1979 USAC Championship Car season explained

The 1979 USAC Championship Car season consisted of seven races, beginning in Ontario, California on March 25 and concluding in West Allis, Wisconsin on August 12. The USAC National Champion was A. J. Foyt and the Indianapolis 500 winner was Rick Mears. With the exception of the Indianapolis 500, most top drivers instead competed in races sanctioned by CART.

During the summer of 1979, after the California 500 switched alliances mid-season to become a CART series race, USAC proposed a Labor Day weekend race meet that would consist of a USAC Stock Car/Championship Car doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A 250-mile stock car race on Saturday would be followed by a 250-mile Indy car race on Sunday.^[1] ^[2] However, the plan never materialized.

Confirmed entries

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Rounds
Agajanian-King Racers	Kingfish 73	Chevrolet	97	Phil Threshie	3–5
			97	Jerry Miller	7
			98	Gary Bettenhausen	3–5
			98	George Snider	7
AMI Racing	Lola T500B	Cosworth	43	Tom Bigelow	All
			44	Roger McCluskey	4–7
			45	Janet Guthrie	1, 3, 5, 7
			45	George Snider	1–2
	Wildcat Mk. II	DGS	46	Gary Bettenhausen	1–2, 6–7
				Howdy Holmes	3, 5
				Greg Leffler	4
B/M Enterprises	Antares 72	Offenhauser	50	Frank Weiss	1, 3–5, 7
B/M Enterprises	Antares 72	Offenhauser	50	Eldon Rasmussen	3
Beaudoin Racing	Wildcat Mk. II	DGS	83	Billy Engelhart	3
Beith Racing	Eagle 72	Offenhauser	28	Billy Scott	3
Bruce Crower	Eagle 74	Chevrolet	57	Jerry Sneva	1–3, 5
Fiore Racing	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	88	Ken Nichols	1
Gibson Racing	Eagle 74	DGS	75	Todd Gibson	1–3
Gilmore Racing	Parnelli VPJ6CT Coyote IV		Cosworth Foyt	14	A. J. Foyt	All
Hodgdon Racing	McLaren M24		Cosworth	72	Roger McCluskey	1, 3
	Spirit 78	AMC	73	Neil Bonnett	3
	Spirit 78	AMC	73	Jerry Sneva	3
Hucul Racing	McLaren M16E	Offenhauser	29	Cliff Hucul	All
Jim Hurtubise	Mallard 71	Offenhauser	56	Jim Hurtubise	3
Joe Hunt	Eagle 73	Offenhauser	99	Bob Harkey	1
Leader Card	Watson 77	Offenhauser	22	Bill Vukovich II	All
	Watson 78		24	Sheldon Kinser	All
	Watson 79		40	George Snider	3
Lindsey Hopkins	Lightning Mk1/79 Lightning X-15	Offenhauser	15	Johnny Parsons	1–5, 7
			51	Hurley Haywood	1, 3
			51	George Snider	5
Loquasto Racing	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	86	Al Loquasto	5
McElreath Racing	Eagle 73/74 Penske PC-6/78	Chevrolet	26	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	2
		Offenhauser Cosworth	26	Jim McElreath	5–7
			23	Jim McElreath	1–3
			23	Phil Threshie	6
Medlin Racing	Cicada Mk.IV	Offenhauser	35	Bill Puterbaugh	3–4, 7
