1979 IndyCar season

1979 IndyCar season
SCCA/CART Indy Car Series
Season
Races	14
Start date	March 11
End date	October 20
Awards
Drivers' champion	Rick Mears
Constructors' Cup	Penske
Manufacturers' Cup	Cosworth
Nations' Cup	United States
Rookie of the Year	Bill Alsup
Indianapolis 500 winner	Rick Mears
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
1978 (USAC)	1980

The 1979 IndyCar season consisted of 14 races, beginning in Avondale, Arizona on March 11 and concluding at the same location on October 20. The SCCA/CART Indy Car Series Drivers' Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was Rick Mears. Rookie of the Year was Bill Alsup. This was the first year that the championship was co-sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America and CART, after the majority of car owners left the USAC during the previous season. The 63rd Indianapolis 500 continued to be sanctioned by the USAC, but counted in the CART points standings.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed for the 1979 CART World Series.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers
Jerry O'Connel Racing	McLaren	Cosworth	Goodyear	1	Tom Sneva
Chaparral Cars Inc.	Chaparral Lola	Cosworth	Goodyear	2	Al Unser
Team Penske	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	9	Rick Mears
				12	Bobby Unser
				99	Mario Andretti
Patrick Racing	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	3/20	Gordon Johncock
				6/40	Wally Dallenbach
McLaren International	McLaren	Cosworth	Goodyear	4	Johnny Rutherford
All American Racers	Eagle	Cosworth	Goodyear	36	Mike Mosley
Longhorn Racing	Penske	Cosworth	Goodyear	11	Tom Bagley
Larry Hamm Motorsports	Parnelli	Cosworth	Goodyear	21/89	Lee Kunzman
S-M Electric	Lightning	Offy	Goodyear	35	Larry Rice
WASP Racing	McLaren	Offy	Goodyear	41/67	Bill Alsup
Walmotor	McLaren	Cosworth	Goodyear	77	Salt Walther
Hoffman Racing	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	59/69	Joe Saldana
Frantz Racing	Wildcat	DGS	Goodyear	16/18	Tom Frantz
Interscope Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	Goodyear	25	Danny Ongais
Fletcher Racing	Lightning	Cosworth	Goodyear	7/55	Steve Krisiloff
Gehlhausen Racing	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	19	Spike Gehlhausen
				39	Al Loquasto
Sport Magazine	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	92	John Mahler
Alex Morales Motorsports	Lightning	Offy	Goodyear	10	Pancho Carter
Wysard Motor Co.	Wildcat	Offy	Goodyear	34	Vern Schuppan
National Engineering	Spirit 78	AMC	Goodyear	73	Jerry Sneva
Aero Electrics	Spyder	Offy	Goodyear	79	Dick Ferguson
-Private Entry-	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	69	Tim Richmond
Canon Racing - GTI Engineering	Wildcat	DGS	Goodyear	73	Larry Cannon
Wheel Center	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	28	Bill Scott
Sta-On	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	19	Phil Caliva
Mergard Racing	Eagle	Offy	Goodyear	42	Herm Johnson
AMS/Oil	Lola	Cosworth	Goodyear	86	Dennis Firestone

Results and standings

Races

Rd	Name	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150	Avondale, Arizona	March 11	Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	Report
2	Gould Twin Dixie 125 - Heat 1	Atlanta, Georgia	April 22	Johnny Rutherford	McLaren	Report
3	Gould Twin Dixie 125 - Heat 2	Atlanta, Georgia	April 22	Johnny Rutherford	McLaren	Report
4	Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis, Indiana	May 27	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
5	Trenton Twin Indy - Heat 1	Trenton, New Jersey	June 10	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
6	Trenton Twin Indy - Heat 2	Trenton, New Jersey	June 10	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
7	Norton Twin - Heat 1	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 15	Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	Report
8	Norton Twin - Heat 2	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 15	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
9	Kent Oil 150	Watkins Glen, New York	August 5	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
10	Ditzler 150	Trenton, New Jersey	August 19	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
11	California 500	Ontario, California	September 2	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
12	Gould Grand Prix	Brooklyn, Michigan	September 15	Bobby Unser	Penske Racing	Report
13	Rich's Atlantic Classic	Atlanta, Georgia	September 30	Rick Mears	Penske Racing	Report
14	Miller High Life	Avondale, Arizona	October 20	Al Unser	Chaparral	Report

