1979 Indianapolis 500

63rd running of the Indianapolis 500

The 63rd 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 27, 1979. Second year driver Rick Mears took the lead for the final time with 18 laps to go, and won his first of four Indianapolis 500 races. It was also Mears' first of a record six Indy 500 pole positions. Brothers Al and Bobby Unser combined to lead 174 of the 200 laps, but Al dropped out around the midpoint, and Bobby slipped to 5th place at the finish nursing mechanical issues. It was also Roger Penske's second Indy 500 victory as a car owner. The race was sanctioned by USAC, and was part of the 1979 USAC National Championship. However, many of the participants entered the race only as a one off, and instead broke off and took part in the inaugural 1979 SCCA/CART Indy Car Series. It was the beginning of the first open wheel "split". The month of May 1979 was filled with controversy on and off the track. A court injunction was issued after USAC initially denied entries by some teams that were part of the CART series. During time trials, several cars were disqualified due to illegal wastegate exhaust pipes. Qualifying closed with the traditional 33 cars in the field. However, the day before the race a special qualifying session was held to allow certain entries a last chance to qualify. Two additional cars were added to the field, for a total of 35 cars (the most since 1933). The high tensions and technical squabbles during the month attracted considerable negative criticism from sports writers and media. The race itself, however, was competitive and entertaining, and completed without major incident or controversy. Among those in attendance was former president Gerald Ford. Ford also served as the grand marshal of the 500 Festival Parade. The 1979 race is also notable in that it was the first to utilize the "pack up" rule during caution periods, eliminating the virtual safety car rules ("Electro PACER") used from 1972 to 1978. The pace car, which started the race, would now lead the field under the yellow flag.

Following the death of Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony Hulman in 1977, and the deadly 1978 USAC plane crash, owners and participants in Indy car racing were anxious to reorganize the sport. By 1978, a growing dissent amongst the participants was based on many factors, including poor promotion and low revenue. Indy Car events outside of the Indianapolis 500 were suffering from poor attendance, and few events were even televised. Robin Miller even accused the Speedway of offering a purse that was too low considering the stature of the event and the costs of racing at the time. lobbying several complaints and charges against USAC and IMS, concluding that new organization was necessary to ensure the success of Indy car racing into the future. In late 1978, several existing Indy car owners broke off and created the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series with some initial assistance from the Sports Car Club of America and claims the crash was an immediate cause for the 1979 USAC/CART "split" are considered for the most part unfounded. The first major salvo was made on March 25, 1979, when the CART based teams boycotted the USAC Datsun Twin 200 at Ontario Motor Speedway. A. J. Foyt, who at first sided with the CART contingent, retracted his loyalty, and crossed back over to the USAC side. Among the drivers affected were Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Danny Ongais, Gordon Johncock, Steve Krisiloff, and Wally Dallenbach – some of the top names in the sport. Three days before the published deadline, CART president U. E. "Pat" Patrick delivered a block of 44 entries to the 1979 Indianapolis 500 for the CART based teams. On April 19, however, the USAC board of directors voted unanimously to reject the entries of six key teams: Penske, Patrick, McLaren, Fletcher, Chaparral, and Gurney. These six teams (19 cars) were alleged to be "harmful to racing" and "not in good standing with USAC." On April 26, the "rejected six" teams filed suit in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, requesting an injunction to allow the teams to compete in the 1979 Indy 500. They cited antitrust and restraint of trade. On May 19 (the third day of time trials) the cars of Dick Ferguson, Steve Krisiloff, and Tom Bigelow were disqualified and fined $5,000 because they "had altered their wastegate exhaust pipes by the addition of restrictions which significantly affect the air flow." USAC charged that the teams had tampered with the wastegate exhaust pipe, thus illegally over riding the pop off valve, and potentially over boosting the engine. An appeal was made the next morning, but USAC denied the appeal. Furthermore, they released a memo which stated that any cars qualifying on Sunday May 20 must have unrestricted wastegate pipes (no washers were allowed to be welded inside) that are exactly 1.470 inches in diameter or greater. The ruling created controversy in the garage area, as a further examination of the rules showed a "gray area" regarding the inlet opening configuration. In addition, several complaints surfaced when teams charged USAC with essentially changing the rules in the middle of qualifying – a move which actually affected other already qualified cars from the first weekend. The controversy ultimately led to a fifth day of time trials, held the day before the race. Eleven entries that were identified as being denied a fair attempt to qualify were allowed to participate. Each car was allowed one attempt, and if they completed their run faster than the slowest car already in the field, they would qualify for the starting grid. The ruling allowed for a potential 44 car field on race day. Only two cars accomplished the feat, and they were added to the back of the grid for a field of 35 cars.

