YEAR IN REVIEW 1997: SPORTS-AND-GAMES: AUTOMOBILE RACING

AUTOMOBILE RACING: U.S. Auto Racing. The Indianapolis 500-mi classic, now a part of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George's Indy Racing League (IRL) schedule, faced its first competition ever. Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), an organization of the car owners, defected and staged its own 500-mi race on the same day at the Michigan International Speedway. This intensified a battle for supremacy between the two organizations, which developed quickly into a struggle for racing venues and corporate backers. Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Ford, and Toyota built engines for CART, and Oldsmobile and Nissan did the same for the new IRL race cars that were to debut in 1997. At the Indianapolis 500, Buddy Lazier of Hemelgarn Racing, driving a Reynard-Ford with a special seat to allay pain from a crash nine weeks earlier that broke his back in 16 places, won $1,370,000 of a record $8.1 million purse, finishing less than one second ahead of Davy Jones in a Lola-Mercedes. Lazier's average speed was 147.956 mph. Richie Hearn (Reynard-Ford) was third. The inaugural IRL season also included races at Phoenix, Ariz.; Orlando, Fla.; Las Vegas, Nev., and Loudon, N.H. After a 12-car crash just before the start sent most of the field into backup cars, only two drivers finished all 250 laps in the competing CART race. Jimmy Vasser in a Reynard-Honda bested Mauricio Gugelmin (Reynard-Ford) by 10.995 sec., averaging 156.403 mph. Vasser, driving for Chip Ganassi, won the CART season championship, which included competitions in Brazil, Australia, and Canada. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) enjoyed a banner year. The Winston Cup, its premier series, went down to the finale of a 31-race season before Terry Labonte dethroned his Rick Hendricks Chevrolet teammate Jeff Gordon 4,657 points to 4,620. Dale Jarrett in a Ford Thunderbird finished third, 52 points behind Gordon. Labonte, who had been champion in 1984, won only twice to Gordon's 10 times, but he was more consistent. Jarrett included the Daytona 500, the Charlotte Coca Cola 600, and the Indianapolis Brickyard 400--NASCAR's three richest events--among his four victories. At Daytona he edged seven-time Winston champion Dale Earnhardt by 0.12 seconds. At Indianapolis he defeated Ernie Ervan, and at Charlotte he beat Earnhardt by 11.982 seconds. Randy LaJoie won the NASCAR Busch series crown over David Green, and in the Craftsman Truck Series Ron Hornaday, Jr., won over Jack Sprague. All drove Chevrolet-powered vehicles. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) staged a nine-race series in its World Sports Car category. Cars with Oldsmobile and Ford engines challenged Ferrari 333 SPs in the competition, which included the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Driving a Doyle racing car with an Oldsmobile engine, Wayne Taylor won both the Daytona and the Sebring events and also gained the drivers' championship. Oldsmobile later announced that it was curtailing its IMSA program to concentrate on IRL engine development. In the Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am series, Tom Kendall edged Dorsey Schroeder. Both were driving Ford Mustangs. (ROBERT J. FENDELL) BADMINTON Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, known as the "Great Dane," laid claim to badminton's two most important titles in 1996, a gold medal in men's singles at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., and a second consecutive men's singles All-England championship in March in Birmingham, Eng. He won in a sport almost completely dominated by Asia. At the Olympics he was the only European to place first, second, or third in any badminton event; Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Malaysia took 14 out of a possible 15 medals. The 1996 Olympic Games would likely be the last for two of badminton's legendary players. Indonesia's "Queen of Badminton," Susi Susanti, surrendered her Olympic crown to South Korea's Bang Soo Hyun and was expected to leave the game soon after her marriage in February 1997 to teammate and fellow 1992 gold medalist Alan Budi Kusuma. Also stepping down was South Korea's 1992 Olympic doubles gold medalist Park Joo Bong, whose comeback in mixed doubles fell a bit short when he and partner Ra Kyung Min succumbed in 1996 to Kim Dong Moon and Gil Young Ah of South Korea in the Olympic gold medal match. Gil's gold in mixed doubles was her second of the 1996 Olympic competition, as she also took silver in women's doubles. This marked the first time in badminton history that an athlete had won two medals in a single Olympic competition. Indonesia won both the men's Thomas Cup and the women's Uber Cup world team championships in May in Hong Kong. The Indonesian men's 5-0 victory over Denmark was their 10th Thomas Cup championship, a title that had been won by only three countries (Indonesia, China, and Malaysia) since its inception in 1948. Indonesia's 4-1 Uber Cup victory over China marked its third such title. (PAUL PAWLACZYK) BASEBALL In 1996 major league baseball produced its first full season since 1993. In 1994 a players' strike had occurred in mid-August, and failed negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement had caused cancellation of the World Series. In 1995 there was still no contract, and the regular schedule was cut to 144 games after a court order effected a belated start. On Nov. 26, 1996, the major league owners voted 26-4 to ratify a collective bargaining agreement. Soon afterward the union ratified the agreement, which provided, among other things, for limited interleague play in 1997 and 1998.