|| *Comments on the 1997 Coca-Cola 600:* View the most recent comment <#37> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. XAC33 posted: 07.28.2006 - 7:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The infamous Coca Cola 500. Bruton Smith (devil in the flesh for killing N.Wilkesboro) and Humpy Wheeler demonstrate their business savy by going to the extreme to finish the race at all costs on Sunday to avoid paying all track personel for another day of work on Memorial Day. Oh yea, and we learn of a mysterious Nascar "rule" that races must end before 1 am. 2. Kevin posted: 08.15.2006 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last top 10 finish for Morgan Shepherd, 9th! Sad, I know if he was with a good team, he could have done a lot more! More wins!!!! 3. Frogger49 posted: 09.11.2006 - 2:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) During the starting lineup, Squier stated that this might have been the last race for the 1 team due to lack of sponsorship. This run helped them attract R&L Carriers to sponsor the team for the rest of the season. 4. Douche Bagolow posted: 07.30.2007 - 12:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 24 for 24. 5. Geoffrey Stephens posted: 06.21.2008 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was the fourth straight 19th place finish for Joe Nemechek. 6. Smoke14TS posted: 10.27.2008 - 3:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm writing an article using this site's statistics for Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and it struck me as a bit amazing that Jeff Gordon, a bit of a pole machine in his career, won just one pole in 1997 - for this race. 7. Baker posted: 06.18.2009 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first time Chevron and Yates brought out the thrown back in memory of Davey Allison. 8. Pacer posted: 10.18.2009 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A week after being the polesitter for the Winston Open, Chad Little DNQs for the 600. When only a part-time team, Little's #97 crew had successfully qualified for this race the previous two years. 9. 00andJoe posted: 06.02.2011 - 12:37 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) #1: I believe the "rule" was a local noise ordnance. 10. Schroeder51 posted: 01.26.2012 - 1:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sterling Marlin actually crashed out of the race when the caution for rain came out. He lost control of his car and crashed it into the inside wall. 11. Zach posted: 12.16.2012 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Weird. This race ended on lap 333! 12. Matthew Sullivan posted: 01.01.2013 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Todd Bodine subbed for his brother Geoff who was injured the previous weekend. 13. Terry Maynard posted: 03.20.2013 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the last race that Doyle Ford served as the flagman. He retired after the race and started a safety equipment company in Nashville. Also, 2 crewmen were injured during the race. Charles Hylton, tire changer on Mark Martin's Ford, was taken for X-rays after teammate Jeff Burton ran over his right foot on pit road. X-rays on Hylton were negative and he returned to the track. Larry Kropland, jackman on Michael Waltrip's Ford, was hit from behind by Wally Dallenbach's car. Kropland suffered a compound fracture as well as a broken bone in his tibia. 14. RaceFanX posted: 08.25.2013 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #28 Ernie Irvan- Texaco / Havoline 10th Anniversary #21 Michael Waltrip- Citgo Top Dog! (same for the 1997 Winston) #40 Robby Gordon- Coors Light Silver Bullet Ernie ran his regular colors in the Winston and saved his special look for the 600. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the assoication between the #28 team and Texaco the team brought back Davey Allison's original white, red, gold, and black look for this race only. Darrell Waltrip makes his 700th career Winston Cup start. His brother Michael ran his dalmatian-painted look from the Winston again tying in with a commerical Citgo had at the time. Robby Gordon becomes the second driver to have a shot at the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double. He failed to run both in a single day because the Indy 500 was rained out earlier. The 600 would not go well, he had a special chromed up Silver Bullet car but crashed it, but the 500 would go worse. When it was finally run on Tuesday his car had an invisible methanol fire that left Gordon badly burned and sidelined him for four Cup races. 15. Evan posted: 01.01.2014 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Correction:The 10th anniversary came back for Talladega in the Diehard 500, Ernie Irvan racing as Davey Allison put the Battlestar scheme on the pole. 16. RaceFanX posted: 01.20.2014 - 10:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Green replaces the pink slipped Robert Pressley in the Cartoon Network #29 Chevrolet and promptly qualifies in the top-5. 17. Unser1 posted: 01.23.2014 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Green makes the most of his new ride, this was the first Cup race he led. 18. 18fan posted: 02.06.2015 - 5:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Geoff Bodine was actually injured in practice for the 600. 19. Shawn posted: 05.11.2016 - 7:45 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) While it never became an issue, if Robby Gordon had not been able to race in Charlotte, they had Greg Sacks on stand-by. 20. Anthony posted: 11.01.2016 - 5:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Watching the first 1/3 of this race and the difference to the modern day is unbelievable. 30 laps into a run they were still running 2 wide, 3 rows deep! 21. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.19.2017 - 12:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was at the race, just a weird long night. NASCAR was correct to call it, but i'll never forget Rusty leading and 24 with the fresh tires ran him down. The last half of this race was terribly confusing. 