The 1979 Gould Dixie Twin 125 was an Indy car racing event consisting of the second and third rounds of the 1979 CART season, held on April 22, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia.
Race 1 Summary Johnny Rutherford won the pole for the first race, with Gordon Johncock starting second, Mike Mosley in third, Danny Ongais in fourth, and Tom Sneva in fifth.
In the race, Rutherford and Johncock dominated the first 60 laps. After a caution period ended with just 14 laps to go, Lee Kunzman managed to jump out to the lead. Johnny Rutherford caught up to him with eight laps to go, and the two dueled, with Rutherford passing him on the penultimate lap and holding on to win. Tom Sneva claimed third, Gordon Johncock fourth, and Rick Mears fifth.
Results Pos Sta No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Led Pts 1 1 4 Johnny Rutherford Team McLaren 82 47:28.000 30 250 2 9 21 Lee Kunzman Conqueste Racing Team 82 - 12 200 3 5 1 Tom Sneva Jerry O'Connell Racing 82 - 7 175 4 2 20 Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 82 - 32 150 5 11 9 Rick Mears Team Penske 82 - 0 125 6 7 2 Al Unser Chaparral Cars 82 - 0 100 7 8 12 Bobby Unser Team Penske 82 - 1 75 8 16 11 Tom Bagley Longhorn Racing 81 + 1 Laps 0 63 9 13 10 Pancho Carter Morales Motorsports 81 + 1 Laps 0 50 10 14 77 Salt Walther Walmotor 80 + 2 Laps 0 38 11 6 40 Wally Dallenbach Patrick Racing 79 + 3 Laps 0 25 12 18 34 Vern Schuppan Wysard Racing 75 + 7 Laps 0 13 13 15 69 Joe Saldana Hoffman Racing 58 Fire 0 5 14 4 25 Danny Ongais Interscope Racing 56 Fuel Line 0 5 15 12 7 Steve Krisiloff Bob Fletcher Racing 53 Transmission 0 5 16 17 41 Bill Alsup WASP Racing 42 Over-Heating 0 5 17 3 36 Mike Mosley All American Racers 20 Gearbox 0 5 18 10 19 Spike Gehlhausen Gehlhausen Racing 12 Ignition 0 5
Lap Leader Breakdown
Leader FromLap ToLap Total # Of Laps Johnny Rutherford 1 10 10 Gordon Johncock 11 42 32 Johnny Rutherford 43 60 18 Bobby Unser 61 61 1 Tom Sneva 62 68 7 Lee Kunzman 69 80 12 Johnny Rutherford 81 82 2
Points standings after this race Note: Only top ten are listed Rank Driver Points Diff Pos Change 1 Johnny Rutherford 460 +2 2 Gordon Johncock 450 -10 -1 3 Rick Mears 365 -95 -1 4 Al Unser 280 -180 =0 5 Lee Kunzman 260 -200 +4 6 Bobby Unser 225 -235 -1 7 Tom Sneva 181 -279 +13 8 Tom Bagley 138 -322 =0 9 Mike Mosley 125 -335 -3 10 Wally Dallenbach 115 -345 -3
Race 2 Summary Johnny Rutherford won the pole for the second straight race, with Lee Kunzman, Tom Sneva, Gordon Johncock, and Rick Mears rounding out the top five. The race was dominated by Rutherford, who led 61 of the 82 laps, being only challenged by Bobby Unser and Salt Walther, who led 13 laps thanks to pit shuffling. Rick Mears placed second, Al Unser, who ran out of fuel on the last lap claimed third, Bobby Unser fourth and Tom Sneva fifth. This was the last race victory for McLaren in IndyCar until the 2021 XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway when Pato O'Ward took the win.
Results Pos St No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Led Pts 1 1 4 Johnny Rutherford Team McLaren 82 45:40.000 61 250 2 5 9 Rick Mears Team Penske 82 - 1 200 3 6 2 Al Unser Chaparral Cars 82 - 0 175 4 7 12 Bobby Unser Team Penske 82 - 7 150 5 3 1 Tom Sneva Jerry O'Connell Racing 81 + 1 Lap 0 125 6 14 11 Tom Bagley Longhorn Racing 81 + 1 Laps 0 100 7 8 25 Danny Ongais Interscope Racing 81 + 1 Lap 0 75 8 11 40 Wally Dallenbach Patrick Racing 80 + 2 Laps 0 63 9 4 20 Gordon Johncock Patrick Racing 80 + 2 Laps 0 50 10 10 77 Salt Walther Walmotor 79 + 3 Laps 13 38 11 9 10 Pancho Carter Morales Motorsports 78 + 4 Laps 0 25 12 12 34 Vern Schuppan Wysard Racing 74 Out of Fuel 0 13 13 13 69 Joe Saldana Hoffman Racing 72 + 10 Laps 0 5 14 18 35 Larry Rice S&M Electric 62 + 20 Laps 0 5 15 15 41 Bill Alsup WASP Racing 52 Over-Heating 0 5 16 17 19 Spike Gehlhausen Gehlhausen Racing 13 Oil Leak 0 5 17 16 36 Mike Mosley All American Racers 3 Engine 0 5 18 2 21 Lee Kunzman Conqueste Racing Team 3 Gearbox 0 5
Lap Leader Breakdown
Leader From Lap To Lap # Of Laps Johnny Rutherford 1 7 7 Bobby Unser 8 14 7 Johnny Rutherford 15 25 11 Salt Walther 26 38 13 Johnny Rutherford 39 68 30 Rick Mears 69 69 1 Johnny Rutherford 70 82 13
Points standings after this race Note: Only top ten are listed Rank Driver Points Diff Pos Change 1 Johnny Rutherford 710 =0 2 Rick Mears 565 -145 +1 3 Gordon Johncock 500 -210 -1 4 Al Unser 455 -255 =0 5 Bobby Unser 375 -335 +1 6 Tom Sneva 306 -404 +1 7 Lee Kunzman 265 -445 -2 8 Tom Bagley 213 -497 =0 9 Wally Dallenbach 178 -532 +1 10 Mike Mosley 130 -580 -1
References
External links Full Weekend Times & Results