Gordon, NASCAR led way in ‘97

Mike Harris

Friday, Dec. 26, 1997 | 10:17 a.m.

Auto racing in 1997 can be summed up in a name: Jeff Gordon.

Not only did the 26-year-old phenom win his second series championship in three years, he left little doubt he will be the main focus of the stock car sport for years to come.

He and the rest of NAS CAR's Winston Cup circuit led the way as auto racing continued its amazing growth spurt with new speedways in major cities.

While NASCAR and auto racing in general flourished, Formula One was steeped in controversy and facing an uncertain future. Jacques Villeneuve won his "world championship" as a series of off-track rulings on driver behavior stole the focus.

Now, a TV dispute in France has resulted in the cancellation of the French Grand Prix, a 40-year fixture on the worldwide circuit. And a ban on tobacco advertising has put the traditional Grand Prix of Belgium on the endangered list.

As for Gordon, he won 10 races, including his first Daytona 500, and picked up a $1 million bonus for winning three of NASCAR's biggest events. Still, he had to hold off furious late-season challenges by Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin.

In the end, Gordon won the championship by just 14 points over Jarrett and 29 over Martin in the closest three-way championship finish in NASCAR's history.

"This has been a very rewarding year and I really want to enjoy this championship," Gordon said. "I felt like (the championship in) '95 was just a whirlwind and I never got to sit down and relax and just enjoy it."

Jarrett's runner-up finish was his best ever, as were his seven victories. Martin had four wins, set a record for most career victories in NASCAR's Busch Series and won a record third IROC series title.

Jeff Burton got his first win in the inaugural event at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, and wound up with three victories. John Andretti also became a first-time Winston Cup winner.

But seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt failed to win for the first time in 16 seasons. Meanwhile, Ricky Rudd, the Brickyard 400 winner, matched Earnhardt's string of 15 straight seasons with at least one win.

Roger Penske's California Speedway also became a new Winston Cup venue, with Gordon winning at the track near Los Angeles.

Seating capacity was increased at virtually every other NASCAR track, and Las Vegas was added to a schedule expanded to 33 races in 1998, when NASCAR celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Meanwhile, tracks near Denver, St. Louis and Miami are moving closer to Winston Cup status. And a major complex is planned near Kansas City as the sport continues to shed its Southeastern regional image.

"I don't see any end in sight," said Brian France, vice president of marketing for NASCAR and the grandson of founder Bill France Sr. "There is still room to grow. ... This is a golden time for our sport."

The biggest change on the horizon is the switch by Ford teams next season from Thunderbird to Taurus. Ford had decided to stop marketing the venerable T-Birds, so the Taurus will become the first four-door model ever raced regularly on the stock car circuit.

The schism in Indy-car racing continued in 1997, with CART running 17 races and the Indy Racing League completing its 10-race schedule that began with two events in 1996. TV ratings for both series were down, but the crowds at the track generally increased, and on-track performance was never better.

Italian driver Alex Zanardi won four poles and five races, including his first oval victory in the U.S. 500. He earned his first CART PPG Cup championship, while Tony Stewart, another precocious 26-year-old, won his first IRL race and took the championship in a close battle with Las Vegan Davey Hamilton.

The CART season featured eight different race winners. PacWest teammates Mark Blundell of England and Mauricio Gugelmin of Brazil broke through for their first Indy-car wins, as did Canadian Greg Moore.

In the end, though, Zanardi became the only driver other than 1995 champion Villeneuve to win Rookie of the Year honors and the series title in consecutive seasons.

Gil de Ferran set a record with seven top-three finishes without winning, and he finished second in the points race. Defending champion Jimmy Vasser, Zanardi's teammate as Target-Chip Ganassi Racing, was third.

CART has 19 races in 1998, adding events in Japan and Houston. After the season, it announced new title sponsorship -- and will be known as the FedEx Championship Series -- and a plan to go public by offering 4.6 million shares of common stock.

The IRL resumed its final split season in January with new, 4-liter engines and new chassis. After some early engine failures and head injuries, apparently related to a bulky gearbox in the rear of the new cars, the 2-year-old series managed to put on some strong shows.

But there was plenty of controversy, too.

At the showcase Indianapolis 500, Arie Luyendyk's victory over teammate Scott Goodyear was tainted by a last-lap mix-up among U.S. Auto Club officials. They restarted the race after a caution period, but left the yellow cautions lights on, confusing Goodyear enough that he hesitated while Luyendyk took off and won easily.

Then, at the inaugural IRL event at Texas Motor Speedway, USAC's scoring system broke down, leading to an embarrassing scene in victory circle when Luyendyk was slapped by team-owner A.J. Foyt for saying his driver, Billy Boat, did not win the race.

After an all-night review of the scoring, Luyendyk was declared the winner. Days later, the IRL fired USAC as its sanctioning body, and assumed those duties itself.

Overall, though, the season was a good one, with successful new races at Texas, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pikes Peak International Raceway. That growth will continue in 1998, with the addition of races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Dover Downs International Speedway.

But Formula One had the most visible controversy. Villeneuve, yet another 26-year-old driver, was censured by the governing FIA for negative comments about rule changes for 1998. Then, he was penalized his points from the penultimate race of the season for passing under a caution flag during a practice session.

Thanks to that penalty, two-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher went into the final race with a two-point lead over his young rival. But Schumacher, trying to give Ferrari its first championship since 1979, ran into Villeneuve and wound up in a gravel trap and out of the race.

Schumacher was then censured by the FIA for hitting Villeneuve.

"I hated for there to be so much controversy, but we won the championship on the race track," said Williams-Renault driver Villeneuve.

His boss, Frank Williams, also won off the track. He and five others were acquitted of manslaughter charges in the 1994 death of champion Ayrton Senna at Imola, Italy.

Back on the track, Tommy Kendall won an unprecedented 11 straight races and became the first four-time SCCA Trans-Am champ. Rookie Mike Borkowski ended Kendall's string by relegating him to second place in the final two races.

In other events: Randy LaJoie won his second straight NASCAR Busch Series title; Brazilian Tony Kanaan took the Indy Lights championship; Alex Barron won in Toyota Atlantic; Jack Sprague prevailed in NASCAR's Craftsman Trucks; Butch Leitzinger won the World Sportscar championship; and Bernd Schneider took the GIA GT Championship.