1979 IndyCar season

1979 American Championship Car season
Series  : IndyCar
Champion : Rick Mears
Previous: 1978 (USAC)	Next: 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	G	1	Tom Sneva
Chaparral Cars Inc.	Chaparral Lola	Cosworth	G	2	Al Unser
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske	Cosworth	G	9	Rick Mears
				12	Bobby Unser
				99	Mario Andretti
Patrick Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	3/20	Gordon Johncock
				6/40	Wally Dallenbach
McLaren International	McLaren	Cosworth	G	4	Johnny Rutherford
All American Racers	Eagle	Cosworth	G	36	Mike Mosley
Longhorn Racing	Penske	Cosworth	G	11	Tom Bagley
Larry Hamm Motorsports	Parnelli	Cosworth	G	21/89	Lee Kunzman
S-M Electric	Lightning	Offy	G	35	Larry Rice
WASP Racing	McLaren	Offy	G	41/67	Bill Alsup
Walmotor	McLaren	Cosworth	G	77	Salt Walther
Hoffman Racing	Eagle	Offy	G	59/69	Joe Saldana
Frantz Racing	Wildcat	DGS	G	16/18	Tom Frantz
Interscope Racing	Parnelli	Cosworth	G	25	Danny Ongais
Fletcher Racing	Lightning	Cosworth	G	7/55	Steve Krisiloff
Gehlhausen Racing	Eagle	Offy	G	19	Spike Gehlhausen
				39	Al Loquasto
Sport Magazine	Eagle	Offy	G	92	John Mahler
Alex Morales Motorsports	Lightning	Offy	G	10	Pancho Carter
Wysard Motor Co.	Wildcat	Offy	G	34	Vern Schuppan
National Engineering	Spirit 78	AMC	G	73	Jerry Sneva
Aero Electrics	Spyder	Offy	G	79	Dick Ferguson
-Private Entry-	Eagle	Offy	G	69	Tim Richmond
Canon Racing - GTI Engineering	Wildcat	DGS	G	73	Larry Cannon
Wheel Center	Eagle	Offy	G	28	Bill Scott
Sta-On	Eagle	Offy	G	19	Phil Caliva
Mergard Racing	Eagle	Offy	G	42	Herm Johnson
AMS/Oil	Lola	Cosworth	G	86	Dennis Firestone

Results and standings

Races

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

  Oval/Speedway

  Road Course/Street Circuit

• CART was sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)
• Indianapolis was USAC-sanctioned but counted towards the CART championship.

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 R1 ATL R2 IND 500 TRE R1 TRE R2 MIG R1 MIG R2 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 Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (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 practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) 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	Marlboro 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

Template:Champ Car Seasons

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1979 IndyCar season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.