1979 USAC Championship Car season

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.

1979 USAC Championship Car season
USAC National Championship Trail
Season
Races7
Start dateMarch 25
End dateAugust 12
Awards
National champion A. J. Foyt
Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears

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 MearsA Rick MearsA
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 Cancelled 500 mi (800 km) Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario, California — —

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.

^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 Dana Carter  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 Dick Fergusson  R  17 11 DSQ 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
- Ed Finley DNQ 0
- Woody Fisher DNQ 0
- Tom Frantz DNQ 0
- Hurley Haywood DNQ 0
- Jim Hurtubise DNQ 0
- Jan Opperman DNQ 0
- Billy Scott DNQ 0
- Blaine Sneva 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)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie
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See also

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