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California 500

Sunday, September 2, 1979


Track:   Ontario, CA   Track Type:   Paved Oval
Race Distance:   500 Miles   Lap Distance:   2.500 Miles
Pole Pos.:   Rick Mears 203.046 mph   Margin of Victory:   0.000 sec.
  Rank   SP   Car   Driver   Chassis   Q.Time   Laps   Reason
              Sponsor   Engine   Q.Spd.  
 
  1   3   12   Bobby Unser   PC-7/79   00:44.69   200   3:24:22.0 146.794
  Norton Spirit   CoswTC   201.378 mph  
  2   1   9   Rick Mears   PC-7/79   00:44.32   200   Finished
  Gould Charge   CoswTC   203.046 mph  
  3   4   99   Mario Andretti   PC-6/78   00:44.91   200   Finished
  Gould Charge   CoswTC   200.396 mph  
  4   13   4   Johnny Rutherford   McLaren   00:46.42   199   Flagged
  Budweiser   CoswTC   193.849 mph  
  5   2   2   Al Unser   Chaparral   00:44.51   197   Flagged
  Pennzoil   CoswTC   202.202 mph  
  6   8   25   Danny Ongais   Parnelli   00:45.73   196   Flagged
  Interscope/Panasonic   CoswTC   196.773 mph  
  7   30   34   Vern Schuppan   Wildcat   00:50.51   192   Flagged
  Wysard Motors   DGS   178.172 mph  
  8   29   94   Don Whittington   McLaren   00:50.30   190   Flagged
  Budweiser   CoswTC   178.912 mph  
  9   14   21   Lee Kunzman   Parnelli   00:46.56   188   Flagged
  Vetter Windjammer   CoswTC   193.278 mph  
  10   25   72   Jerry Sneva   McLaren   00:49.29   170   Blown engine
  Hodgdon Racing   CoswTC   182.582 mph  
  11   31   18   Tom Frantz   Wildcat   00:50.94   152   Flagged
  Kent Oil   OffyTC   176.651 mph  
  12   24   98   Bill Whittington   Parnelli   00:49.21   139   Brkn intake manifold
  Road Atlanta   CoswTC   182.871 mph  
  13   17   60   Roger Mears   PC-6/78   00:46.87   135   Engine
  Patrick Racing   CoswTC   191.984 mph  
  14   35   95   Larry Cannon   Wildcat   00:50.47   128   Brfoken piston
  Cannon Racing   OffyTC   178.295 mph  
  15   12   20   Gordon Johncock   PC-6/78   00:46.40   119   Broken fuel pump
  North American Van Lines   CoswTC   193.953 mph  
  16   15   23   Dick Ferguson   PC-6/78   00:46.61   118   Broken valve
  Aero Electronics   CoswTC   193.054 mph  
  17   5   1   Tom Sneva   McLaren   00:45.39   108   Broken oil pump
  Sugaripe Prune   CoswTC   198.282 mph  
  18   23   30   John Martin   McLaren   00:48.67   107   Engine
  Paramount Printing   OffyTC   184.907 mph  
  19   32   28   Billy Scott   Eagle   00:51.02   74   Engine
  Wheel Center   OffyTC   176.384 mph  
  20   20   77   Salt Walther   PC-6/78   00:47.84   69   Broken transmission
  Walmotor   CoswTC   188.107 mph  
  21   27   69   Al Loquasto   Eagle   00:49.83   69   Broken piston
  Biane Winery   OffyTC   180.603 mph  
  22   22   41   Bill Alsup   McLaren   00:48.24   59   Cracked cylinder
  WASP Racing   OffyTC   186.548 mph  
  23   7   71   Steve Krisiloff   PC-6/78   00:45.52   47   Broken valve
  Dairy Queen/Kent Oil   CoswTC   197.702 mph  
  24   16   40   Wally Dallenbach   PC-6/78   00:46.84   46   Engine
  Foreman Industries   CoswTC   192.139 mph  
  25   10   55   Spike Gehlhausen   Lightning   00:46.17   46   Broken half shaft
  Frosty Acres   CoswTC   194.911 mph  
  26   18   35   Tim Richmond   Lightning   00:47.00   39   Broken transmission
  S&M Electric   OffyTC   191.477 mph  
  27   28   19   Phil Caliva   Eagle   00:50.09   23   Oil leak
  STA-ON   OffyTC   179.644 mph  
  28   19   10   Pancho Carter   Lightning   00:47.35   21   Broken camshaft
  Alex XLNT Foods   OffyTC   190.074 mph  
  29   26   15   Bob Harkey   Lightning   00:49.31   17   Wrecked
  Alex Foods   OffyTC   182.493 mph  
  30   33   59   Joe Saldana   Lightning   00:47.67   14   Broken oil pump
  Hoffman Racing   OffyTC   188.770 mph  
  31   21   86   Dennis Firestone   Lola   00:47.98   10   Oil leak
  AMS/Oil   CoswTC   187.574 mph  
  32   9   11   Tom Bagley   PC-6/78   00:45.85   7   Wrecked
  Dairy Queen - Kent Oil   CoswTC   196.275 mph  
  33   6   32   Johnny Parsons   McLaren   00:45.49   4   Broken valve
  Sugaripe Prune   CoswTC   197.828 mph  
  34   11   36   Mike Mosley   Eagle   00:46.29   2   Engine
  Theodore Racing   CoswTC   194.389 mph  
  35   34   79   Cliff Hucul   Eagle   00:49.32   2   Broken transmission
  Hoffman Racing   OffyTC   182.452 mph  

Race Information

  1) CART/SCCA race #11 2) Yellow Flags: 3-6,Hucul tow-in;8-14,Bagley wreck; 25-29, Harkey wreck; 35-37,debris on track; 47-51,oil on track; 76-78,debris on track; 80-82,Scott tow-in; 98-103,Frantz wreck; 108-111, T Sneva stalled; 115-116, Schuppan spun; 121-124, Johncock blew engine; 138-142, Roger Mears engine

Lap Leaders

  Driver Total Laps Led
  Johnny Rutherford 2 139,165
  Tom Sneva 5 26-30
  Rick Mears 34 107-115,126-138,151-155,162-164,184-187
  Al Unser 62 1-25,31-47,52-71
  Bobby Unser 97 48-51,72-106,116-125,140-150,156-161,166-183,188-200
Data prepared by Phil Harms - Page created by Omega Timing - All rights reserved

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