Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

Venue	Arizona State Fairgrounds (1915, 1950–63) Phoenix International Raceway (1964–2005, 2016–)
First race	1915
Distance	255.5 miles
Laps	250
Previous names	Bobby Ball Memorial Jimmy Bryan Memorial
Most wins (driver)	Al Unser (6)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chassis: March Dallara (9) Engine: Offenhauser (25)

The Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix is a Verizon IndyCar Series race held at the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Open wheel racing in the Phoenix area dates back to 1915 on a dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. The race was revived in 1950 by the AAA, and then passed to the United States Auto Club in 1956. USAC moved the race to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in 1964. The race became a CART event in 1979, and joined the Indy Racing League in 1996. It was held continuously through 2005.

After a hiatus of eleven years, the race was revived by the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2016. It is currently held on Saturday night under the lights. Long considered a popular Indy car track, Phoenix has a rich history of open wheel races, including a spectacular crash involving Johnny Rutherford (1980), and the final career victory for Indy legend Mario Andretti (1993).

History

During its time on the USAC Championship Car circuit, Phoenix International Raceway typically held two races annually, one in the spring, and one in the fall. During the CART years, two races were scheduled through the mid-1980s, but the track dropped down to one race per year starting in 1987. In many years, Phoenix served as the CART season opener. After a feud between the track ownership and CART series officials, the track was dropped from the CART schedule after 1995, and immediately switched to the IRL beginning in 1996.

Citing low attendance, the race was put on hiatus after the 2005 season. In 2007, the Grand Prix Arizona for the Champ Car series was planned on a street circuit in downtown Phoenix nearby to the original course used for the U.S. Grand Prix. The event was cancelled four months before the event due to insufficient sponsorship funding.^[1]

After a long hiatus, the Phoenix Grand Prix returned to the IndyCar Series schedule in 2016. The race was the only 1-mile oval on the schedule. The race was scheduled for a twilight start, and raced into the night under the lights. With the reconfiguring of the track in 2011, the circuit measured 1.022 miles in length, and the race was scheduled for 255.5 miles. Desert Diamond West Valley was announced as the title sponsor of the race for 2016 on March 23.^[2]

Past winners

Arizona State Fairgrounds

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
						Laps	Miles (km)
AAA Championship Car history
1915	November 20		Earl Cooper	Stutz	Stutz	109	109 (175.418)	1:42:30	64.39
1916 – 1949	Not held
1950	November 12	Phoenix 100	Jimmy Davies	Ewing	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:16:54	78.020
1951	November 4	Phoenix 100	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:54	84.626
1952	November 11	Phoenix 100	Johnnie Parsons	Kurtis Kraft	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:09:52	85.87
1953	November 11	Phoenix 100	Tony Bettenhausen	Kurtis Kraft	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:11:30	83.916
1954	November 7−8*	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:59	84.524
1955	November 6	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma	Offy	97*	97 (156.106)	1:09:24	83.862
USAC Championship Car history
1956	November 12	Bobby Ball Memorial	George Amick	Lesovsky D	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:05:20	91.826
1957	November 11	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:09:46	86.001
1958	November 11	Bobby Ball Memorial	Jud Larson	Lesovsky D	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:04:42	92.738
1959	October 18	Bobby Ball Memorial	Tony Bettenhausen	Kuzma	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:07:50	88.458
1960	November 20	Bobby Ball Memorial	A.J. Foyt	Meskowski	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:07:21	89.079
1961	November 19	Bobby Ball Memorial	Parnelli Jones	Lesovsky	Offy	89*	89 (143.231)
1962	November 18	Bobby Ball Memorial	Bobby Marshman	Kuzma	Offy	51*	51 (82.076)	0:33:13	92.124
1963	November 17	Bobby Ball Memorial	Rodger Ward	Watson	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	1:10:35	85.01

• 1954: Final 65 laps completed on November 8 due to heavy dust and the rough condition of the track.
• 1955: Race shortened due to rough track conditions.
• 1961: Race shortened due to darkness.
• 1962: Race shortened due to crash.