Full Series Results

Points Breakdown

Points Earned for Each Type of Race
Pos	100 Miles	125 Miles	150 Miles	200 Miles	500 Miles	Pos	100 Miles	125 Miles	150 Miles	200 Miles	500 Miles
1	200	250	300	400	1000	18	5	5	6	8	20
2	160	200	240	320	800	19		5	6	8	20
3	140	175	210	280	700	20		5	6	8	20
4	120	150	160	240	600	21		4	5	6	15
5	100	125	150	200	500	22		4	4	6	15
6	80	100	120	160	400	23		4	4	6	15
7	60	75	90	120	300	24				6	10
8	50	63	75	100	250	25				4	10
9	40	50	60	80	200	26				4	10
10	30	38	45	60	150	27					10
11	20	25	30	40	100	28					10
12	10	13	15	20	50	29					5
13	5	5	8	10	25	30					5
14	5	5	8	10	25	31					5
15	5	5	8	10	25	32					5
16	5	5	8	10	25	33					5
17	5	5	6	8	20

Final driver standings

Pos Driver PHO R1 ATL H1 ATL H2 IND 500 TRE H1 TRE H2 MIG H1 MIG H2 WKG INT TRE R3 CAL 500 MIG R3 ATL R3 PHO R2 Pts 1 Rick Mears 2 5 2 1 5 7 4 5 2 1 2 3 1 3 4,060 2 Bobby Unser 5 7 4 5 1 1 Ret 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 3,820 3 Gordon Johncock 1 4 9 6 3 5 1 4 3 Ret Ret Ret 2 4 2,211 4 Johnny Rutherford 3 1 1 18 Ret 3 3 Ret Ret 5 4 4 Ret 6 2,163 5 Al Unser 4 6 3 Ret 2 Ret 13 3 5 6 5 Ret 5 1 2,085 6 Danny Ongais Ret Ret 6 4 7 6 Ret Ret 4 Ret 6 DNQ Ret Ret 1,473 7 Tom Sneva Ret 3 5 15 6 Ret Ret 2 Ret 3 Ret 2 8 5 1,360 8 Tom Bagley 8 8 7 9 8 4 6 6 6 7 Ret 5 9 1,208 9 Wally Dallenbach, Sr. 7 11 8 Ret 4 2 5 Ret Ret 4 Ret 6 4 12 1,149 10 Mike Mosley 6 Ret Ret 3 Ret DNS 2 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 1,126 11 Mario Andretti 3 DNQ 700 12 Lee Kunzman 9 2 Ret Ret Ret DNS 14 Ret 9 490 13 Pancho Carter Ret 9 11 Ret 10 8 7 Ret Ret Ret 8 Ret 7 452 14 Vern Schuppan Ret 12 12 Ret Ret DNS 7 7 DNS Ret 449 15 Bill Alsup 11 Ret Ret 12 9 9 Ret 9 10 Ret 9 10 11 400 16 Joe Saldana 13 Ret 13 16 Ret Ret 10 8 Ret 8 Ret DNQ 6 Ret 368 17 Spike Gehlhausen Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 343 18 Salt Walther 12 10 10 12 8 7 Ret Ret 314 19 Steve Krisiloff Ret Ret 11 9 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 6 279 20 Tom Frantz 14 11 Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret 236 21 Jerry Sneva Ret Ret 155 22 Tim Richmond Ret DNS 8 Ret Ret Ret 112 23 Larry Rice 10 14 19 Ret 10 105 24 Herm Johnson 7 13 98 25 John Mahler Ret Ret 11 11 12 Ret 74 26 Al Loquasto Ret 9 Ret 70 27 Larry Cannon Ret Ret DNS Ret Ret 56 28 Dick Ferguson 15 Ret Ret DNQ 35 29 Billy Scott Ret 20 30 Phil Caliva Ret 10 - A.J. Foyt 2 - - Howdy Holmes 7 - - Bill Vukovich II 8 - - Don Whittington 8 - - Frank Weiss 9 - - Bill Whittington Ret - - Roger McCluskey 13 - - Tom Bigelow 14 - - Phil Threshie 17 - - John Martin Ret - - Eldon Rasmussen Ret - - Larry Dickson Ret - - Dick Simon Ret - - Sheldon Kinser Ret - - Bob Harkey Ret - - Cliff Hucul Ret Ret - - Dennis Firestone Ret - - Johnny Parsons Ret Ret - - George Snider Ret - - Janet Guthrie Ret - - Jim McElreath Ret - Pos Driver PHO R1 ATL H1 ATL H2 IND 500 TRE H1 TRE H2 MIG H1 MIG H2 WKG INT TRE R3 CAL 500 MIG R3 ATL R3 PHO R2 Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Not classified (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate Excluded (EX) In-line notation Bold Pole position Rookie of the Year Rookie

