1997 True Value 500

August 2023 June 2015 USA Texas TexasMotorSpeedway.svg June 7 1997 yes True Value 500 6th Indy Racing League Texas Motor Speedway Permanent racing facility 1.500 2.414 208 312.000 502.115 Dry with temperatures reaching up to 86 F C; wind speeds up to 9.9 mph km/h were sighted during the raceWeather information for the 1997 True Value 500 http://m.almanac.com/weather/history/TX/Fort%20Worth/1997-06-07 The Old Farmers' Almanac January 25, 2015February 2026 InternetArchiveBot Tony Stewart Team Menard 1:36.929 (3 laps + pit stop) USA Tony Stewart Team Menard 24.760 97 USA Arie Luyendyk Treadway Racing NED Billy Boat A. J. Foyt Enterprises USA Davey Hamilton A. J. Foyt Enterprises USA The 1997 True Value 500 was the sixth round of the 1996–1997 Indy Racing League season. The race was held on June 7, 1997, at the 1.500 mi km on Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, and it marked the first American open-wheel superspeedway night race. Qualifying The qualifying format was 3-laps, with the average speed deciding grid positions. During their 3rd lap, every driver had to enter the pit lane (with a 120 mph speed limit), stop in a designated spot 30 feet short of the start/finish line and make a pit stop. A maximum of 3 crew members were allowed: one jacking the car up and the other two changing only the front and rear right tires. Finally, the driver had to cross the finish line to complete his qualifying attempt.IRL Practice Report from the Texas Motor Speedway -- Day 1, Session 1 http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19970604/news003098.html The Auto Channel June 12, 2015 Qualifying results Key Meaning R Rookie W Past winner Pos No. Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Best (in mph) Total time 1 2 USA Tony Stewart 24.971 24.943 47.015 216.494 1:36.929 2 3 USA Robbie Buhl 25.738 25.515 46.369 211.640 1:37.622 3 4 SWE Kenny Bräck R 25.499 25.521 46.877 211.773 1:37.897 4 91 USA Buddy Lazier 25.618 25.638 46.737 210.789 1:37.993 5 6 CAN Scott Goodyear 25.906 25.576 46.526 211.135 1:38.008 6 97 USA Greg Ray R 25.791 25.746 48.386 209.741 1:39.923 7 51 USA Eddie Cheever 26.591 26.230 47.243 205.871 1:40.244 8 27 USA Jim Guthrie R 25.877 25.777 48.969 209.489 1:40.623 9 14 USA Davey Hamilton 25.539 25.530 50.752 211.516 1:41.821 10 12 USA Buzz Calkins 26.390 26.315 49.315 205.206 1:42.020 11 5 NED Arie Luyendyk 25.771 25.882 50.368 209.538 1:42.021 12 22 BRA Marco Greco 25.986 25.950 50.275 208.092 1:42.211 13 30 USA Robbie Groff R 25.856 25.852 53.043 208.881 1:44.751 14 28 USA Mark Dismore 26.023 25.641 53.629 210.600 1:45.293 15 21 COL Roberto Guerrero 26.393 26.375 53.202 204.739 1:45.970 16 17 BRA Affonso Giaffone R 26.161 26.119 53.779 206.746 1:46.059 17 8 ITA Vincenzo Sospiri R 27.437 27.401 52.440 197.073 1:47.278 18 44 USA Allen May R 26.606 26.578 55.115 203.176 1:48.299 19 40 US Jack Miller R 29.131 28.237 51.213 191.238 1:48.581 20 16 US Sam Schmidt R 28.290 27.413 1:05.070 196.987 2:00.773 21 1 US Billy Boat1 1 R 25.680 25.467 Unfinished 212.039 No time 22 7 CHI Eliseo Salazar2 2 25.676 Waved off 210.313 No time 23 10 USA Johnny Unser3 3 Did not qualify No speed No time 24 33 ESP Fermín Vélez4 4 R Did not qualify No speed No time 25 18 USA Tyce Carlson5 5 R Did not qualify No speed No time 26 34 ITA Alessandro Zampedri4 4 Did not qualify No speed No time 1 Could not complete his qualifying run after missing his pit box. 2 Entered the pits at the end of the second lap by mistake. 3 Named for the ride after qualifying, he was allowed to start the race at the back of the field. 4 Could not qualify because of an engine shortage in Team Scandia, but was allowed to start the race at the back of the field. 