1979 Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150

The 1979 Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150 was the first round of the 1979 IndyCar season, held on March 11, at Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Arizona. It marked the debut of the new Championship Automobile Racing Teams, or CART, era of IndyCar racing.

1979 Phoenix 1

Race details
Race 1 of 14 in the 1979 IndyCar season
Map of the Track
Date	March 11, 1979
Official name	Arizona Republic / Jimmy Bryan 150
Location	Phoenix International Raceway Avondale, Arizona, United States
Course	Tri-Oval 1.000 mi / 1.610 km
Distance	150 laps 150.000 mi / 241.500 km
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 12.7 miles per hour (20.4 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Bobby Unser (Roger Penske)
Time	24.714
Podium
First	Gordon Johncock (Pat Patrick)
Second	Rick Mears (Roger Penske)
Third	Johnny Rutherford (Bruce McLaren)

Race

Summary

In the inaugural race for the new series, Bobby Unser won the pole with Tom Sneva starting in second. Johnny Rutherford started third, Danny Ongais started fourth, and Rick Mears rounded out the top five starters.

From his pole position, Bobby Unser led almost all of the first 86 laps, only giving up the lead for pit stops. The first caution of the day flew on lap 2, after Vern Schuppan broke a joint and went off track in the first turn. The second caution flew due to a stalled car at lap 15, and the third due to debris picked up when Gordon Johncock left the pits on lap 69. After Unser was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop due to tire problems, Danny Ongais took the lead on lap 87, and held it for the next 33 laps, but soon after giving up the lead to Johncock retired with a blown engine, bringing out the final caution of the day. Johncock went on to win the race, with Rick Mears finishing second, Johnny Rutherford third, Al Unser fourth, and Bobby Unser rounding out the top five.

There was some confusion in the final few laps, with Al Unser listed as running higher than he actually was.

Results

Pos	Sta	#	Driver	Owner	Laps	Time/Retired	Led	Pts
1	2	20	Gordon Johncock	Pat Patrick	150	1:15:23.016	33	300
2	5	9	Rick Mears	Roger Penske	150	-	0	240
3	3	4	Johnny Rutherford	Bruce McLaren	150	-	0	210
4	10	2	Al Unser	Chaparral Cars	150	-	0	180
5	1	12	Bobby Unser	Roger Penske	149	+ 1 Lap	84	150
6	7	36	Mike Mosley	Dan Gurney	148	+ 2 Laps	0	120
7	6	40	Wally Dallenbach	Pat Patrick	147	+ 3 Laps	0	90
8	9	11	Tom Bagley	Bobby Hillin	145	+ 5 Laps	0	75
9	17	21	Lee Kunzman	Conqueste Racing Team	143	+ 7 Laps	0	60
10	19	35	Larry Rice	Private	143	+ 7 Laps	0	45
11	21	41	Bill Alsup	Bill Alsup	141	+ 9 Laps	0	30
12	15	77	Salt Walther	Walmotors	139	+ 11 Laps	0	15
13	13	69	Joe Saldana	Hoffman Racing	139b	+ 11 Laps	0	8
14	18	28	Tom Frantz	Tom Frantz	139	+ 11 Laps	0	8
15	4	25	Danny Ongais	Ted Field	128	Engine	33	8
16	11	7	Steve Krisiloff	Fletcher Racing	63	Gearbox	0	8
17	2	1	Tom Sneva	Jerry O'Connell Racing	43	Engine	0	6
18	14	19	Spike Gehlhausen	Carl Gehlhausen	12	Water Line	0	6
19	16	92	John Mahler	Intercomp	12	Piston	0	6
20	12	10	Pancho Carter	Alex Morales	7	Gearbox	0	6
21	20	34	Vern Schuppan	Herb Wysard	2	U-Joint	0	5

Caution flag breakdown

Condition	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps	Reason
Green	1	2	2
Yellow	3	6	4	Vern Schuppan off at turn 1
Green	7	14	8
Yellow	15	16	2	stalled car
Green	17	68	52
Yellow	69	76	8	debris
Green	77	128	52
Yellow	129	139	11	Danny Ongais oil on track
Green	140	150	11

16.7% of race run under caution.

Lap leader breakdown

Leader	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps
Bobby Unser	1	64	64
Gordon Johncock	65	66	2
Bobby Unser	67	86	20
Danny Ongais	87	119	33
Gordon Johncock	120	150	31

Points standings after this race

Note: Only the top ten positions are listed.

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff
1	Gordon Johncock	300
2	Rick Mears	240	-60
3	Johnny Rutherford	210	-90
4	Al Unser	180	-120
5	Bobby Unser	150	-150
6	Mike Mosley	120	-180
7	Wally Dallenbach	90	-210
8	Tom Bagley	75	-225
9	Lee Kunzman	60	-240
10	Larry Rice	45	-255

External links

• Full Weekend Times & Results
• racing-reference