The 1997 Molson Indy Vancouver Was WILD! 

Do you think Zanardi was at fault?

I was at this race and the two things I remember about it were the mix of emotions from Princess Diana’s death and the many yellow flags. The race seemed to never end.

When Tony Kanaan won the Indy 500 in 2013, Alex Zanardi, in his wheelchair, came up to Tony and congratulated him on his win. Tony returned the lucky charm that a little girl had given Alex at the Parallel Olympics, in which he won a gold medal. That was an emotional moment for me, I must confess I had a tear in my eye, not only for Tony's win but to see Alex there to make sure his lucky charm did the job. The latest news of Alex, as of late December 2022, is that is back at home, continuing to make a recovery.

I'm from western Canada and my family made the trip to Vancouver every year for this race. I vividly remember this race even though I was only 10. Zanardi was an absolute menace that day and made himself into an absolute villain in the eyes of most fans there after punting Herta into the wall... This track layout was brilliant, they would absolutely fly down that long straight and we always got to see lots of action sitting in those grandstands at the hairpin. The new layout they had in the few years after just never had the same vibe. I also got to meet Greg that year, as a Canadian kid he was my favorite driver, RIP.

These cars are LITERALLY my all time favorite for sim racing. AMS2 represents them well but I have that Zanardi Target CART car in every sim I own lol

About a year and a half ago I began watching through old full CART seasons (on 99 now) and looking back, I'd say the whole 97 season is maybe quite overlooked or underated in a way. You had four chassis constructors, four engine suppliers, two tire makes, a good mix of tracks, you had races like this one, the finish at Portland, the last lap at Detroit, some great nearly moments like Rahal almost winning at Rio and Carpentier at Gateway, insane drives from Zanardi like at Cleveland, the 240 mph qualifying speed at Fontana and probably the last year the CART product was really good on the short ovals. Those were just some of the things I remember.

Alex Zanardi was the Ross Chastain of CART! It never got boring even when he was dominating.

The golden age of Champ Cars. Great drivers, sleek cars, and fierce competition.

I have forgotten how many times Zanardi got the best of Herta including "the pass." I miss 90s CART, it was pretty much the sweet spot for open wheel racing. It's such a shame the Tony George had to go kill open wheel in North America with the IRL.

I think I watched this race back in 1997, I was 10! Of course I was supporting Zanardi 🇮🇹 Incredible to rewatch this after so many years! Much simpler cars than modern F1. no paddle shift, much harder to drive, slower, no DRS, yet amazing race action!

That Hollywood livery was gorgeous.

These are some of the best motorsport videos on YT. Keep going mate!

Very good summary of that race. Thank you! It's one of those races I still remember. Especially Zanardi outbraking everyone with ease ... and himself too :) He was on another planet that day! And he would have lapped the whole field if he didn't make so many mistakes.

This is my favorite kind of race; insane recovery drives (Zanardi), unexpected bruh moments (a lot of them really), oddball winners (Gugelmin), and even some visual comedy (Zanardi praying in the car).

Gugelmin really is underlooked in IndyCar. I never hear him brought up that much in retrospect

God i remember watching this race with my Dad on Eurosport with Ben Edwards and Jeremy Shaw commentating. Zanardi was the man during this time, such talent that would put shame on todays drivers. He should never have gone back to F1.

I wish Vancouver was still welcoming to racing, any racing.. but those dang Noise complaint Karens ruined a good thing

I was there, one of the best performances ever by a driver I'd seen even though he didn't win. Was sitting at the hairpin. Zanardi was an animal.

Great video Demise. The race 2 years later was also memorable for two reasons: one was the absolute rainstorm that slowed the cars down considerably & shortened the race from 90 to 74 laps. The other was that because the race was running long, ESPN decided to bump the ending of the race from ABC to ESPN News so that ABC could show the 5:00 local news or World News Tonight on the East Coast. The reason why it was bumped to ESPN News instead of ESPN or ESPN 2 was because ESPN 2 was showing an MLS match between Tampa & Miami & ESPN had Sunday Night Baseball between the Red Sox & Yankees. This meant that CART fans on the East Coast were screwed out of seeing the ending if they did not have ESPN News & had to watch the ending on RPM Tonight on ESPN 2 after MLS got done. This did not affect the West Coast viewers as they got to see the race end on ABC.

