.
Fin St Qual Car C/E/T Driver Entrant Laps Status Laps Pts
Spd # Led
1 1 218.263 5 G/A/F Arie Luyendyk Treadway 200 Running 61 37
2 5 212.440 6 G/A/F Scott Goodyear Treadway 200 Running 2 33
3 7 214.517 52 G/A/G Jeff Ward Cheever 200 Running 49 32
4 10 214.286 91 D/A/F Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn 200 Running 7 31
5 2 215.811 2 G/A/F Tony Stewart Menard 199 Running 64 31
6 8 214.484 14 G/A/G Davey Hamilton Foyt 199 Running 29
7 22 215.544 11 D/A/G Billy Boat Foyt 199 Running 1 31
8 4 216.102 3 G/A/F Robbie Buhl Menard 199 Running 16 27
9 21 207.792 30 G/A/G Robbie Groff McCormack 197 Running 26
10 29 206.512 33 D/A/G Fermin Velez Scandia 195 Running 25
11 16 209.564 12 G/A/G Buzz Calkins Bradley 188 Running 24
12 18 208.537 10 G/I/F Mike Groff Byrd-C'ham 188 Running 23
13 34 210.145 90 D/I/F Lyn St. James Hemelgarn 186 Crash T4 22
14 20 210.793 44 D/A/G Steve Kinser Sinden 185 Crash T4 21
15 28 207.626 54 D/I/F Dennis Vitolo Beck 173 Running 20
16 27 210.322 22 D/A/G Marco Greco Scandia 166 Running 19
17 3 216.822 8 D/A/G Vincenzo Sospiri Scandia 163 Running 18
18 35 209.344 9 D/I/F Johnny Unser Hemelgarn 158 Engine 17
19 26 210.852 18 D/A/G Tyce Carlson PDM 158 Crash T2 16
20 17 209.250 40 D/I/F Jack Miller Sinden 131 Crash T3 15
21 33 209.149 1 G/A/G Paul Durant Foyt 111 Crash T3 14
22 24 212.752 50 D/A/F Billy Roe Euroint'l 110 Crash T3 13
23 11 214.073 51 G/A/G Eddie Cheever Cheever 84 Timing Ch. 12
24 9 214.320 7 D/A/G Eliseo Salazar Scandia 70 Brakes 11
25 30 213.760 97 D/A/F Greg Ray Knapp 48 Water Pump 10
26 6 215.207 27 D/A/F Jim Guthrie Blueprint 43 Fuel Pres. 9
27 19 207.371 21 D/I/G Roberto Guerrero Pagan 25 Suspension 8
28 25 212.423 28 D/A/G Mark Dismore Kelley 24 Crash T4 7
29 12 213.211 42 G/A/G Robby Gordon SABCO 19 Fire 6
30 32 210.523 72 D/A/F Claude Bourbonnais Blueprint 9 Engine 5
31 13 213.126 77 G/A/G Stephan Gregoire Chastain 0 Crash T4 4
32 14 212.974 17 D/A/G Affonso Giaffone Chitwood 0 Crash T4 3
33 15 211.221 4 G/A/G Kenny Brack Galles 0 Crash T4 2
34 23 215.141 16 D/A/F Sam Schmidt Blueprint 0 Engine 1
35 31 211.757 34 D/A/F Alessandro Zampedri Scandia 0 Oil Leak 1
The cars #90 and #9 did not origianlly qualify, under the 25-and-8 rule. They were added to the field after qualifying, when the IRL decided to admit all non-exempt cars that had qualified faster than the slowest exempt car (the #33).
Laps under green: 141 of 200 laps (70.5%)
Caution flags: 11 for 59 laps (29.5%),
plus 1 incident prior to start.
Pace lap: crash (Brack, Giaffone, Gregoire), T4, 4 laps
#1: lap 10, rain, 9 laps
#2: lap 20, car on fire (Gordon), T1, 4 laps
#3: lap 24, crash (Dismore, Guerrero, Kinser, Salazar), T4, 5 laps
#4: lap 59, stalled car (Guthrie), FS, 6 laps
#5: lap 94, crash (Salazar), T2, 6 laps
#6: lap 114, crash (Durant, Roe), T3, 10 laps
#7: lap 137, crash (M. Groff, Miller), T3, 6 laps
#8: lap 165, crash (Carlson), T4, 5 laps
#9: lap 189, crash (Kinser, St. James), T4, 5 laps
#10: lap 196, debris, 2 laps
#11: lap 199, crash (Stewart), T4, 1 lap
Red flags: 1 for 23 hours, 27 minutes
#1: lap 15: rain, 23:27
Lead changes: 16
St: Stewart 1-50
#1: Boat 51
#2: Stewart 52-62
#3: Luyendyk 63-78
#4: Stewart 79
#5: Lazier 80-82
#6: Luyendyk 83-109
#7: Stewart 110-111
#8: Lazier 112-115
#9: Buhl 116-131
#10: Luyendyk 132-140
#11: Goodyear 141
#12: Ward 142-166
#13: Luyendyk 167-168
#14: Ward 169-192
#15: Goodyear 193
#16: Luyendyk 194-200
C/E/T finish averages (# started / avg finish):
Dallara: 21 / 20.8
G-Force: 14 / 13.9
Aurora: 29 / 18.1
Infiniti: 6 / 17.5
Firestone: 16 / 16.9
Goodyear: 19 / 19.0