It began on 22 June 1997 at Eastern Creek Raceway and ended on 7 December at Eastern Creek Raceway after four rounds.
The series was run by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) over the two circuits operated by the club in Sydney, Australia.
It was the last such series to bear the AMSCAR name having been last run previously during the 1994 season.
The 1997 series can be seen as the immediate fore-runner for today's Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, acting as a second tier series for touring cars contested by privately owned and funded touring car teams, known colloquially as 'privateers'.
The following drivers and teams competed in the 1997 AMSCAR series.