5 Crashed in practice and could not qualify, but was allowed to start the race at the back of the field with a backup chassis loaned by Blueprint Racing. Failed to qualify or withdrew USA Mike Groff for Byrd-Cunningham Racing - fractured his lower left tibia during practice. Replaced by USA Johnny Unser USA Scott Harrington R for Johansson Motorsports - withdrew prior to the start of practice. USA Billy Roe R for EuroInternational - withdrew prior to the start of practice. FRA Stéphan Grégoire for Chastain Motorsports - withdrew prior to the start of practice. USA Lyn St. James for Hemelgarn Racing - withdrew prior to the start of practice. Race report At the start, Marco Greco's engine exploded and trailed oil and metal pieces all over the track, leading to a lengthy cleanup. When the green flag finally fell on lap 20, the Menard cars pulled off, with only Buddy Lazier and Greg Ray being able to keep up. However, the four stayed out too long after everyone else had pitted and lost time on old tires; Tony Stewart ran out of fuel on lap 69 and fell a lap down. By lap 70, a four-way battle was occurring for the lead, and popular Jim Guthrie assumed it on lap 76, only to lose it five laps later after blowing a tire exiting turn 4. Lazier then took over the lead while Arie Luyendyk worked his way towards the front, having rookie Billy Boat within striking distance, and Stewart rapidly reeling them in. During a caution around lap 140, the scoring problems began. After Lazier and Stewart had had a furious wheel-to-wheel duel, Luyendyk inexplicably dropped out of the top 10 in the electronic scoring system, which was not properly counting his laps and those of several other drivers, including Scott Goodyear. Tyce Carlson and Goodyear got bottled up on a restart on lap 143, made contact, and spun into the quad-oval infield. Lazier retired on lap 157 with engine failure and Stewart and Boat appeared to be on the lead lap by themselves. Stewart set off to lap the field, which he appeared to have done by lap 180. On lap 190, Stewart, in traffic, handed the lead to Luyendyk by waving him, thinking the Dutch driver was a lap down. Stewart, thus, was scored as the leader in the final laps, and appeared to have nearly a one-lap lead over Billy Boat. However, as he crossed the line with two laps to go, the engine blew. His car spun in turn 1, and crashed into the outside wall. Boat caught up, appeared to take the lead and, due to the scoring error, race officials showed him the checkered flag as the winner of the race. While Boat and his car owner A. J. Foyt were celebrating in victory lane, Luyendyk stormed in, claiming he had won the race and demanding an explanation from the officials. He was intercepted by Foyt, who slapped Luyendyk, told him to leave and shoved him to the ground before security separated the two and led Luyendyk away. The incident was not shown live in the broadcast, as it happened right after the interviews, but was caught on camera by the TV crew. Foyt and Luyendyk were fined $20,000 and $14,000 respectively, for unsportsmanlike behavior.https://beyondtheflag.com/2016/06/12/raceday-rewind-1997-indycar-true-value-500/ RaceDay Rewind - 1997 IndyCar True Value 500 Alex Herbst Beyond the Flag 12 June 2016 March 19, 2022 November 1, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161101101922/http://beyondtheflag.com/2016/06/12/raceday-rewind-1997-indycar-true-value-500/ dead right 300px A. J. Foyt post-race slap on Arie Luyendyk The race tape was reviewed and it was determined that Luyendyk was right; he had finished on a lap by himself and had actually completed more laps than the scheduled race distance, being declared the official winner the following day. The results was revised back to the proper ending lap, shuffling the entire top 10. Luyendyk, fresh off his Indy 500 victory, became the first driver to win two IRL races in a row, but it took almost a week to determine. Foyt, however refused to return the trophy and retains the original to this day. A duplicate was awarded to Luyendyk. The outcome of this race had far-reaching implications for the IRL far beyond the race itself. From the beginning of the IRL until this time, United States Automobile Club (USAC) performed the timing and scoring of IRL races, as well as other functions such as technical inspection. The following week, in the wake of the Texas scoring scandal, the restart problems two weeks earlier at Indianapolis and the ensuing bad publicity, USAC was immediately removed from sanctioning the series, putting that organization completely out of Indy car racing after 42 years. The league switched to in-house sanctioning starting with the next event. Race results Original box score Key Meaning R Rookie W Past winner Unofficial results