1979 Can-Am season

Last updated December 18, 2024

The 1979 Can-Am season was the twelfth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype-based series and the third running of the revived series. Formula One legend Jacky Ickx was declared champion,^[1] winning five of the ten rounds and finishing second at Road Atlanta.^[2] Chevrolet again dominated the season. The top chassis builders were Lola, Prophet, and Spyder, with Vern Schuppan finishing third at Watkins Glen in an Elfin^[3] and Al Holbert finishing third at Road America in a Hogan.^[3]

1979 would also mark the introduction of a second class for prototypes with engines under 2000cc. That class was won by Tim Evans in his Lola T290.

Results

The scoring system was 9-6-4-3-2-1 points awarded to the first six classified finishers. All results counted.

Round	Circuit	Date	Winning driver	Team	Car
1	Road Atlanta	May 6	Keke Rosberg	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder-Chevrolet
2	Charlotte	May 20	Jacky Ickx	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet
3	Mosport	June 3	Jacky Ickx	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet
4	Mid-Ohio	June 10	Alan Jones	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet
5	Watkins Glen	July 8	Keke Rosberg	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder-Chevrolet
6	Road America	July 22	Jacky Ickx	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet
7	Brainerd	August 19	Jacky Ickx	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet
8	Trois-Rivières	September 2	Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder-Chevrolet
9	Laguna Seca	October 14	Bobby Rahal	U.S. Racing	Prophet-Chevrolet
10	Riverside	October 28	Jacky Ickx	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola-Chevrolet

^[4]