22. M posted: 10.02.2017 - 5:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jeff Gordon caps off a mighty 1997 speedweeks at Charlotte. He dominated The Winston in the Jurassic Park car for his second all-star victory the week prior. He then wins the Coca-Cola 600 after starting the race from the pole, his second victory in the 600. After winning Daytona and here, this race set him up to win the Winston Million at Darlington later in the year. Guess what? He won that too. And as mentioned above, his 24th win. Lionel made a die cast of the race winning car in 2015. 23. JG24ChasElliottFan posted: 11.27.2017 - 12:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To this day, this is still Morgan Shepherd's last top ten finish in Cup. 24. JSPorts posted: 11.27.2017 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And it will probably be his last. I don't see him starting another Cup race, much less finishing in the top 10 again. 25. RaceFanX posted: 11.27.2017 - 2:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember someone joking that this race turned into the "Coca-Cola 500" because of it being rain shortened, at 333 laps this race was just short of the traditional 334 that make up 500-mile races at Charlotte. As noted above it was a rainy day in the Midwest and Eastern United States as this rain-plagued Coca-Cola 600 was accompanied by a rainout at the Indianapolis 500. 26. Josh posted: 03.06.2018 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) David Green's 16th place finish in the CATERPILLAR Chevrolet for Buz McCall was, at the time, that team's best finish at the Cup level. Green would tie this 16th place finish later that fall at Talladega, and that's the highest this team ever placed in a Cup race. 27. CJ posted: 04.19.2018 - 12:32 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Final top 10 finish for Morgan Shepherd. Season best finish for David Green. First start for Jeff Green in the 29. 28. James posted: 12.15.2019 - 8:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (3) Oh yes 97. The year nascar had a harden for Jeff Gordon. Just when the competition was heating up "oh yeah there's some curfew we just forgot to tell everyone about until right before the said curfew" what a freaking joke. Gift wrapped win for Wonder Boy so he could get his Winston million and championship. The least nascar could have done was be honest to the fans and teams when they re started. "Hey we are probably going to run into a curfew and we will shorten the race to 500 miles" or the better call finish thebrsce Monday afternoon or morning.... imagine the outrage if this happened in today's nascar. Lying to the fans about running the full race distance and then suddenly bring up oh there's a curfew shut it down with no notice at all. Because the truth is that night NOBODY KNEW TIL THE LAST MINUTES. 29. Corey posted: 12.15.2019 - 9:56 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) @28 As hard as it is to believe some tracks do have to abide by local noise ordinances and that includes having to end races before 1 am. Richmond is also affected by this. 30. James posted: 12.19.2019 - 7:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @29 I know but the way nascar handled it was wrong. They shouldn't have restarted the race so late knowing there was a curfew and they were not going to get the total distance in. Should have restarted on monday. Also not telling the teams what was up until 15 minuted before curfew in the middle of greenflag pot stops I might add is also wrong.They screwed over the fans that day. And probably screwed over other drivers chance to win. 31. Corey posted: 12.19.2019 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @30 NASCAR didn't handle it wrong. They were in a very different position than they are now. The TV audience wasn't as much of a concern for them yet. There bigger concern was still the fans and the teams at the track. As far as teams not knowing til the last minute? I don't buy it. They did know that the race might not last the entire 600 miles even if they didn't know what the details were. Terry Labonte's last pit stop was a gas and go. No would you do that on Lap 300 if you thought the race was going all the way. They were also only 5 laps from halfway too. NASCAR is not going to tell everyone to go home and come back in a few hours when they are that close to being an official race. 32. Corey posted: 12.19.2019 - 7:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) On a side note, I believe TBS ran 4 episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies" during the rain delay for this one. 33. SweetRich posted: 02.15.2020 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Ken Squier, Buddy Baker And Dick Berggren. The Pit Road Reporters Were Steve Byrnes, Allen Bestwick, Patty Moise And Mike Hogewood. 34. Jimnsimforever posted: 02.25.2020 - 2:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) That was a funny start to the victory lane interview. They sat Coke all over the top of Gordon's car because it was the race sponsor. Gordon and crew, with Pepsi as one of their associate sponsors started spraying Pepsi all over each other. Steve Burns says "as we're getting a Coke bath here" and Gordon says "No, this is a Pepsi bath, a Pepsi bath". Kind of an awkward battle between the top 2 soda rivals in victory lane there. 35. JohnG1 posted: 03.07.2020 - 11:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I saw the beginning of this race on YouTube. Geoff Bodine got loose in practice, spun around and hit the wall driver side. He said he was unconscious for a while. I'm guessing that means he was cut out of his car. 36. Foote posted: 04.21.2020 - 7:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Just rewatched this race. I'm going to make the comparison between Jeff Gordon and LeBron James -- two sensations that were naturally perfectly media trained, which is a God-given talent. Gordon's victory lane interview was a perfect blend of excitement and thanking all of his many sponsors. I wasn't around for that era, but I see now why he was called "wonder boy". His blend of charisma and talent was unbelievable. 37. JohnG posted: 02.01.2021 - 6:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @9 I believe you're right. And if so that rule was out of NASCAR's hands probably. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: