Chrysler and Pac West remained the only full manufacturer backed team, keen not to loose out to the lower budget privateer teams again this year. Their driver driver line-up of Dobson and Donnahue remained the same, but they would drive two new cars which had been totally re-engineered at the Chrysler technical centre in Michigan.

Pobst and T.C. Kline racing returned to defend their title, this time with a McLaren Cars build ex-Schnitzer BMW 320i. As in 1996 the car was delivered only days before the first race, so they were immediately at a disadvantage against the Pac West team who had spent the whole winter testing their new cars.

The remainder of the field would be made up of a number of enthusiastic privateer teams, all running on extreemly tight budgets and only appearing on an infrequent basis. The usual mixture of Fords, BMWs and Hondas were joined by the less common ex-Roger Dowson Mazda Xedos for Bob Schader and the ex-South African series Toyota Camry for rallyman Millen.

Crompton was the first driver to make his mark by taking the first two wins, which he followed up with a string of strong podium finishes. This put Crompton ahead in the points until round 5 at Detroit, where he was excluded from the results of the second race following an on-track incident.