1979 Gould Twin Dixie 125

The 1979 Gould Dixie Twin 125 were the second and third rounds of the 1979 IndyCar 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	Template:Flagicon Johnny Rutherford	Team McLaren	82	47:28.000	30	250
2	9	21	Template:Flagicon Lee Kunzman	Conqueste Racing Team	82	-	12	200
3	5	1	Template:Flagicon Tom Sneva	Jerry O'Connell Racing	82	-	7	175
4	2	20	Template:Flagicon Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	82	-	32	150
5	11	9	Template:Flagicon Rick Mears	Team Penske	82	-	0	125
6	7	2	Template:Flagicon Al Unser	Chaparral Cars	82	-	0	100
7	8	12	Template:Flagicon Bobby Unser	Team Penske	82	-	1	75
8	16	11	Template:Flagicon Tom Bagley	Longhorn Racing	81	+ 1 Laps	0	63
9	13	10	Template:Flagicon Pancho Carter	Morales Motorsports	81	+ 1 Laps	0	50
10	14	77	Template:Flagicon Salt Walther	Walmotor	80	+ 2 Laps	0	38
11	6	40	Template:Flagicon Wally Dallenbach	Patrick Racing	79	+ 3 Laps	0	25
12	18	34	Template:Flagicon Vern Schuppan	Wysard Racing	75	+ 7 Laps	0	13
13	15	69	Template:Flagicon Joe Saldana	Hoffman Racing	58	Fire	0	5
14	4	25	Template:Flagicon Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	56	Fuel Line	0	5
15	12	7	Template:Flagicon Steve Krisiloff	Bob Fletcher Racing	53	Transmission	0	5
16	17	41	Template:Flagicon Bill Alsup	WASP Racing	42	Over-Heating	0	5
17	3	36	Template:Flagicon Mike Mosley	All American Racers	20	Gearbox	0	5
18	10	19	Template:Flagicon Spike Gehlhausen	Gehlhausen Racing	12	Ignition	0	5

Lap Leader Breakdown

Leader	From Lap	To Lap	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	Template:Flagicon Johnny Rutherford	Team McLaren	82	45:40.000	61	250
2	5	9	Template:Flagicon Rick Mears	Team Penske	82	-	1	200
3	6	2	Template:Flagicon Al Unser	Chaparral Cars	82	-	0	175
4	7	12	Template:Flagicon Bobby Unser	Team Penske	82	-	7	150
5	3	1	Template:Flagicon Tom Sneva	Jerry O'Connell Racing	81	+ 1 Lap	0	125
6	14	25	Template:Flagicon Tom Bagley	Longhorn Racing	81	+ 1 Laps	0	100
7	8	11	Template:Flagicon Danny Ongais	Interscope Racing	81	+ 1 Lap	0	75
8	11	40	Template:Flagicon Wally Dallenbach	Patrick Racing	80	+ 2 Laps	0	63
9	4	20	Template:Flagicon Gordon Johncock	Patrick Racing	80	+ 2 Laps	0	50
10	10	77	Template:Flagicon Salt Walther	Walmotor	79	+ 3 Laps	13	38
11	9	10	Template:Flagicon Pancho Carter	Morales Motorsports	78	+ 4 Laps	0	25
12	12	34	Template:Flagicon Vern Schuppan	Wysard Racing	74	Out of Fuel	0	13
13	13	69	Template:Flagicon Joe Saldana	Hoffman Racing	72	+ 10 Laps	0	5
14	18	35	Template:Flagicon Larry Rice	S&M Electric	62	+ 20 Laps	0	5
15	15	41	Template:Flagicon Bill Alsup	WASP Racing	52	Over-Heating	0	5
16	17	19	Template:Flagicon Spike Gehlhausen	Gehlhausen Racing	13	Oil Leak	0	5
17	16	36	Template:Flagicon Mike Mosley	All American Racers	3	Engine	0	5
18	2	21	Template:Flagicon 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

External links

• Full Weekend Times & Results