Canadian Scott Goodyear Finishes 2nd At Indy - May 27th, 1997

May 27th, 1997

Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member Scott Goodyear of Toronto, finished 2nd at the 81st Indianapolis 500 behind teammate and polesitter Arie Luyendyk. With two laps to go, Luyendyk led Goodyear. A caution came out on the 199th lap, but the pace car did not come out to pick up the field. Without warning, the green and white flag were displayed at the starter's stand on the final lap, signifying the field was back to racing conditions. None of the cars in the field were prepared for the restart, and yellow lights remained illuminated for many seconds afterwards. Luyendyk held on to win, but controversy erupted regarding the officials' poor handling of the situation. Less than a month later, USAC was permanently removed from sanctioning the IRL and Indy 500, in favor of in-house officiating. It was the third time in his career that Goodyear narrowly lost the Indy 500 in the closing stages.