1997 Indy Racing League

The field has finished qualifying for the 7th race of the season the Samsonite 200 at the Pikes Peak International Raceway.

Billy Boat won the pole, with a time of 30.896 seconds, beating Tony Stewart by 0.106 seconds.

Other Noticeables:
Billy Boat won his 1st pole of the year,
Boat won his 1st career pole in the Indy Racing League in his 3rd start,
Marco Greco, who will start 18th, has a 4 point lead over Roberto Guerrero

1.18-Billy Boat
2.2-Tony Stewart
3.12-Buzz Calkins
4.14-Davey Hamilton
5.51-Eddie Cheever Jr.
6.17-Affonso Giaffone
7.77-Stephan Gregoire
8.4-Kenny Brack
9.7-Eliseo Salazar
10.28-Mark Dismore
11.30-Robbie Groff
12.6-Scott Goodyear
13.1-Scott Sharp
14.91-Buddy Lazier
15.22-Vincenzo Sospiri
16.33-Jimmy Kite
17.10-Johnny Unser
18.70-Marco Greco
19.21-Roberto Guerrero
20.40-Jack Miller
21.5-Arie Luyendyk
22.97-Greg Ray

Did Not Qualify
23.27-Jim Guthrie

Race #7 - Samsonite 200

The Indy Racing League made their 7th stop of 1997 at the Pikes Peak International Raceway, in Fountain, Colorado, for the inaugural Samsonite 200.

Billy Boat led the field to the green picking right where he left off at Texas, but for the second race in a row it was Tony Stewart who would lead the first lap. Stewart would show the power of his John Menard owned car as drivers raced at Pikes Peak Raceway for the first time in series history as drivers tip-toed through the race to try and understand which allowed Stewart to pull away until he was tapped by a lap car and spun out bringing out the first caution. Stewart would rebound and would only lose the lead during the final round of pit stops and Stewart would go on to score a dominating win by leading all but two laps.

Other Noticeables:
Tony Stewart scored his 1st win of the year,
Stewart led 2 times for 198 laps, including the final 47 laps,
It was the 2nd win of his career in the Indy Racing League and his first since 1996 at Walt Disney World; 9 races ago,
Jimmy Kite, who finished 19th, made his Indy Racing League debut,
Marco Greco, who finished 16th, kept his points lead, leading Buzz Calkins by 4 points

1.2-Tony Stewart (198 laps led)
2.51-Eddie Cheever Jr.-1 lap
3.77-Stephan Gregoire-1 lap (2 laps led)
4.14-Davey Hamilton-1 lap
5.12-Buzz Calkins-1 lap
6.6-Scott Goodyear-2 laps
7.22-Vincenzo Sospiri-2 laps
8.91-Buddy Lazier-2 laps
9.7-Eliseo Salazar-2 laps
10.40-Jack Miller-2 laps
11.28-Mark Dismore-2 laps
12.17-Affonso Giaffone-2 laps
13.5-Arie Luyendyk-3 laps
14.30-Robbie Groff-3 laps
15.4-Kenny Brack-3 laps
16.70-Marco Greco-3 laps
17.21-Roberto Guerrero-4 laps
18.1-Scott Sharp-4 laps
19.33-Jimmy Kite-4 laps
20.97-Greg Ray-4 laps
21.10-Johnny Unser-7 laps
22.18-Billy Boat-10 laps

Billy Boat-Pole
Tony Stewart-1-151
Stephan Gregoire-152-153
Tony Stewart-154-200

2 Lead Changes among 2 drivers

Caution Flags: 3 for 12 laps
Lap 74 (Car #2 Spin Turn 3),
Lap 94 (Cars #5, 97 and 4 Accident Turn 3),
Lap 169 (Car #18 Spin Turn 3)

Margin of Victory: 1 Lap

Time of Race: 1 Hour, 59 Minutes and 44 Seconds

The field has finished qualifying for the 8th race of the season the Visionaire 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Affonso Giaffone won the pole, with a time of 34.908 seconds, beating Billy Boat by 0.049 seconds.

Other Noticeables:
Affonso Giaffone won his 1st pole of the year,
Giaffone won his 1st career pole in the Indy Racing League in his 6th start,
Marco Greco, who will start 7th, has a 4 point lead over Buzz Calkins

1.17-Affonso Giaffone
2.1-Billy Boat
3.4-Kenny Brack
4.30-Robbie Groff
5.6-Scott Goodyear
6.27-Jim Guthrie
7.70-Marco Greco
8.18-John Paul Jr.
9.91-Buddy Lazier
10.2-Tony Stewart
11.51-Eddie Cheever Jr.
12.40-Jack Miller
13.21-Roberto Guerrero
14.10-Mike Groff
15.77-Stephan Gregoire
16.7-Eliseo Salazar
17.99-Sam Schmidt
18.5-Arie Luyendyk
19.31-Greg Ray
20.14-Davey Hamilton
21.22-Vincenzo Sospiri
22.28-Mark Dismore
23.33-Jimmy Kite

Race #8 - Visionaire 500

The Indy Racing League made their 8th stop of 1997 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, in Concord, North Carolina, for the inaugural Visionaire 500.

Affonso Giaffone led the field to the green and would quickly began to put distance between himself and the other drivers as for the first time the IRL raced at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Giaffone would hold on to the lead through the first caution before Buddy Lazier would take the lead and he would set sail from there, losing the lead only during a round of pit stops, as Lazier would hang on and scored his first ever IRL win.

Other Noticeables:
Buddy Lazier scored his 1st win of the year,
Lazier led 2 times for 141 laps, including the final 55 laps,
It was the 1st win of his career in the Indy Racing League in his 10th start,
Eddie Cheever Jr., who finished 3rd, is the new points leader, leading Roberto Guerrero by 7 points

1.91-Buddy Lazier (141 laps led)
2.6-Scott Goodyear
3.51-Eddie Cheever Jr.
4.2-Tony Stewart
5.7-Eliseo Salazar
6.1-Billy Boat (2 laps led)
7.77-Stephan Gregoire
8.27-Jim Guthrie-1 lap
9.10-Mike Groff-1 lap
10.14-Davey Hamilton-1 lap
11.21-Roberto Guerrero-1 lap
12.28-Mark Dismore-1 lap
13.33-Jimmy Kite-2 laps
14.18-John Paul Jr.-2 laps
15.17-Affonso Giaffone-3 laps (63 laps led)
16.4-Kenny Brack-4 laps (2 laps led)
17.22-Vincenzo Sospiri-4 laps
18.70-Marco Greco-4 laps
19.31-Greg Ray-7 laps
20.5-Arie Luyendyk-84 laps (Clutch)
21.40-Jack Miller-131 laps (Accident)
22.30-Robbie Groff-131 laps (Accident)
23.99-Sam Schmidt-147 laps (Accident)

Affonso Giaffone-1-63
Buddy Lazier-64-149
Billy Boat-150-151
Kenny Brack-152-153
Buddy Lazier-154-208

4 Lead Changes among 4 drivers

Caution Flags: 3 for 12 laps
Lap 62 (Cars #40 and 99 Accident Turn 3),
Lap 79 (Cars #30, 22 and 40 Accident Turn 1)
Lap 84 (Cars #22 and 14 Spin Turn 1)

Margin of Victory: 6.557 Seconds

Time of Race: 2 Hours, 24 Minutes and 30 Seconds