bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING  05/15/99

Tony Stewart in the 1997 "Indianapolis 500"

 Bob Jennings

This photo, of Tony Stewart's Glidden/Menards G Force - Aurora, was taken as Tony made his final pit stop, during the 1997 "Indianapolis 500." At the time, Jeff Ward, Arie Luyendyk, Scott Goodyear and Stewart were in hot pursuit of victory. I was standing inside turn four.

From my viewpoint, the 1997 "500" was one of the most competitive, exciting runnings of the "500," I've seen. I've seen every "Indianapolis 500," since 1956, so I've seen a lot of them from which to make the comparison.

Ward, the race leader, pitted the same lap as Stewart, thereby handing the win to Arie Luyendyk and Scott Goodyear, in the Fred Treadway team G Force - Auroras.

The order of finish, for the 1997 "500," was Luyendyk, Goodyear, Ward, 1996 "500" winner Buddy Lazier and Stewart.

Tony had that "Nigel Mansell" like brush of the outside wall, coming out of turn four, within a few laps of the finish, bringing out the yellow flag and curtailing his final charge to checkered flag.