Opening Day saw sparse activity. Only three cars took to the track, with Larry "Boom Boom" Cannon earning the honor of first car on the track. Later in the day, judge James Ellsworth Noland issued the injunction requested by the CART teams, and all entries were allowed to practice. Dick Simon, who was subpoenaed to testify downtown at the hearing, spent enough time at the track to run a lap of , the fastest of the day.

Hurley Haywood was the fastest of the day with a lap at The previously rejected CART teams arrived at the garage area, but none took to the track.

The "Rejected Six" CART teams took their first laps of the month, with Rick Mears turning the fastest lap of the day at Danny Ongais was a close second at Spike Gehlhausen had the only incident of the day, when a water line broke, spewing hot fluid into the cockpit. He suffered first and second degree burns, but was cleared to drive.

Mears ran the fastest speed of the month thus far, with a hand timed lap of .

A. J. Foyt moved to the top of the speed chart, completing a lap at Al Unser was second fastest at .

Foyt bettered his speed from Wednesday at , maintaining his grasp on the fastest lap of the month.

Bobby Unser became the latest driver over , and Al Unser, Sr. was the fastest of the afternoon at Moisture kept the track closed until 1:10 p. m., meaning only 2 hours and 10 minutes were lost due to weather all month thus far. Foyt finished the week with the top practice speed, and Mears had several hand timed laps in the range.

Rain kept the track closed on pole day until after 4 p. m. At 4:19 p. m., the track opened for practice, with the temperature and winds up to During the first practice session, Danny Ongais, a favorite for the front row, wrecked in turn 4 after completing a lap of He was pinned in the car for over twenty minutes, and suffered a concussion. He was taken to Methodist Hospital for observation, and returned to his home in Costa Mesa, California, for a few days to recuperate. The crash by Ongais kept the track closed for 40 minutes as crews extricated him from the car and cleaned up the debris. Two other yellows closed the track for another ten minutes, and the day came to a close at 6 p. m. without a single car being able to make a qualifying attempt.

Pole qualifying shifted to Sunday, with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 60s. Due to the new technical rules for 1979, including pop off valve settings and wastegate regulations, the speeds in time trials were not expected to reach those set in 1977–1978 (over ). A hectic, non stop day of qualifying occurred, with no less than 45 cars pulling away for qualifying attempts. Johnny Rutherford was the first driver to complete a run at , and became the coveted 'first driver in the field.' Wally Dallenbach was the next car out, and temporarily put himself on the pole with a speed of Shortly before 1 p. m. Al Unser Sr. took over the provisional pole position with a four lap average of A little over an hour later, Al's brother Bobby Unser put himself temporarily in second position at
At 4 p. m., Tom Sneva (who won the pole position in 1977–1978) took to the track looking for his record third consecutive Indy 500 pole. He took over the top spot with a four lap average of There were only two cars left in line with a legitimate shot for the pole: A. J. Foyt and Rick Mears. At 4:32 p. m., Foyt's run of was far short of being fast enough for the pole, but secured him a spot in row 2. The final qualifier for the pole round was Rick Mears. His four lap average of won him his first of what would be record six career Indy 500 pole positions. Sneva was bumped to second on the grid. At 4:50 p. m., the original pole qualifying round was over, and "Second Day" qualifying commenced. At the end of the day, the field was filled to 25 cars.

USAC announced that for the first time, the "pack up rule" would be used during caution periods at the Indy 500. Like the format used in NASCAR and at other Indy car races, when the caution flag came out, the pace car would enter the track and pick up the leader. The remainder of the field would bunch up behind the pace car. The previous system, the Electro PACER Light system, was scrapped. Johnny Rutherford, who was already in the field, posted the fastest lap at Bobby Unser shook down a Penske back up car, which some speculated would be for Mario Andretti. Andretti was participating in Formula One full time in 1979 to defend his 1978 World Championship, and a scheduling conflict with Monaco was expected to keep Mario away from Indy in 1979.

Vern Schuppan was the fastest of the non qualified drivers at Bobby Unser continued to practice in the back up car, but insisted it was to test nose configurations and not being prepared for another driver.

Eldon Rasmussen crashed in turn three, but was not injured. Later, Roger Rager spun in turn 3, but did not make contact. Johnny Rutherford was the fastest of the day at .

Billy Engelhart wrecked in turn 1, suffering a broken leg, and was sidelined for the rest of the month. Speeds dropped off for the day, with A. J. Foyt having the best lap of the day at Heavy activity amongst the numerous non qualified cars was noted.

