1997 CART season

The 1997 CART season, the nineteenth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 17 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 2 and concluding in Fontana, California on September 28. The PPG CART World Series Drivers' Champion was Alex Zanardi. Rookie of the Year was Patrick Carpentier. After a settlement with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, CART had relinquished its exclusive license of the "IndyCar" trademark, resulting in the renaming of the Series for the first time since 1980. This was also the last year of title sponsorship by PPG Industries, although the Driver's Championship continued to be known as the PPG Cup until 1999.

Drivers and Constructors
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1997 CART World Series season.

Races
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Final driver standings
Point Scoring System:
 * Points are awarded based on each driver's resulting place (regardless of whether the car is running at the end of the race):

Bonus Points:
 * 1 For Pole Position
 * 1 For Leading The Most Laps Of The Race

Nation's Cup

 * Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.