Season Recap 1997

1997

Drivers: Bobby Rahal, Bryan Herta

Car #: 7, 8

Sponsors: Miller Lite, Shell

Championship Finish: 12^th, 11^th

The 1997 season marked the first time in the team’s history that it failed to finish in the top 10 in CART/Indy Car points, but strong late season runs pushed Bryan Herta and Bobby Rahal to 11^th and 12^th in the final standings. Rahal earned ten top-10 finishes highlighted by a third-place run at Mid-Ohio that saw him charge from 16^th on the starting grid, but it seemed the Lady Luck was not on his side in 1997. He led 102 of the 133 laps in Rio, but ran out of fuel on the last lap. He qualified second in Vancouver and took the lead when Alex Zanardi crashed, but a failed engine ended his day soon after. The team’s new Ford-Cosworth powerplants helped Herta to poles at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca, but his luck was no better than that of his boss. He led the first 18 laps at Mid-Ohio before a suspension problem and led the first 21 laps at Laguna before contact with old nemesis Zanardi dropped him back. He finished a season-best third at Cleveland.