Editor’s Note: NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023. SPEED SPORT was founded in 1934 and was already on its way to becoming America’s Motorsports Authority when NASCAR was formed. As a result, we will bring you Part 50 of a 75-part series on the history of NASCAR as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News and SPEED SPORT Magazine.
When NASCAR’s 100th anniversary rolls around, racing historians may view the 1997 Winston Cup season as the year in which the Jeff Gordon-led Hendrick Motorsports team posted their standing as one of the best race teams of all time.
While Jeff Gordon sprinted away from the field early in the season, before the season was over, Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin made this one of the closest championship races in NASCAR history
NASCAR’s 49th season was also one of its best.
Gordon won a thrilling Daytona 500 to begin the season. After a multi-car accident on lap 189 again frustrated Dale Earnhardt in his quest to win this race, the race was under green again with seven laps remaining. Bill Elliott outdragged Gordon on the restart as Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven, followed in third and fourth.
On the backtretch, Gordon fed Craven under Elliott as Labonte went high en route to a one-two-three Hendrick finish.
“This one is for Mr. Hendrick,” said Labonte in reference to team owner Rick Hendrick, who had just revealed his leukemia diagnosis. Hendrick was also under indictment for 15 counts of money laundering, bribery and mail fraud in connection with his alleged bribery of American Honda Corp. officials.
Gordon won again at North Carolina Motor Speedway, despite Dale Jarrett’s domination of the race.
Jarrett led all but 70 of the 393 laps, but lost the lead to Gordon with 43 laps remaining.
Rusty Wallace was declared the winner at Richmond (Va.) Raceway after his confiscated engine was declared legal. Wallace’s Ford Thunderbird was to have carried an engine with a compression ratio greater 14:1, but tests proved negative.
Jarrett dominated at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 253 of 328 laps.
“It’s never too early to start thinking about the championship,” said the new point leader. “I think we have the team and the people that it takes to win a championship.”
Jarrett won again at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway before Jeff Burton scored victory at Texas Motor Speedway. Burton’s triumph, the first of his career, came in the inaugural race there. Gordon took the honors at Bristol Motor Speedway in a race which saw a Cup Series record-tying 20 caution flags.
Meanwhile, NASCAR officials were altering the rules on a regular basis in an effort to equalize the Thunderbirds, Monte Carlos and Pontiac Grand Prixs.
In March, the front ground clearance in all three models was mandated at 4 inches while Thunderbird spoilers were reduced from 6 to 5.75 inches. Neither Ford nor Chevrolet drivers were happy with the spoiler move. However, Chevrolet complaints about Ford’s downforce advantage were never officially substantiated in wind tunnel tests.
Ford driver/owner Ricky Rudd was unhappy with the changes for other reasons.
“You have to reskin these cars, cut the bodies off completely,” he said in the April 6 National Speed Sport News. “I’m to the point where, let’s take the spoilers off and throw them in the trash can and let’s find something else to work on. We have probably spent $300,000 chasing these rules in the last year and a half.”
No matter the rules, Gordon won at Martinsville Speedway for his seventh victory in the last 19 short-track events. Mark Martin won from the pole at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, ending a 42-race winless streak.
Martin followed with a victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. In an unusual race for the 2.66-mile track, there were no caution flags and Martin set an average speed record of 188.354 mph. NASCAR’s rules changers were at it again after The Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Gordon drove a red Monte Carlo sponsored by the movie, “Jurassic Park: The Lost World,” and designed with a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the hood to victory. The experimental T-Rex chassis surprised the field as it easily pulled away in the final segment of the race.
“It’s a safer, better-built car. We’ve been developing it for some time,” noted Gordon’s crew chief, Ray Evemham. “The driver sits a little lower, the roll centers and the suspension geometry are different. It looks like this car could take Hendrick Motorsports into the future.”
By the end of 1997, the technically-legal T-Rex had been mandated into extinction by NASCAR officials.
The Coca-Cola 600 was Gordon’s fifth victory in the first 11 races of the season. The Charlotte race was reduced from a 400-lap, 600-mile affair to a 333-lap, 499.5-mile race due to a three-hour rain delay, which delayed the checkers until 2:53 a.m.
Ricky Rudd won for the 15th consecutive year with a victory at Dover Downs Int’l Speedway while Gordon won again the following week at Pocono Raceway. Ernie Irvan triumphed on the track where he nearly lost his life — Michigan Int’l Speedway.
Gordon won again in the first race at California Speedway.
John Andretti gave Cale Yarborough his first victory as a car owner at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Jeff Burton and Jarrett won the next two races, respectively. An emotional Rudd left Indianapolis Motor Speedway $571,000 richer after his victory in the Brickyard 400.
“This race rates right up there with the Daytona 500. I don’t know how many more years I have left to drive. I’d like to sit back after I’ve retired and have a Brickyard 400 trophy and a Daytona 500 trophy to look at,” Rudd said.
Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Winston Cup entrant for 1998, the Taurus.
The four-door stock model had become the car to replace the Thunderbird, which would not be produced by Ford after 1997.
Monte Carlo pilot Gordon won again a week later, this time on a road course. Gordon’s first career road-course victory came at Watkins (N.Y.) Glen Int’l. Gordon held a firm point lead over Martin, but two events changed the point race. First, Martin won at Michigan over Gordon and, then, Martin finished second to Jarrett at Bristol, while Gordon was 35th.
Gordon’s 112-point loss at Bristol put Martin 13 points ahead.
“We are serious about this championship,” said Martin after his Michigan victory. “We’re pretty low-key, but still, I’d like to be taken seriously.”
Gordon offered another million reasons why he needed to be taken seriously at Darlington. With the Southern 500 victory in addition to his Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 triumphs, he became the only other driver besides Bill Elliott to win Winston’s big prize. Gordon also regained the point lead.
Jarrett won for the fifth time at Richmond before Gordon scored at New Hampshire. Martin won at Dover Downs, Burton garnered the top at Martinsville and Jarrett was back in victory lane at Charlotte with only four races remaining.
Terry and Bobby Labonte survived at Talladega, but point leader Gordon, Martin and Jarrett all had sub-top-20 finishes after being collected in a 23-car crash on lap 141. Bobby Hamllton won in Rockingham, N.C., over Jarrett, who won the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix Raceway.
Jarrett now rested 77 points behind Gordon and 10 points ahead of Martin. All three had a legitimate shot at the title.
Gordon entered the Atlanta finale needing at least an 18th-place finish to secure the title while Jarrett and Martin knew they needed the victory. Only Gordon got what he wanted. Jarrett led Martin behind winner Bobby Labonte while Gordon won his second title with a 17th-place finish.
Gordon beat Jarrett by 14 points.
“I don’t think you can pick out one thing these days,” replied Gordon when asked about his success. “The hard work, determination, persistence-all of those things pay off in winning championships.”
Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Mike Skinner and Most Popular Driver Bill Elliott headed the list of other title holders in 1997.
Randy LaJoie won the Busch Grand National crown for the second consecutive year and the Hendrick Motorsports entrant in the Craftsman Truck Series, Jack Sprague, also won his division’s title.
The Rebco Northwest Tour championship went to Kelly Tanner again and Butch Gilliland won the Winston West title. Bryan Germone won the Featherlite Southwest Tour top honors while Mike Stefanik was the Featherlite Modified Tour campion for the third time. Hal Goodson won the Slim Jim All Pro Series and Mike Swaim Jr. won the Goody’s Dash Series.
Stefanik scored a rare double championship in one season with the BGN North season trophy