Phoenix International Raceway

Season	Date	Race Name	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
							Laps	Miles (km)
USAC Championship Car history
1964	March 22	Phoenix 100	A.J. Foyt		Watson	Offy	100	100 (160.934)	0:55:48	107.536
	November 22	Bobby Ball Memorial	Lloyd Ruby		Halibrand RE	Foyt	200	200 (321.868)	1:51:23	107.736
1965	March 28	Jimmy Bryan Memorial	Don Branson		Watson	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:24:33	106.456
	November 21	Bobby Ball Memorial	A.J. Foyt		Lotus	Ford	200	200 (321.868)	2:00:01	99.99
1966	March 20	Jimmy Bryan Memorial	Jim McElreath		Brabham	Ford	150	150 (241.401)	1:31:05	98.828
	November 20	Bobby Ball Memorial	Mario Andretti		Hawk	Ford	200	200 (321.868)	1:54:38	104.697
1967	April 9	Jimmy Bryan Memorial	Lloyd Ruby		Mongoose	Ford	150	150 (241.401)	1:44:18	86.296
	November 19	Bobby Ball Memorial	Mario Andretti		Hawk	Ford	200	200 (321.868)	1:49:13	109.872
1968	April 7	Jimmy Bryan Memorial	Bobby Unser		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:29:10	100.938
	November 17	Bobby Ball Memorial	Gary Bettenhausen		Gerhardt	Offy	200	200 (321.868)	1:54:19	104.972
1969	March 30	Jimmy Bryan 150	George Follmer		Cheetah	Chevrolet	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:55	109.8
	November 15	Bobby Ball 200	Al Unser		Lola	Ford	200	200 (321.868)	1:48:59	110.109
1970	March 28	Jimmy Bryan 150	Al Unser		Colt	Ford	150	150 (241.401)
	November 21	Bobby Ball 150	Swede Savage		Eagle	Ford	150	150 (241.401)	1:17:30	116.807
1971	March 27	Jimmy Bryan 150	Al Unser		Colt	Ford	150	150 (241.401)	1:20:40	111.565
	October 23	Bobby Ball 150	A.J. Foyt		Coyote	Ford	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:18	110.333
1972	March 18	Jimmy Bryan 150	Bobby Unser		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:27:32	102.805
	November 4	Best Western 150	Bobby Unser		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:10:31	127.618
1973	March 17	Phoenix 150	Race postponed by rain and eventually cancelled due to infrastructure damage and scheduling conflicts.
	November 3	Arizona 150	Gordon Johncock		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:18:15	115.015
1974	March 17	Phoenix 150	Mike Mosley		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:17:08	116.663
	November 2	Phoenix 150	Gordon Johncock		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:12:28	124.202
1975	March 16	Bricklin 150	Johnny Rutherford		McLaren	Offy	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:06	110.971
	November 9	Phoenix 150	A.J. Foyt		Coyote	Foyt	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:02	111.055
1976	March 14	Jimmy Bryan 150	Bobby Unser		Eagle	Offy	150	150 (241.401)
	November 7	Bobby Ball 150	Al Unser		Parnelli	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:23:34	107.695
1977	March 27	Jimmy Bryan 150	Johnny Rutherford		McLaren	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:20:48	111.395
	October 29	Bobby Ball 150	Gordon Johncock		Wildcat	DGS	150	150 (241.401)	1:22:53	108.597
1978	March 18	Jimmy Bryan 150	Gordon Johncock		Wildcat	DGS	150	150 (241.401)	1:17:05	116.757
	October 28	Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150	Johnny Rutherford		McLaren	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:14:24	120.974
CART Indy Car World Series history
1979	March 11	Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150	Gordon Johncock	Penske Racing	Penske	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:15:23	119.389
	October 20	Miller High Life 150	Al Unser	Chaparral Racing	Chaparral	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:13:03	123.203
1980	March 2	Phoenix 150	Race cancelled due to Salt River floods
	November 8	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	O'Connell	Phoenix	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:30:04	99.925
1981	March 22	Kraco Car Stereo 150	Johnny Rutherford	Chaparral Racing	Chaparral	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:17:08	116.681