FINAL STANDINGS

POSITION	DRIVER	COUNTRY	GPs	WINS	POINTS	ENTRANT	CAR-ENGINE
01	Jacky Ickx	Belgium	9	5	51	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
02	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	United States	10	1	45	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder NF-11-Chevrolet
03	Geoff Lees	United Kingdom	10	0	32	Racing Team VDS	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
04	Keke Rosberg	Finland	10	2	29	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder NF 11-Chevrolet
05	Bobby Rahal	United States	6	1	25	U.S. Racing	Prophet-Chevrolet
06	Al Holbert	United States	8	0	9	Hogan Racing Ltd.	Hogan HR 001-Chevrolet
06	Alan Jones	Australia	2	1	9	Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
08	Rocky Moran	United States	9	0	6	American Spirit Racing	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
08	John Morton	United States	7	0	6	U.S. Racing; John Morton Racing	Prophet-Chevrolet; Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
08	Vern Schuppan	Australia	5	0	6	Theodore Racing Team	Elfin MR8A-Chevrolet
11	Bill Tempero	United States	9	0	5	Bill Tempero Racing	Lola T332C-Chevrolet
12	Bobby Brown	United States	9	0	4	Bobby Brown Racing	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
13	Tim Evans	United States	10	0	3	Diversified Engineering Services	Lola T290-Ford
13	Horst Kroll	Canada	8	0	3	Horst Kroll Racing	Lola T332-Chevrolet; Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
13	John Gunn	United States	7	0	3	Gunn´s Godies	GG 5-Chevrolet
13	Randy Lewis	United States	3	0	3	Randy Lewis; Carl A. Haas Racing Team	Lola T332-Chevrolet
13	Geoff Brabham	Australia	2	0	3	Hogan Racing Ltd.	Hogan HR 001-Chevrolet
13	George Follmer	United States	2	0	3	U.S. Racing	Prophet-Chevrolet
13	Howdy Holmes	United States	1	0	3	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder NF 11-Chevrolet
20	Michael Allen	United States	6	0	1	Don Weber	Lola T332CS-Chevrolet
20	Tony Cicale	United States	4	0	1	Cicale Champion Racing	Ralt RT1 1/2-Hart
NC	Gary Gove	United States	10	0	0	Pete Lovely Volkswagen	Chevron B26-Ford
NC	Randolph Townsend	United States	6	0	0	Newman-Freeman Racing	Spyder NF 11-Chevrolet
NC	S. Peter Smith	United States	6	0	0	Red Roof Inns	Bobsy 2L-Ford
NC	Duane Eitel	United States	5	0	0	E-K Racing	Chevron B28-Chevrolet
NC	Robert J. Nelkin	United States	5	0	0	Robert J. Nelkin	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
NC	Dean Dietrich	United States	4	0	0	Dean Dietrich	DRL Hawke 79
NC	E. B. Lunken	United States	4	0	0	E. B. Lunken	March 73S-BMW
NC	Howard Kelly	Canada	4	0	0	Howard Kelly	Lola T332 RNF-Chevrolet
NC	Leonard Janke	United States	4	0	0	Janke Auto Company	Lola T332-Chevrolet
NC	Michael Brayton	United States	4	0	0	Michael Brayton	Wolf Brayton 001-Chevrolet
NC	Chris Strong	United States	3	0	0	Chris Strong	Chevron B36-Ford
NC	Gerre Payvis	United States	3	0	0	Gerre Payvis	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
NC	John McCormack	Australia	3	0	0	John McCormack	McLaren M23-Repco
NC	John Sorbello	United States	3	0	0	John Sorbello	Sorbello GM5-Chevrolet
NC	Bertil Roos	Suécia	2	0	0	Bertil Roos	Chevron B27-Ford
NC	Charlie Kemp	United States	2	0	0	Charlie Kemp	Lola T332-Chevrolet
NC	Chuck Smith	United States	2	0	0	Chuck Smith	Chevron B19/21-Ford
NC	Gary Hirsch	Canada	2	0	0	Gary Hirsch	Porsche 908/02
NC	Hurley Haywood	United States	2	0	0	Vasek Polak Racing	Chevron B21-BMW
NC	Jeff Miller	United States	2	0	0	Jeff Miller	Lola T496-Ford
NC	John Timken	United States	2	0	0	Essex Racing Service	Lola T296-Ford
NC	Mike Hall	United States	2	0	0	United Racing	Lola T294-Ford
NC	Price Cobb	United States	2	0	0	Price Cobb	Lola T332-Chevrolet
NC	Rick Villate	United States	2	0	0	RVR Inc.	Lola T294-Ford
NC	Roman Pechmann	Canada	2	0	0	Roman Pechmann Racing	Lola T290-Ford
NC	Bob Allen	United States	1	0	0	Bob Allen	SSE 003-Ford
NC	Bob Nagel	United States	1	0	0	Nagel Racing Enterprises	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
NC	Brad Frisselle	United States	1	0	0	Brad Frisselle	Frissbee-Chevrolet
NC	Danny Johnson	United States	1	0	0	Danny Johnson	Chevron B24-Chevrolet
NC	Dave Hoover	United States	1	0	0	Dave Hoover	Lola T300-Chevrolet
NC	Garth Pollard	United States	1	0	0	N.S.F.Racing	Lola T294/6-Ford
NC	Gordon Hamilton	United States	1	0	0	Ticker Tape Racing	Chevron B36-Ford
NC	Hal Whipple	United States	1	0	0	Hal Whipple	Spartan MK3-B-Chevrolet
NC	James Woodruff	United States	1	0	0	Titan-Woodruff Brothers	Lola T430-Chevrolet
NC	Jerry Hansen	United States	1	0	0	Midwest Federal	Lola T333CS-Chevrolet
NC	Jim Gustafson	United States	1	0	0	Jim Gustafson Racing Team	Jackal 79-Chevrolet
NC	Jim Gutfreund	United States	1	0	0	Great Plains Motor Racing	Lola T292-Ford
NC	Joe Salyer	United States	1	0	0	Joe Salyer	Chevron B26/31-Ford
NC	Mike Roche	United States	1	0	0	Roche Racing	Lola T332-Chevrolet
NC	Patrick Gaillard	France	1	0	0	Patrick Gaillard	Schkee DB2-Chevrolet
NC	Rick Knoop	United States	1	0	0	Rick Knoop	Lola T332CS-Chevrolet
NC	Robert L. Douglas	United States	1	0	0	Robert L. Douglas	Lola T212-Ford
NC	Steven Payne-Herbert	United States	1	0	0	Steven Payne-Herbert	Lola T294-Ford
NC	Tom Spalding	United States	1	0	0	Tom Spalding	Schkee DB2-Chevrolet
NC	Bill Henry	United States	0	0	0	Bill Henry	Lola T296-Ford
NC	Don Kehr	United States	0	0	0	Don Kehr	Chevron B28-Chevrolet
NC	Hugh Kleinpeter	United States	0	0	0	Hugh Kleinpeter	Ralt CCK
NC	Jay Jacobs	United States	0	0	0	Genoa Racing	Chevron B21/23-Ford
NC	Patrick McGonegle	United States	0	0	0	Patrick McGonegle	Lola T332-Chevrolet
NC	Richard Guider	United States	0	0	0	Richard Guider	Chevron B25-Ford
NC	Robert E. Dugo	United States	0	0	0	Robert E. Dugo	Lola B.A.D. 1-Chevrolet

|}

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References

↑ "Can-Am 1979 « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.
↑ "Race not found « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.
1 2 "Race not found « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.
↑ "WSPR Can-Am 1979". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2012-04-02.

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[1] "Can-Am 1979 « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.

[2] "Race not found « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.

[auto-3] 1 2 "Race not found « OldRacingCars.com". www.oldracingcars.com.

[4] "WSPR Can-Am 1979". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2012-04-02.

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