Race No. 12

U.S. 500 — Presented by Toyota
Michigan Speedway — Brooklyn, Michigan
July 25-27, 1997

PPG CART World Series Returns to Superspeedways
US 500's Second Annual Showing

©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.

Only a year and two months ago, amongst all the turmoil surrounding thesplit between Championship Auto Racing Teams and the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, CART dared to stage a race at the then-named MichiganInternational Speedway to compete for the audience of the Indianapolis500.

There was excitement in the air as fans stood awaiting the green flag,then more turmoil struck. A taste of the condition was well written inthe Wrap-Up story posted on SpeedCenter at the time:

Coming out of Turn 4 and getting ready to take the greenflag, Adrian Fernandez and Jimmy Vasser touched wheels. This causedVasser's car to veer sharply to the right, up into the wall and thefront row was wiped out.

Nine other cars were collected the the melee and the race wasimmediately red-flagged.

All cars involved were allowed to prepare their backup cars for therestart, which came after a one-hour delay [officially recorded as 61 minutes.] Fernandez's crew was unable to get his car ready in time so he posted a DNS.

No one was injured in the relatively low speed crash.

"I don't know what happened," Vasser said, shortly after the incident."The car just went violently right and I wasn't on the power. (It) justturned right so hard, it felt like I got hit in the back because it wentso (far) right."

"I just feel bad for the entire Target/Chip Ganassi Racing Team, but I'mglad we'll have a chance to go back on the track. I just don't know whathappened. I'm dumbfounded."

In a press release from the CART News Service on 7/22/97, Vasser wasconfident regarding his chances for the PPG Cup, even with a poorshowing compared to his four wins as of this race last year.

"We are not out of the points, by no means," says Vasser, seventh with75 points in the PPG Cup competition, currently led by Paul Tracy(Marlboro Penske Mercedes) with 109 points. "We need to have a greatfinish at Michigan and have a good run. We are sitting seventh now, notfar out of a top-five spot, and the top-five is very close to the lead.So, we are certainly in a position to win this championship again, andthat is our focus."

Vasser's teammate, Alex Zanardi (Target Reynard Honda) vaulted fromfifth place to second place in the PPG Cup chase with 106 points thanksto six top-four finishes this season, including his second place finishin last weeks Molson Indy in Toronto.

Michael Andretti (KMart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) trails with a close103 points, and Greg Moore fell from second to fourth place with 95points after suffering a disappointing accident that resulted fromcontact with Zanardi as he exited the pits on cold tires.

The race promises to be competitive with five of this year's entrieshaving previously won races at the track. Michael Andretti won theMichigan 500 in 1987 and 1989, Al Unser, Jr. in 1990, Scott Pruett in1995, and Jimmy Vasser in 1996. Bobby Rahal has won three of his 24 PPGCART World Series victories at Michigan, although not in 500 mileevents.

Will another record fall this weekend? The current one lap record on the2.0 mile oval was set on 7/28/96 by Jimmy Vasser with a time of30.682, and a speed of 234.665mph.

Qualifying for the US 500 Presented by Toyota will air 6PM EDT on ESPN2,re-airing at 1:30AM EDT. ESPN2's "On the Grid" program will be broadcastat 12:30pm on Sunday, one-half hour prior to ABC's live race telecast.The CART Radio Network, Presented by PPG and Toyota, will broadcast theUS 500 Presented by Toyota live to more than 140 station across thecountry.