The final full day of practice saw heavy activity with no incidents reported. Danny Ongais returned to the track to get ready to qualify, but Dr. Thomas A. Hanna, the Speedway medical director, would not clear him to drive for the day. Despite some unfounded rumors circulating around the garage area, Mario Andretti decided not to skip Monaco, and would miss the Indy 500 for the first time since arriving as a rookie in 1965. Meanwhile, Indy rookie and NASCAR regular Neil Bonnett flew to Dover to qualify for the Mason Dixon 500. He planned on putting in a qualifying time for the Winston Cup race on Friday, then returning Saturday to Indianapolis in order to qualify for the Indy 500. However, it rained in Dover on Friday, washing out Cup qualifying. NASCAR qualifying was shifted to Saturday, and due to the time constraints, Bonnett decided to withdraw from Indy. Jerry Sneva took over the car. Bonnett went on to win the Dover NASCAR race, and never returned to Indy.

Rain fell the night before the race, and the weather forecast for race day was bleak. However, in the morning, the skies cleared, the track dried, and the race began on time as scheduled. At the start, Al Unser Sr. swept from the outside of the front row, and led the field into turn one. Unser was driving Jim Hall's radical new Chaparral 2K chassis. He pulled out to a commanding lead, and proceeded to lead the first 24 laps. Heavy attrition early on saw seven cars out with mechanical problems by lap 22. Cliff Hucul stalled on lap 28, bringing out the first caution during the first sequence of pit stops. As the field went back to green, Al Unser again dominated. On lap 43, Wally Dallenbach lost a wheel down the backstretch, and had to precariously guide his car back to the pits on three wheels. With Al Unser still dominating, the rest of the top five was Rick Mears, Bobby Unser, and Johnny Rutherford. Rutherford then headed to the pits with a broken gear. After lengthy repairs, he returned to the race. Leader Al Unser came in for a routine pit stop under the caution on lap 97. Moments later, he was back into the pits after it was reported that something may have been leaking or smoking from the back of the car. Still under the caution, after a quick consultation, Unser returned to the track. The green flag back came out with Bobby Unser now leading.

On lap 103, Al Unser Sr. was running second to Bobby Unser when heavy smoke and flames started coming from the back of the car. The Chaparral 2K experienced a failed transmission oil fitting, and Unser was out of the race. After mutual differences, Unser decided to leave the team at the end of the season. With Al out, his brother Bobby was now in control. Rick Mears was holding second, and A. J. Foyt was moving up to third, one lap down. The first crash of the day involved Larry Rice on lap 156. With twenty laps to go, Bobby Unser led his Penske teammate Rick Mears by a few car lengths. A. J. Foyt was running third, one lap down. Suddenly on lap 181, Bobby Unser veered to the inside of the track. He was off the pace with gearbox trouble. That handed the lead to Rick Mears with 19 laps to go. Less than a lap later, A. J. Foyt (now in second) got by Mears to un lap himself. Bobby Unser would stay out on the track and nursed his ailing car to a 5th place finish in third gear.

Rick Mears made his final pit stop from the lead on lap 185. He took on fuel only, and no tires. A. J. Foyt followed, completing a fast 8.5 second pit stop. The leaders pits stops were over, and Mears now held a 38 second lead over Foyt. Suddenly with 8 laps to go, Tom Sneva wrecked in turn four, bringing out the yellow, and bunching up the field. The green came back out for one last sprint to the finish with four laps to go. Rick Mears led, with A. J. Foyt at the tail end of the pack. Mike Mosley was one lap down in third place, however, an early race scoring error was tentatively showing him two laps down in 5th place. Foyt was mired in heavy traffic, and needed to pass at least 14 cars to catch up to Mears. With Foyt struggling to make up the ground, his engine lost a cylinder. Down on power, Foyt began to slow. Third place Mosley, fighting to stay ahead of fourth place Danny Ongais, un lapped himself on the final lap and continued to charge. Meanwhile, Mears cruised unchallenged to the finish line. Mears in only his second start, won his first of four Indy 500 victories. Coming off of turn four with the checkered flag waving, A. J. Foyt's engine quit. He pulled to the inside and was coasting down the frontstretch towards the finish line. Mike Mosley was storming down the frontstretch at full speed, but Foyt nipped him at the finish line by 2.3 seconds to hold on to second position. Though it was not known at the moment, Mosley's charge on the final lap nearly gave him second place. After the race, officials discovered a scoring error, and realized that Mosely was not credited with a lap at the start of the race. In the official results, Mosely was credited with third place, just behind Foyt. Bill Vukovich II, who was one of only two drivers to make the field during the special Saturday qualifying session, charged all the way from 34th starting position to 8th at the finish. Born in 1951, Rick Mears became the first Indy 500 winner born after World War II. It was also the last checkered flag for USAC chief starter/flagman Pat Vidan. This would be the final Indianapolis 500 participation for Team McLaren who left Indy car racing as a team all together until their return in 2017.