Dallara IR-7

The Dallara IR7 was the first car that Dallara built for the Indy Racing League, later called the IndyCar Series, and it was replaced the following year by the IR8. Dallara has supplied the cars for the series since 1997 and, since 2006, has been its only supplier. For 1997, along with the introduction of the IR7, naturally aspirated V8 engines replaced the previous turbocharged engines, offering approximately 700 horsepower at 10,500 rpm, and the car wore a carbon fibre body shell. The 1997 season began on 18 August 1996 and ran through 11 October 1997 with ten races. Arie Luyendyk won the Indianapolis 500 and Tony Stewart took the championship, and many teams raced the IR7, many of them with Oldsmobile engines, alongside older chassis from Lola, G Force, Reynard and Riley and Scott.