1979 USAC Championship Car season

1979 USAC Championship Car season
1979 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races	7
Start date	March 25
End date	August 12
Awards
National champion	A. J. Foyt
Indianapolis 500 winner	Rick Mears
	← 1978 1980 →

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.

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	200 mi (320 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
2	April 8	Coors 200	200 mi (320 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
3	May 27	International 500 Mile Sweepstakes	500 mi (800 km)	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	Rick Mears^A	Rick Mears^A
4	June 10	Rex Mays Classic	150 mi (240 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
5	June 24	Music 500 at Pocono	500 mi (800 km)	Pocono International Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
6	August 5	Lubrilon Grand Prix	200 mi (320 km)	Texas World Speedway	College Station, Texas	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt
7	August 12	Tony Bettenhausen 200	200 mi (320 km)	Wisconsin State Fair Park Speedway	West Allis, Wisconsin	Tom Bigelow	Roger McCluskey
	September 2^[a]	California 500	500 mi (800 km)	Ontario Motor Speedway	Ontario, California	—	—

^A Non-USAC driver.

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	DNQ	1225
5	Gary Bettenhausen	18	2	DNQ	6	9	5	6	1008
6	Jim McElreath	9	14	35		2	9	DNQ	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	Howdy Holmes YR			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	DNQ		34		19		5	225
16	Frank Weiss	20		DNQ	8	23		7	218
17	Tony Bettenhausen Jr. R		9	DNQ	9	13	13	15	185
18	R	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	Jerry Miller R			DNQ				9	80
26	Roger Rager			DNQ	10	DNP	15	16	65
27	R	17	11	DNQ					48
28	John Martin	15		DNQ		18			30
29	Bob Harkey	19		DNQ		24			23
30	Bill Puterbaugh			DNQ	19			13	10
31	Ken Nichols	13							10
32	Jan Sneva R				DNQ			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		DNQ			0
-	Bill Alsup			DNQ					0
-	Neil Bonnett			DNQ					0
-	Earle Canavan			DNQ					0
-	Larry Cannon			DNQ					0
-	Bill Engelhart			DNQ					0
-				DNQ					0
-				DNQ					0
-	Tom Frantz			DNQ					0
-	Hurley Haywood			DNQ					0
-	Jim Hurtubise			DNQ					0
-	Jan Opperman			DNQ					0
-	Billy Scott			DNQ					0
-					DNQ				0
-	Jim Putnam	DNP							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
*	Led most race laps
RY Rookie of the Year
R Rookie

Notes[]

^ The California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway was originally scheduled as a USAC race for September 2, but was switched mid-season to a CART series race.

References[]

^ Miller, Robin (July 10, 1979). "September Race At Speedway?". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Miller, Robin (July 12, 1979). "Labor Day Show At IMS Just A Joke - Or Is It?". The Indianapolis Star. p. 34. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.

Åberg, Andreas. "USAC National Championship 1979". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
"1979 USAC National Championship Trail". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2011/IICS_2011_Historical_Record_Book_INT6.pdf (p. 212-213)

[3] The California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway was originally scheduled as a USAC race for September 2, but was switched mid-season to a CART series race.

[Star07-10-1979pg1-1] Miller, Robin (July 10, 1979). "September Race At Speedway?". The Indianapolis Star. p. 1. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.

[Star07-12-1979pg34-2] Miller, Robin (July 12, 1979). "Labor Day Show At IMS Just A Joke - Or Is It?". The Indianapolis Star. p. 34. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.

[1]

[2]

A

[a]

v t American Championship car racing (Indy car) seasons
AAA	1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
USAC	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
CART	1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
CCWS	2004 2005 2006 2007 ~~2008~~
IRL	1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
INDYCAR	2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Years marked in italics are not official championship years or upcoming seasons.

v t USAC Championship Cars (1971–1995)
Seasons	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
Indianapolis 500s	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
National Champions	Emerson Fittipaldi (twice) A. J. Foyt (twice) Gordon Johncock Joe Leonard (twice) Arie Luyendyk Roger McCluskey Rick Mears (three times) Bobby Rahal Johnny Rutherford Tom Sneva (three times) George Snider Danny Sullivan Al Unser Al Unser Jr. (twice) Bobby Unser Jacques Villeneuve
Tracks	Atlanta Brands Hatch DuQuoin State Fair Illinois State Fair Indianapolis Indiana State Fair Michigan Mid-Ohio Milwaukee Mosport Nazareth Ontario Phoenix Pocono Rafaela Silverstone Texas World Trenton

1979 USAC Championship Car season

Contents

Schedule and results[]

Final points standings[]

See also[]

Notes[]

References[]