Driver Breakdown

Pos	Driver	Team	Entries	Wins	Podiums	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points
1	Mears	Team Penske	14	3	9	13	14	2	4,060
2	B. Unser	Team Penske	14	6	9	12	13	7	3,820
3	Johncock	Patrick Racing	14	2	5	9	11	2	2,211
4	Rutherford	McLaren International	14	2	5	8	9	2	2,163
5	A. Unser	Chaparral Cars Inc.	14	1	4	8	10	1	2,085
6	Ongais	Interscope Racing	13	0	0	2	6	0	1,473
7	T. Sneva	Sugaripe Prune	14	0	2	6	8	0	1,360
8	Bagley	Longhorn Racing	13	0	0	2	12	0	1,208
9	Dallenbach	Patrick Racing	14	0	1	5	8	0	1,149
10	Mosley	All American Racers	12	0	2	2	3	0	1,126
11	Andretti	Team Penske	1	0	1	1	1	0	700
12	Kunzman	Hamm	8	0	1	1	3	0	490
13	Carter	Alex Foods	13	0	0	0	6	0	452
14	Schuppan	Wysard Motor Co.	8	0	0	0	2	0	449
15	Alsup (R)	WASP Racing	13	0	0	0	6	0	400
16	Saldana	Hoffman Racing	13	0	0	0	4	0	368
17	Gehlhausen	Gehlhausen Racing	14	0	0	0	2	0	343
18	Walther	Walmotor	8	0	0	0	4	0	314
19	Krisiloff	Fletcher Racing	10	0	0	0	2	0	279
20	Frantz	Frantz Racing	7	0	0	0	1	0	236
21	J. Sneva	National Engineering	2	0	0	0	0	0	155
22	Richmond	-Private Entry-	5	0	0	0	1	0	112
23	Rice	S-M Electric	5	0	0	0	2	0	105
24	Johnson	Mergard Racing	2	0	0	0	1	0	98
25	Mahler	Sport Magazine	6	0	0	0	0	0	74
26	Loquasto	Gehlhausen Racing	3	0	0	0	1	0	70
27	Cannon	Canon Racing - GTI Engineering	4	0	0	0	0	0	56
28	Ferguson	Aero Electrics	3	0	0	0	0	0	35
29	Scott	Wheel Center	1	0	0	0	0	0	20
30	Caliva	Sta-On	1	0	0	0	0	0	10

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "SCCA/CART Indy Car Series 1979". Driver Database. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-1979/. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "1979 SCCA/CART Indy Car Series". Champ Car Stats. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1979.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "Official Box Score: 63rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway". Indianapolis Motor Speedway. http://www.indy500.com/stats/view/boxscore/year/1979/. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "Standings after Phoenix". Champ Car World Series. http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=1979. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 

See also

• 1979 Indianapolis 500
• 1979 USAC Championship Car season