	October 31	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:20:10	112.266
1982	March 28	Kraco Car Stereo 150	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:15:48	118.727
	November 6	Miller High Life 150	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:21:05	110.997
1983	March 20	Phoenix 150	Race cancelled due to Salt River floods
	October 29	Miller High Life 150	Teo Fabi	Forsythe Racing	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:11:03
1984	April 14	Dana-Jimmy Bryan 150	Tom Sneva	Bignotti-Cotter	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:14:39	120.555
	October 13	Stroh's 150	Bobby Rahal	Truesports	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:31:47	98.048
1985	March 31	Phoenix 150	Race cancelled due to general deterioration of the track.
	October 13	Dana 150	Al Unser	Penske Racing	March	Cosworth	150	150 (241.401)	1:14:35	120.644
1986	April 6	Dana 200	Kevin Cogan	Patrick Racing	March	Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:39:42	120.345
	October 19	Circle K/Fiesta Bowl 200	Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	March	Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:29:06	134.676
1987	April 12	Checker 200	Roberto Guerrero	Granatelli Racing Team	March	Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:26:56	138.02
1988	April 10	Checker 200	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:38:22	121.992
1989	April 9	Checker Autoworks 200	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:35:09	126.112
1990	April 8	Autoworks 200	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:35:01	126.291
1991	April 21	Valvoline 200	Arie Luyendyk	Granatelli Racing Team	Lola	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:32:18	129.988
1992	April 5	Valvoline 200	Bobby Rahal	Rahal/Letterman Racing	Lola	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:31:56	130.529
1993	April 4	Valvoline 200	Mario Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:36:53	123.847
1994	April 10	Slick-50 200	Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske Racing	Penske	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:51:41	107.437
1995	April 2	Slick-50 200	Robby Gordon	Walker Racing	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:29:33	133.98
Indy Racing League / IndyCar Series history
1996	March 24	Dura Lube 200	Arie Luyendyk	Treadway Racing	Reynard	Cosworth	200	200 (321.868)	1:42:14	117.368
1996-97	March 23, 1997	Phoenix 200	Jim Guthrie	Blueprint Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	200 (321.868)	2:14:33	89.19
1998	March 22	Dura-Lube 200	Scott Sharp	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	200 (321.868)	2:02:19	98.11
1999	March 28	MCI WorldCom 200	Scott Goodyear	Panther Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	200	200 (321.868)	1:56:40	102.856
2000	March 19	MCI WorldCom 200	Buddy Lazier	Hemelgarn Racing	Riley & Scott	Oldsmobile	200	200 (321.868)	1:47:11	111.957
2001	March 18	Pennzoil / Copper World Indy 200	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	200 (321.868)	1:35:57	125.072
2002	March 17	Bombardier ATV Indy 200	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	200 (321.868)	1:43:00	116.504
2003	March 23	Purex / Dial Indy 200	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	200 (321.868)	1:59:55	100.073
2004	March 21	Copper World Indy 200	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Green Racing	Dallara	Honda	200	200 (321.868)	1:33:46	127.981
2005	March 19	XM Satellite Radio 200 Presented by Argent Mortgage	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	200	200 (321.868)	1:30:24	137.753
2006 – 2015	Not held
2016	April 2	Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	250	255.5 (411.186)*	1:49:39	139.822
2017	April 29	Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Dallara	Chevrolet	250	255.5 (411.186)	1:46:25	144.058