Said it ages ago but the TV direction of this race was something else, initially I thought okay, I got a cut up version but no, found a full, unaltered version and it is, somehow, worse than I remember. I don't remember any other year being this bad in terms of Molstar (I think it was who did the production side?) being this bad though, both ESPN an Eurosport had issues throughout the broadcast though IIRC they got the same feed just with their own crews doing the call

I really loved the original circuit

Great video as always man! I would love to see a video about Portland 97 as well

I live in Vancouver and drive these streets daily....to this day I ALWAYS think of the Indy cars ripping around BC Place. I attended a few. Such a great event. Absolutely insane how much the city has changed in 26 years. Unrecognizable. Cool to see again. Thanks.

Great upload as always Demise

Another awesome video thank you Demise

PacWest were the ultimate half season wonder in 1997. Just as Paul Tracy and Greg Moore fell apart in the second half, Blundell and Gugelmin came on strong

Agreed. Wild.

3:09 imagine being on that train and getting to see this as you went by, would be so cool

I was there. 13 years old. Can't believe we have no major racing in Western Canada now. The east has F1 and Indy , we have nothing uhhhgff

Dennis Vitolo, always good for a laugh...unless you're Nigel Mansell...

Well this race wasn't short on action was it. Zanardi had a Rocketship balls of steel to pull off so many passes. Kind of wish they would bring this race back to the Streets of Vancouver. A little bias being in the NW.

Great race, great video!

I was there.. 26 years ago!! I was 10!! And it was amazing!!!! I still live in Vancouver!!

I was just a young punk of 17 or 18 living in Vancouver when this happened. I remember going by on the skytrain and seeing how fast the cars were going down the strip pretty cool.

always thought this was such a cool track. Good video , enjoyed the flashback. as for Zanardi , what a legend. Yeah he was at fault , I think it was a late(ish) move and as you said Herta was the leader but when Alex is on form he is great to watch and hard to stop :)

I was at this race working (as I was for almost every race that year) for a series sponsor. Vancouver was always a hugely popular race for the IndyCar traveling circus, and we had a full house of corporate guests, and the weather was gorgeous as usual. The night before the race is a perennial highlight for teams and sponsors, in a city as hip and happening as Vancouver. You can imagine guests flying into Vancouver on Saturday morning, catching qualy, a support race or two, and the final Indycar practice session before returning to their hotels to shower and change for happy hour and a usually late night before the race. That Saturday started out great but became a blur, not because of a party, but because totally unrelated news. As on track events were wrapping for the day, around 4:00 p.m. news because to filter through the paddock that Princess Diana had been in an automobile crash, and that she was believed to have been injured. By the time we were headed to dinner around 7:00 p.m., it was 4:00 a.m. Paris. The TVs around the bar announced that Diana had been killed. I have never seen a party end so fast. We ate dinner, but no one was talking about racing. A few of our guests left as soon as they put their forks down. I was the guy stuck with the bill every week, so I can tell you no one stayed around for dessert. When I left the restaurant at abut 8:30 p.m., this most popular of restaurants in Vancouver, was 3/4 empty. This being Canada, there was much more of a feeling of losing one of their own than you might feel in the US. But even on Sunday for the race, people showed up and watched, but I have never felt a weirder energy than at that race, that year. Closest thing I can remember that felt similar would be September 12, 2001. It's too bad this race because an afterthought. It was pretty crazy, and it was great to see Mo Gugelmin win. Super nice guy and as part of the 1990s Brazilian invasion, he was an underrated talent.

Great video man! I loved them cars.

i miss the old indycar races.... so good

Amazing Video ❤

Good video! Miss these days of CART!

Growing up in Vancouver in the 90's, I remember those screaming V8's echoing through the city every summer. I was lucky enough to attend a practice session for this '97 race. Those screams were even more AMAZING in the stands. it started a life long love for open wheeled racing for me. I would go to the false creek area (where this street course is located) and would recreate the race on my bike. The candy canes would remain for a good few years after the cancelation of the Molson Indy.

Very heavy breaking, stick shift, single handed, no power steering. Driving these things must have been like being in a fight

The amount of times Zanardi screwed over Hurta is comical

remember when we had fun things in Vancouver?

Every Vancouver race before this one had been won by either Michael Andretti or Al Unser Jr.

You put out some great vids. Cannot believe the low amounts of thumbs up on those. Should be in the tens of K's. I can give you only one bro!

This is my favourite street track.

I remember watching this thinking it was great that Zanardi blew it. He’d won the last few races and I was getting sick of him, but when he was flying through the field I was convinced he was unstoppable and no one else would ever win again.

I was there! Zanardi was the only one doing any passing that day. Made for an exciting race!

Great street course !!

When we had variety in CART...

These cars are so pretty & wild

The golden years

R.I.P Greg Moore!!!!!!

I didn't understand what the guy said at the opening of the video... "Journey-man Driver" ou "Gentleman Driver" when he was talking about the race winner. Mauricio Gugelmin was a great Brazilian driver having raced in F1 prior to moving to CART. He raced (and won) in various categories before arriving in F1.

Golden years in Vancouver.

Yeah, Zanardi should have been more patient behind Herta, and it's surprising he didn't get penalized. But my God! That run through the field to fourth!! I was a fan from that day forward!!!! Also, Greg Moore, Rest In Peace. Your fans miss you forever.

i was there!

Alex was an weapon in Vancouver

That's why Zanardi won championships

God I wish we did ,t lose this race. Best time of the year.

Great show did u get the jacket?

GJ !

Damn, I miss CART. It was really the closest thing North America had to F1. Amazing cars, great drivers, tons of drama. Modern Indycar just isn't quite the same.

Zanardi great pass and hearts mistake squeeze at turn Zanardi diveboomb inside the crash is unavoidable

If NASCAR want street racing. This would be good to go to.

1997 era Track Marshalls were either super brave or super dumb

Zanardi overtaking everyone like Max and Lewis

Damn, they advertised websites on wings in 1997(look at 1:40). Wicked, but I am not sure if that was profitable bcs I recon that still many people didnt have acess to the internet

Why is it in American open wheel racing they don't do standing starts? Seems like those starting near the end of the grid are immediately put at a disadvantage, because they're still coming around the final turn to take their position, while those at the front of the grid have already taken off. Even today, it's the same way.

I think Zanardi was at fault for that crash. The leader had fully committed to the corner, Zanardi was way too late. That door was always going to close.

Re: Christian Fittipaldi's incident-- Speaking as a former marshal...... Drivers do a lot of dumb shit in incidents. Really. Start watching incidents and see how often the driver does anything other than either stay in the car or immediately get behind a barrier. Don't get me wrong, I love these guys, but they think a little differently sometimes.

Zanardi told Herta, "I am your Daddy"

Huge Zanardi but that was stupid what he did to Herta. A lapped car taking out the leader is ridiculous.

Fitipaldi did this stupid thing of immediately jumping out of the car multiple times. I guess he was really concerned about his car getting hit and he wanted to get out there quickly. But he didn't consider at all how dangerous that is. He was lucky he didn't get killed in one of the dumbest ways you could imagine.

Molson LOL

I miss bob varsha

Zanardi was 'there', but Herta was left with 'nowhere' to go. Technically, it was Zanardi's corner, but you really shouldn't put another driver in that position. He would surely have been furious, if the roles were reversed!

That era of CHAMP cars were the best looking cars of the CART series.

If there is a gap and you don’t go for it quit racing. Left the door open and shut it slow or tried to.

100% zanardis fault, but that’s the instinct of a winner. If you don’t go for a gap you won’t win

Zanardi paid the price for his over exuberance a couple of times. I can’t see how Herta could have forgiven him for taking him out of the lead in two races. Look where the Italian is today. Not cool.

CART = Championship Auto Race Teams. No 'K' in the mix.

q X❗ 11:41

Fittipaldi 0 IQ move. Lol 🤣

Coulda done without the commentary from the uploader

Salute to Bob Jenkins. He walks IMS at night now along with the other legends.

This is back when I loved watching Indy Car. Then we had a kid, which, as everyone knows, changes your lifestyle a 🤏🏿 for a few years, and I've tried watching Indy again, but my enthusiasm for it just isn't there. Hopefully, it comes back. Indy fans will give me crap for this, but... ... I've gotten back into F1. Sure, most races start too early, but with F1, you at least know what you're getting week in and week out... ... _BORING_ races.

Zanardi deserved a black flag

That was an amazing race. Thanks Demise for posting this. But my take on it is that the Fittipaldis have always been idiots and an embarrassment to the sport