The 1997 California 500 Presented by NAPA was a Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) event held at California Speedway on June 22, 1997. Jeff Gordon dominated the inagural event at the track, leading 113 of the 250 laps in route to a one-second victory on teammate Terry Labonte. Gordon pulled away with the points lead as well, now 92 points ahead of Mark Martin (10th). Stats