• 2016 race at PIR, after 2011 reconfiguration, is measured at 1.022 miles.

Support races

Season Date Winning Driver Chassis Engine ARS / Indy Lights Series 1986 April 6 Steve Millen March Buick October 19 Fabrizio Barbazza March Buick 1987 April 12 Jeff Andretti March Buick 1988 April 9 Paul Tracy March Buick 1989 April 8 Mike Groff March Buick 1990 April 7 Paul Tracy March Buick 1991 April 21 Robbie Groff March Buick 1992 April 5 Adrián Fernández March Buick 1993 April 4 Sandy Brody Lola Buick 1994 April 10 Greg Moore Lola Buick 1995 April 2 Greg Moore Lola Buick 2003 March 22 Mark Taylor Dallara Infiniti 2004 March 20 Thiago Medeiros Dallara Infiniti 2005 March 20 Jon Herb Dallara Infiniti 2016 April 2 Kyle Kaiser Dallara Mazda-AER

Season Date Winning Driver USAC Mini-Indy Series 1977 October 29 Herm Johnson 1978 March 18 Tim Richmond October 28 Kevin Cogan SCCA Super Vee Series 1980 November 8 Al Unser, Jr. 1981 October 31 Pete Halsmer 1982 March 28 Michael Andretti November 6 Michael Andretti 1983 October 29 Ludwig Heimrath, Jr. 1984 April 15 Ludwig Heimrath, Jr. 1985 October 13 Jeff Andretti 1986 October 19 Mike Groff 1987 April 12 Ken Johnson 1988 April 10 Ken Murillo 1989 April 9 Robbie Groff 1990 April 8 Stuart Crow

Selected race summaries

CART series

• 1980: Johnny Rutherford led the first 37 laps, then on lap 71 was chasing leader Tom Sneva. Dicing through slower traffic, Rutherford slipped by Sneva in turn three to take the lead. He then suffered a spectacular crash. Coming out of turn four, he touched wheels with Dennis Firestone and spun into the outside wall. Then the car flipped up in the air and landed upside-down on its roll bar. Rutherford escaped with a concussion and only minor cuts and lacerations.
• 1985 (fall): In the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix, Al Unser, Sr. and Al Unser, Jr. finished 1st-2nd, and ended the day within 3 points of each other going into the season finale. The father and son battle for the 1985 championship is famous in Indy car lore.
• 1986 (spring): Michael Andretti led 78 laps, but his engine started smoking on lap 163. Kevin Cogan took the lead on lap 164, and won his first (and only) career Indy car race. Cogan finished a lap ahead of second place Tom Sneva.^[3]
• 1987: Roberto Guerrero qualified third, but failed post-qualifying inspection for being 2.5 pounds underweight. He was forced to start last on the grid. Guerrero quickly charged through the field, and was in the top five by lap 46. He dueled with Bobby Rahal for the lead on lap 62, and dominated the second half. Even a stop-and-go penalty for hitting a tire in the pits did not slow Guerrero's run. Guerrero won by 8 seconds over Rahal, becoming only the fourth driver in modern Indy car history to win a race from the last starting position.
• 1988: Polesitter Rick Mears led the first 22 laps, and stretched out to a large, dominating lead. Coming out of turn four on lap 22, however, Mears tangled with Randy Lewis, spun down the mainstretch, and came to rest with a broken suspension. Mario Andretti led the final 135 laps to win.
• 1989: Danny Sullivan held the lead late, but his Penske teammate Rick Mears blew by him on lap 183. Sullivan pitted for tires, but his pitside tank had no more fuel to take on. Mears had a lap on the entire field as he stretched his fuel to the victory. At the line, Al Unser, Jr. barely held off Sullivan for second place.
• 1990: Rick Mears made it back-to-back victories at Phoenix, this time in dominating fashion. Mears led the final 132 laps, nearly lapping the field at one point. The attention focused on the battle for second between Galles-Kraco Racing teammates Bobby Rahal and Al Unser, Jr. On lap 189, Rahal was able to weave through lapped traffic and pass Unser for second, as Mears cruised to victory.
• 1991: Arie Luyendyk, driving for the fledgling Bob Tezak UNO/Granatelli Racing, took the lead on lap 143. Luyendyk pulled out to a large lead while Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Michael Andretti battled wheel-to-wheel for second. Fittipaldi and Rahal were side-by-side when Danny Sullivan's Alfa Romeo engine blew, bringing out the yellow and white flag. Fittipaldi passed Rahal, but it was after the yellow light came on. Luyendyk won his second Indy car race, and Rahal was restored to second.
• 1992: Bobby Rahal led wire-to-wire, leading all 200 laps en route to victory. Rahal became the first driver to accomplish that feat at Phoenix since A. J. Foyt in 1964. Michael Andretti qualified for the pole position, the first pole for the Ford-Cosworth XB engine, but his car didn't even pull away from the starting grid. He was pushed to the pits due to fouled spark plugs, and started the race four laps behind the field.
• 1993: Rookie Nigel Mansell arrived at Phoenix anticipating his first open wheel oval race, but crashed during practice and sat out with a back injury. Mansell's teammate Mario Andretti won the race, and became the oldest winner of an Indy car race (53 years, 34 days). It was Mario Andretti's final Indy car victory.
• 1994: Hiro Matsushita touched wheels with Teo Fabi in turn three on lap 63. The two cars crashed and collected leader Paul Tracy. Seconds later, rookie Jacques Villenueve came upon the scene in the high groove, and t-boned Matsushita's car, splitting it in two, and sending it spinning wildly to the infield. Matsushita escaped with no injuries besides a sore shoulder. Later in the race, Mario Andretti crashed on the backstretch, and Michael Andretti clipped another car, which sheared off his left front wheel, which bounced into a spectator area. No injuries were reported. Emerson Fittipaldi won, with his Penske teammate Al Unser, Jr. second. After sitting out the race a year before, Nigel Mansell placed third.
• 1995: In the closing laps, Paul Tracy and Emerson Fittipaldi battled for the lead. Both had to pit though for a "splash-and-go" to make it to the finish. With 7 laps to go Fittipaldi's pit stop handed the lead to Michael Andretti, but Andretti did not realize he had inherited the lead. Andretti allowed Robby Gordon to pass him for the lead with five laps to go, and Gordon won his first career CART series race. It would be the final CART series race at Phoenix.

