The 1997 North American Touring Car Championship was the second and final season of the North American Touring Car Championship. The series was organized by CART, and ran to Super Touring regulations. 18 rounds at 9 race meetings were organized, all but one (in Savannah, Georgia) supporting the CART World Series.
Teams and drivers Team Car No. Drivers Rounds TC Kline Racing BMW 320i 1 Randy Pobst All12 Brian Battaglia1–3 Tom Finnelly Jr.4–5 Doug Beatty6 Paul Charsley9 Rod Millen Motorsports Toyota Camry 2 Rod Millen 4 Tasman Motorsports Honda Accord 4 Neil Crompton 1–3, 5–9 Schader Motorsports Mazda Xedos 6 5 Bob Schader 1–4, 6–9 Walter Puckett5 6 Desiré Wilson 1–2, 6 Walter Puckett 3 Bob Schader5 Paul Charsley 8 Ron Emmick9 PacWest Touring Car Group Dodge Stratus 7 Dominic Dobson All 8 David Donohue All Hartong Motorsports BMW 318is 18 Darren Law All Fastech Group Ford Mondeo 27 David Welch All Honda American Racing Team Honda Accord 42 Peter Cunningham All 62 Forrest Granlund 1–3, 5, 7–9 Metalcraft Pontiac Sunfire 80 Dave Jolly 9 81 Ron Emmick 8 Jonak Brothers Racing BMW 320i 99 Mark Jonak 1–2 Hertfelder Motorsports Honda Accord 64 Roberto Quintanilla 5–8
Calendar The initial calendar was released with sixteen races, all supporting CART events. A doubleheader at the Savannah, Georgia Indy Lights' Dixie Crystals Grand Prix was added later.
Round Date Circuit Location Pole position Winning driver Winning team1 1 April 17 Long Beach Street Circuit Long Beach, California Peter Cunningham Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports 2 Peter Cunningham Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports2 3 May 17 Hutchinson Island Savannah, Georgia Peter Cunningham Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team 4 May 18 Peter Cunningham Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team3 5 June 8 Raceway at Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan David Donohue David Donohue PacWest Touring Car Group 6 David Donohue Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group4 7 June 21 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon David Donohue Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team 8 David Donohue Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing5 9 July 13 Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio Dominic Dobson David Donohue PacWest Touring Car Group 10 Dominic Dobson Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team6 11 July 19 Toronto Street Circuit Toronto, Ontario Dominic Dobson Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group 12 Neil Crompton Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports7 13 August 9 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio David Donohue David Donohue PacWest Touring Car Group 14 David Donohue David Donohue PacWest Touring Car Group8 15 August 31 Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia David Donohue Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports 16 David Donohue Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports9 17 September 7 Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California David Donohue Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports 18 David Donohue Neil Crompton Tasman Motorsports
Championship standings
Drivers Championship Pos Driver LBH SAV DET POR CLE TOR MOH VAN LAG Pts 1 David Donohue 4 4 2 3 1 5 1 7 1 3 4 4 1 1 2 5 3 3 304 2 Peter Cunningham 10 8 1 1 4 6 2 1 3 1 3 3 3 2 4 3 2 2 282 3 Neil Crompton 1 1 3 2 3 DSQ 5 2 2 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 280 4 Dominic Dobson 2 3 4 4 2 1 6 9 9 7 1 2 4 8 3 9 4 6 230 5 Randy Pobst 3 2 6 9 9 DNS 3 6 2 4 7 7 8 9 6 2 5 4 188 6 Bob Schader 5 7 7 7 7 3 7 4 6 8 8 9 9 7 8 6 7 8 185 7 David Welch 8 5 9 10 5 2 9 8 10 9 6 5 7 5 5 4 6 5 159 8 Darren Law 9 6 5 5 10 DNS 4 3 8 5 5 6 5 6 7 8 DNS DNS 157 9 Forrest Granlund 11 DNS 10 6 8 4 4 6 6 4 DNS DNS DNS DNS 88 10 Ron Emmick 9 7 8 7 37 11 Mark Jonak 7 9 8 8 36 12 Rod Millen 8 2 26 13 Tom Finnelly 5 5 DNS DNS 24 14 Walter Puckett 6 7 7 DNS 21 15 Desiré Wilson 6 10 DNS DNS 11 DNS 18 16 Roberto Quintanilla DNS DNS 9 8 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 17 17 Dave Jolly 9 9 16 18 Paul Charsley DNS DNS 10 10 7 NC Doug Beatty 10 10 0 NC Brian Battaglia DNS DNS DNS DNS 0 NC Tommy Constantine DNS DNS 0 Pos Driver LBH SAV DET POR CLE TOR MOH VAN LAG Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th-10th place Dark Blue Finished(Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Not competing
Manufacturers Championship Pos Manufacturer LBH SAV DET POR CLE TOR MOH VAN LAG Pts 1 Honda 1 1 1 1 3 4 2 1 3 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 298 2 Dodge 2 3 2 3 1 1 1 7 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 5 3 3 271 3 Toyota 8 2 26 Pos Manufacturer LBH SAV DET POR CLE TOR MOH VAN LAG Pts
See also 1997 CART season 1997 Indy Lights season 1997 Formula Atlantic season
References
External links Results & points http://www.driverdb.com/standings/639-1997/