Mergard Racing	Eagle 72	Offenhauser	42	Herm Johnson	7
Polak Racing	Penske PC-5/77	Cosworth	80	Larry Dickson	3–7
Rager Racing	Eagle 68	Chevrolet	66	Roger Rager	3–4, 6–7
Rasmussen Racing	Rascar 72	Foyt Chevrolet	58	Eldon Rasmussen	1–3, 5
Raymond Reimer	March 73A	Chevrolet	93	Larry McCoy	3
				Dana Carter	6
				Jan Sneva	7
Rhoades Competition	McLaren M16E	Offenhauser	20	John Martin	3, 5
Robert LaWarre	Eagle 68	Chevrolet	60	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	4–5
Robert LaWarre	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	86	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	6–7
Thunder Racing	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	30	Larry Dickson	1–2
Thunder Racing	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	30	Dana Carter	3–5
Vollstedt Racing	Vollstedt 77	Offenhauser	17	Dick Simon	1, 3–7
	Vollstedt 73	Offenhauser	27	John Martin	1
		AMC		George Snider	4
		AMC		Bob Harkey	5
Wayne Woodward	Eagle 72	Offenhauser	42	Dick Ferguson	1
	Eagle 74		81	Dana Carter	1
				Dick Ferguson	2–3
				Jerry Sneva	4–7
William R. Compton	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	38	Jerry Karl	All
CART entrants - ineligible to score points.
Alex Morales Co.	Lightning Mk1/77	Offenhauser	10	Pancho Carter	3
All American Racers	Eagle 78 MkII	Cosworth	36	Mike Mosley	3
Cannon Racing Team	Wildcat Mk. I	DGS	95	Larry Cannon	3
Chaparral Racing	Chaparral 2K	Cosworth	2	Al Unser	3
Conqueste Racing	Parnelli VPJ6CT	Cosworth	89	Lee Kunzman	3
Fletcher Racing	Lightning Mk1/77	Cosworth	7	Steve Krisiloff	3
Frantz Auto Body	Wildcat Mk. I	DGS	16	Tom Frantz	3
Gehlhausen-Reath Racing	Wildcat Mk. I	Cosworth	19	Spike Gehlhausen	3
	Eagle 74	Offenhauser		Bob Harkey	3
				Bill Alsup	3
			39	Al Loquasto	3
Hoffman Auto Racing	Lightning Mk1/77	Offenhauser	59	George Snider	3
Hoffman Auto Racing	Eagle 72	Offenhauser	69	Joe Saldana	3
Intercomp Racing	Eagle 72	Offenhauser	92	John Mahler	3
Interscope Racing	Parnelli VPJ6CT	Cosworth	25	Danny Ongais	3, 5
Jerry O'Connell Racing	McLaren M24	Cosworth	1	Tom Sneva	3
Longhorn Racing	Penske PC-6/78	Cosworth	11	Tom Bagley	3
Patrick Racing	Penske PC-6/78	Cosworth	3	Gordon Johncock	3
Patrick Racing	Penske PC-6/78	Cosworth	6	Wally Dallenbach	3
Penske Racing	Penske PC-6/78	Cosworth	9	Rick Mears	3
	Penske PC-7/79		12	Bobby Unser	3
	Penske PC-7/79		68	Bill Alsup	3
S&M Electric	Lightning Mk1/77	Offenhauser	31	Larry Rice	3
Team McLaren	McLaren M24B	Cosworth	4	Johnny Rutherford	3
Walmotor	Penske PC-6/78	Cosworth	77	Salt Walther	3
WASP Racing	McLaren M16C/D	Offenhauser	41	Bill Alsup	3
Wysard Motor Co.	Wildcat Mk. II	DGS	34	Vern Schuppan	3

