I have a 97 Honda accord vtec and I took Otto get the emissions on it and it came up with a code saying the EGR SYSTEM___ NOT READY?

 

OBD-2 "readyness" codes for the most part mean the car hasn't been driven far enough since the ECM was reset. Reason for this is to prevent someone from resetting the ECM on a failing car, just to get it to pass smog.

I wrote something in the DIY section about the readyness codes on 7th-gen. I don't know specifically what's needed for 1997, but that should give you some kind of explanation.