IndyCar Series

• 1996: The race switched to the new Indy Racing League. On lap 128, Foyt Racing drivers Scott Sharp and Mike Groff (running 1st-2nd) ducked into the pits for their final stop. However, they did not see that the yellow flag had come out, and were penalized one lap for pitting while the pits were closed. Arie Luyendyk cruised over the final 66 laps to victory. During a practice run, Buddy Lazier suffered a fractured back after a crash. Lazier would come back to win the Indy 500 two months later.
• 1997: Independent owner/driver Jim Guthrie authored one of the biggest underdog wins in Indy Racing League/IndyCar history. On lap 180, a crash involving Sam Schmidt and Kenny Brack brought out a lengthy yellow flag. Guthrie stayed out, looking to stretch his fuel over the final 82 laps. Guthrie held off a hard-charging Tony Stewart over the final ten laps to secure his lone Indy car victory. Going into the race, Guthrie was forced to take out a second mortgage on his home to purchase his chassis.
• 1998: On lap 59, Eliseo Salazar spun and collected Dave Steele and Robbie Buhl. Trying to avoid the crash, Arie Luyendyk touched wheels with Salazar, and slid through turn 2 upside down. On lap 169, the leaders pitted under caution, but Scott Sharp stayed out, gambling on track position. On lap 186, Kenny Brack and Mike Groff touched wheels, crashing hard. The long yellow allowed Sharp to conserve fuel. With two laps to go, the green came out with Sharp leading. Tony Stewart and Billy Boat were caught up behind the slow car of Mark Dismore, allowing Sharp to hold on for the win. After the race, Dismore was fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Sharp was fined $15,000 when he failed post-race inspection with an oversized fuel tank.^[4]
• 2001: In preparations for their return to the Indianapolis 500, Penske Racing enters their CART regulars Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran for the IRL season opener at Phoenix.^[5] Both Penske cars, however, would drop out. Sam Hornish Jr., driving in his first start for Panther Racing, won his first career Indy car race. Hornish beat the leaders out of the pits with 73 laps to go, and dominated the rest of the way.
• 2005: Tomas Scheckter brushed the outside wall in turn four on lap 193, bringing out the caution, and setting up a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Sam Hornish, Jr. led Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves. Hornish got a good jump on the restart, while Franchitti slipped high in turn two, whitewalling the tires. Hornish won the race, while Franchitti fell back to 4th. Tony Kanaan, who finished third, started 21st and passed half the field on the first lap.^[6]
• 2016: After an eleven-year hiatus, the IndyCar Series returned to Phoenix for a race under the lights. The track had been slightly reconfigured since the last race in 2005, and now was measured at 1.022 miles in length. In addition, the race length was lengthened to 250 laps. Helio Castroneves broke the track record during qualifying, setting a new one-lap record of 192.631 mph. Passing was difficult during the race, and tire wear was a major factor. Penske teammates Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya both suffered tire failures while leading in the first half. Scott Dixon took the lead and led the final 155 laps to victory.

References

External links

• Champ Car Stats: Fairgrounds archive, PIR archive, Indy Lights archive
• Ultimate Racing History: Fairgrounds archive, Phoenix archive