Schedule and results

All races running on Oval/Speedway.

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Length	Track	Location	Pole Position	Winning Driver
1	March 25	Datsun Twin 200	200miles	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
2	April 8	Coors 200	200miles	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
3	May 27	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	500miles	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Rick Mears	Rick Mears
4	June 10	Rex Mays Classic	150miles	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
5	June 24	Music 500 at Pocono	500miles	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
6	August 5	Lubrilon Grand Prix	200miles	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
7	August 12	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200miles	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Tom Bigelow	Roger McCluskey
	September 2	California 500	500miles	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	—	—

Non-USAC drivers
Originally scheduled as a USAC race, but was switched mid-season to a CART series race.

Final points standings

The CART drivers were not eligible for points.

Pos	Driver	ONT	TXS1	INDY	MIL1	POC	TXS2	MIL2	Pts
1	A. J. Foyt	1*	1*	2	1*	1*	1*	12*	3320
2	Bill Vukovich II	3	6	8	2	6	6	3	1770
3	Tom Bigelow	6	12	14	3	8	2	2	1305
4	Larry Dickson	16	3	24	4	3	11	Wth	1225
5	Gary Bettenhausen	18	2	DNQ	6	9	5	6	1008
6	Jim McElreath	9	14	35		2	9	Wth	975
7	Jerry Sneva	21	13	31	5	4	12	10	851
8	Dick Simon	7		26	13	5	7	17	766
9	Roger McCluskey	12		13	17	14	4	1	716
10	Sheldon Kinser	4	8	28	15	15	3	14	673
11	Cliff Hucul	5	4	29	7	11	16	19	653
12				7		7			600
13	Johnny Parsons	2	16	32	14	21		4	598
14	George Snider	8	5	33	18	25		11	361
15	Janet Guthrie	Wth		34		19		5	225
16	Frank Weiss	20		Wth	8	23		7	218
17			9		9	13	13	15	185
18		10		DNQ	11	22	10		165
19	Phil Threshie			17	16	16	8		153
20	Al Loquasto			DNQ		10			150
21	Todd Gibson	14	7	DNQ					130
22	Jerry Karl	DNS	10	DNQ	12	17	14	18	113
23	Herm Johnson							8	100
24	Eldon Rasmussen	11	15	23		20			85
25								9	80
26	Roger Rager			DNQ	10		15	16	65
27		17	11	DNQ					48
28	John Martin	15		DNQ		18			30
29	Bob Harkey	19		Wth		24			23
30	Bill Puterbaugh			DNQ	19			13	10
31	Ken Nichols	13							10
32								20	8
-	Rick Mears			1					0
-	Mike Mosley			3					0
-	Danny Ongais			4		12			0
-	Bobby Unser			5*					0
-	Gordon Johncock			6					0
-	Tom Bagley			9					0
-	Spike Gehlhausen			10					0
-	Steve Krisiloff			11					0
-	Salt Walther			12					0
-	Tom Sneva			15					0
-	Joe Saldana			16					0
-	Johnny Rutherford			18					0
-	Larry Rice			19					0
-	Pancho Carter			20					0
-	Vern Schuppan			21					0
-	Al Unser			22					0
-	John Mahler			25					0
-	Wally Dallenbach Sr.			27					0
-	Lee Kunzman			30					0
-	Larry McCoy			DNQ					0
-	Bill Alsup			DNQ					0
-	Larry Cannon			DNQ					0
-	Billy Engelhart			DNQ					0
-	Tom Frantz			DNQ					0
-	Hurley Haywood			DNQ					0
-	Jim Hurtubise			DNQ					0
-	Billy Scott			DNQ					0
-	Neil Bonnett			Wth					0
-	Greg Leffler				Wth				0
Pos	Driver	ONT	TXS1	INDY	MIL1	POC	TXS2	MIL2	Pts

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th-10th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 10)
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|Led most race laps\|-\|style="text-align:center" colspan=2\| Rookie of the Year\|-\|style="text-align:center" colspan=2\| Rookie\|}\|}\|} See also 1979 Indianapolis 500 1979 SCCA/CART Indy Car Series References Web site: USAC National Championship 1979 . Åberg, Andreas . Driver Database . 2009-05-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120908075537/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/980-1979/ . 2012-09-08 . live . Web site: 1979 USAC National Championship Trail . ChampCarStats.com . 2009-05-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081122121625/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/1979u.htm . 2008-11-22 . live . http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 212-213) ]

Notes and References

News: September Race At Speedway?. Robin. Miller. Robin Miller (journalist). The Indianapolis Star. 1. Newspapers.com. July 10, 1979. July 3, 2019.
News: Labor Day Show At IMS Just A Joke - Or Is It?. Robin. Miller. Robin Miller (journalist). The Indianapolis Star. 34. Newspapers.com. July 12, 1979. July 3, 2019.

1979 USAC Championship Car season explained

Confirmed entries

Schedule and results

Final points standings

See also

References

Notes and References