before the revision Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led 11USA Billy Boat RA. J. Foyt Enterprises2082:21:252118 214USA Davey HamiltonA. J. Foyt Enterprises208+ 5.487 sec94 35NED Arie LuyendykTreadway Racing208+ 15.448 sec110 42USA Tony StewartTeam Menard206Engine/Contact1117 57CHI Eliseo SalazarTeam Scandia206+ 2 laps223 651USA Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever205+ 3 laps70 78ITA Vincenzo Sospiri RTeam Scandia205+ 3 laps170 810USA Johnny UnserByrd-Cunningham Racing204+ 4 laps230 96CAN Scott GoodyearTreadway Racing204+ 4 laps50 1097USA Greg Ray RKnapp Motorsports204+ 4 laps60 1128USA Mark DismoreKelley Racing-PDM203+ 5 laps140 1234ITA Alessandro Zampedri   Team Scandia202+ 6 laps260 1321COL Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing202+ 6 laps150 1418USA Tyce Carlson RPDM Racing184+ 24 laps250 1530USA Robbie Groff RMcCormack Motorsports173Engine133 163USA Robbie BuhlTeam Menard167Engine20 1791USA Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing157Engine457 184SWE Kenny Bräck RGalles Racing118Water Leak30 1912USA Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports98Head Gasket100 2017BRA Affonso Giaffone RChitwood Motorsports82Engine Fire160 2127USA Jim Guthrie RBlueprint Racing81Tire/Contact86 2244USA Allen May RSinden Racing36Accident180 2316USA Sam Schmidt RBlueprint Racing36Accident200 2440USA Jack Miller RSinden Racing24Electrical190 2533ESP Fermín Vélez RTeam Scandia1Illness240 2622BRA Marco GrecoTeam Scandia0Engine/Spin120 Revised Official Results Pos No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points 15NED Arie LuyendykTreadway Racing2082:19:48.166112035 21USA Billy Boat RA. J. Foyt Enterprises207+ 1 lap211033 314USA Davey HamiltonA. J. Foyt Enterprises207+ 1 lap9432 46CAN Scott GoodyearTreadway Racing207+ 1 lap5031 52USA Tony StewartTeam Menard206Engine/Contact110033 651USA Eddie CheeverTeam Cheever206+ 2 laps7529 77CHI Eliseo SalazarTeam Scandia204+ 2 laps22328 897USA Greg Ray RKnapp Motorsports204+ 4 laps6027 98ITA Vincenzo Sospiri RTeam Scandia204+ 4 laps17026 1010USA Johnny UnserByrd-Cunningham Racing203+ 5 laps23025 1128USA Mark DismoreKelley Racing-PDM203+ 5 laps14024 1234ITA Alessandro Zampedri   Team Scandia201+ 7 laps26023 1321COL Roberto GuerreroPagan Racing201+ 7 laps15022 1418USA Tyce Carlson RPDM Racing184+ 24 laps25021 1530USA Robbie Groff RMcCormack Motorsports173Engine13320 163USA Robbie BuhlTeam Menard167Engine2019 1791USA Buddy LazierHemelgarn Racing157Engine45718 184SWE Kenny Bräck RGalles Racing118Water Leak3017 1912USA Buzz CalkinsBradley Motorsports98Head Gasket10016 2017BRA Affonso Giaffone RChitwood Motorsports82Engine Fire16015 2127USA Jim Guthrie RBlueprint Racing81Tire/Contact8614 2244USA Allen May RSinden Racing36Accident18013 2316USA Sam Schmidt RBlueprint Racing36Accident20012 2440USA Jack Miller RSinden Racing24Electrical19011 2533ESP Fermín Vélez RTeam Scandia1Illness24010 2622BRA Marco GrecoTeam Scandia0Engine/Spin1209 Race statistics Lead changes: 14 among 9 drivers Lap Leaders Laps Leader1-68 Tony Stewart69-71 Eliseo Salazar72-75 Davey Hamilton76-81 Jim Guthrie82-84 Billy Boat85-87 Robbie Groff88-120 Buddy Lazier121-125 Eddie Cheever126-132 Billy Boat133 Tony Stewart134-157 Buddy Lazier158-169 Tony Stewart170 Arie Luyendyk171-189 Tony Stewart190-208 Arie Luyendyk Cautions: 8 for 60 laps Laps Reason1-18Marco Greco's blown engine; debris24-26Jack Miller stopped on track37-46Sam Schmidt and Allen May crash81-91Jim Guthrie crash / Affonso Giaffone's blown engine137-141Kenny Brack's engine leaks water on track142-148Scott Goodyear and Tyce Carlson contact168-171Robbie Buhl's engine leaks oil on track207-208Tony Stewart crash Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 US Davey Hamilton 175 2 USA Tony Stewart 166 3 US Buzz Calkins 153 4 US Mike Groff 148 5 NED Arie Luyendyk 147 Note: Only the top five positions are included for the standings. References External links RACER - Marshall Pruett: The IRL's coming of age in Texas, 1997 IndyCar official website Indy Racing League True Value 500 1996-1997 1997 Indianapolis 500 1997 Samsonite 200 none 1998 True Value 500 Category:1996–97 in IndyCar Category:Firestone 600 Category:1997 in sports in Texas True Value 500, 1997