The 1997 Marlboro 500 Presented By Toyota was the 17th and last round of the 1997 CART season. It happened on September 28, 1997, at the then brand-new California Speedway.
Brazilian PacWest Racing driver MaurÃÂcio Gugelmin set the pole with 240.942 mph (387.759 km).
All American Racers's Juan Manuel Fangio II did not start the race due a fire on the back of his car. This brought out the races first caution even before the start.
Chip Ganassi Racing Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk, who was replacing series champion Alex Zanardi, had a pit problem, his car was on fire, but he was able to remain in the race. The restart came out at lap 12. But one lap later, Paul Tracy had a serious crash at turn 4 resulting in the races second caution. It was Tracy's sixth DNF of the season. At lap 14, the top 6 were: MaurÃÂcio Gugelmin, Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Michel Jourdain Jr., Michael Andretti and Mark Blundell. The restart came out at lap 23. At lap 40, German driver Arnd Meier spun at turn 4. Arie Luyendyk couldn't avoid him and he hit Arnd's car. Both drivers suffered slight injuries. At lap 47, Al Unser Jr. had a pit problem, just like Arie had laps before. He retired. The restart came out at lap 52, with Andretti leading the field.
The top 6 at lap 59 were: Michael Andretti, MaurÃÂcio Gugelmin, Jimmy Vasser, André Ribeiro, Mark Blundell and Greg Moore. After pitstops, Ribeiro lead on lap 90. After 106 laps, Michael Andretti retired.
The fourth caution came out at lap 119 because of debris. The restart came out at lap 126. At lap 133, the top 6 were: André Ribeiro, Gil de Ferran, Adrian Fernández, Jimmy Vasser, Greg Moore and Mark Blundell.
With 98 laps to go, Adrian Fernandez stalled in the pits, but kept the engine running, and remained in the race. With 47 laps to go, André Ribeiro's car ran out of fuel, but he was able to make it back to the pit area, very slow. He came back to the track in sixth, 1 lap behind. But 5 laps later, Ribeiro suffered a bad crash at turn 2 and stopped after crashing in the infield wall. He walked away but this brought out the races fifth caution. With 35 laps to go, MaurÃÂcio Gugelmin took the lead, as the restart came out. With 32 laps to go the top 10 were: MaurÃÂcio Gugelmin, Gil de Ferran, Jimmy Vasser, Greg Moore, Mark Blundell, Bobby Rahal, Adrian Fernandez, Christian Fittipaldi, Scott Pruett and Robby Gordon. With 19 laps to go, Gugelmin had tyre problems, and the new leader was Greg Moore, but 8 laps later, Greg Moore had flames on the back of his car. Jimmy Vasser thought the yellow flag was out, but that was not the case, as Mark Blundell took the lead. Blundell won for the last time in CART; his only oval win and only 500-mile race win. Jimmy Vasser would finish second.
Tires: