Road America 500 Mile Race 1979

Road America racetrack emblem

The 500-mile race of Road America 1979 , also Pabst 500 WINSTON GT, Road America, Elkhart Lake , took place on September 2 at Road America and was the 15th race of the sports car world championship and the 13th championship race of the IMSA -GT series this year.

The race

Sports car races on the Road America circuit had a long tradition. There was an open road course near Elkhart Lake as early as the 1940s , which was closed in 1952. It was triggered by an accident in Watkins Glen in which a twelve-year-old girl died. As a result, car racing on public highways was officially banned throughout the United States . The opening race on the permanent track was won in 1955 by Phil Hill in a Ferrari 750 Monza .

The 1979 sports car world championship took place in autumn. The race had only the drivers' championship and ended with the total victory of David Hobbs / Derek Bell in of McLaren North America reported BMW 320i Turbo . At the finish line, the duo had a lead of almost a minute over the Porsche 935 Turbo driven by Charles Mendez and Paul Miller . The GTO class, which had the most starters with 15 participating teams, was won by Bob Tullius and Brian Fuerstenau in the Triumph TR8 . Bob Bergstrom and Rick Knoop won the GTU class on a Mazda RX-7 .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTX	2	McLaren North America	David Hobbs Derek Bell	BMW 320i Turbo	125
2	GTX	5	Charles Mendez	Charles Mendez Paul Miller	Porsche 935 Turbo	125
3	GTX	0	Interscope Racing	Ted Field Milt Minter	Porsche 935 Turbo	125
4th	GTX	3	Jim Busby	Jim Busby Dennis Aase	BMW M1	122
5	GTX	9	Dick Barbour Racing	Rob McFarlin Bob Akin	Porsche 935/77	120
6th	GTO	44	Group 44	Bob Tullius Brian Fuerstenau	Triumph TR8	116
7th	GTO	54	Montura Racing	Tony Garcia Terry Herman	Porsche Carrera	116
8th	GTO	46	Mauricio de Narváez	Mauricio de Narváez Albert Naon	Porsche Carrera	115
9	GTU	79	Bob Bergstrom	Bob Bergstrom Rick Knoop	Mazda RX-7	114
10	GTO	89	Hector Huerta	Francisco Romero Diego Febles	Porsche Carrera	113
11	GTU	77	Roger Mandeville	Roger Mandeville Jim Downing	Mazda RX-7	113
12	GTU	17th	Meders Oku	Jeff Kline Jim Mederer	Mazda RX-7	112
13	GTU	62	Bill Koll	Bill Koll Jim Cook	Porsche 914/6	112
14th	GTO	61	L&L Racing	Jerry Lancaster John Luczyk	Chevrolet Corvette	109
15th	GTU	62	Bullwinkele Racing	Tom Ashby Bill Bean	Porsche 911	109
16	GTO	03	Werner Frank	Werner Frank Rudy Bartling	Porsche 934	109
17th	GTX	66	Renaissance Group	Kees Nierop Norm Ridgely	Porsche 935 Turbo	107
18th	GT0	38	DeAscentis Racing	Skip DeAscentis Larry Trotter	Chevrolet Corvette	107
19th	GTX	4th	Dick Barbour Racing	Skeeter McKitterick Bob Garretson Buzz Marcus	Porsche 935 Turbo	106
20th	GTU	34	Drolsom Racing	George Drolsom Fred Clark	Porsche 911	102
21st	GTU	40	Performance specialists	Steve Southard Earl Roe	Porsche 914/6	102
22nd	GTU	7th	Walt Drilling Racing	Walt Drilling Ron Cortez	Mazda RX-7	99
23	GTO	31	Bard Boand Racing	Bard Boand Keith Feldott	Chevrolet Corvette	88
24	GTU	83	Electramotives	Don Devendorf Tony Adamowicz	Chevrolet Corvette	87
25th	GTU	52	Personalized Porsche	Wayne Baker Paul Haas Margie Smith-Haas	Porsche 914/4	85
26th	GTO	28	Auto Concepts	Ray Irwin Robert Kivela	Chevrolet Corvette	81
27	GTO	72	No garage	Philip Keirn Ed Errington	Chevrolet Corvette	47
Failed
28	GTX	6th	Dick Barbour Racing	Brian Redman Dick Barbour Skeeter McKitterick	Porsche 935 Turbo	98
29	GTU	85	John Hulen	John Hulen Ron Coupland	Porsche 914/6	89
30th	GTO	73	Howey Farms	Clark Howey Dale Cook	Chevrolet Camaro	84
31	GTU	29	Tom Cronin	Tom Cronin Ken Bolt	Fiat 128	75
32	GTO	48	John Carusso	Phil Currin John Carusso	Chevrolet Corvette	71
33	GTX	86	Bayside Disposal Racing	Peter Gregg Hurley Haywood Bruce Leven	Porsche 935 Turbo	68
34	GTU	43	Bob Gregg	Bob Gregg Len Jones	Porsche 911	58
35	GTO	45	Mike Guffey	Mike Guffey Jack Buchinger	Datsun 280Z	54
36	GTU	39	Foreign Exchange Barrick Motor Racing	John Higgins James King Roger Seacrist	Porsche 911	50
37	GTU	60	EJ Pruitt & Sons	Rusty Bond Ren Tilton	Porsche 911	44
38	GTX	07	Ludwig Heimrath	Ludwig Heimrath senior Brett Lunger	Porsche 935 Turbo	28
39	GTO	56	Peerless Racing	Craig Carter David Laughlin	Chevrolet Camaro	8th
40	GTU	8th	Automobile International	Anatoly Arutunoff José Marina	Lancia Stratos	7th
41	GTO	25th	Their automotive	Kenper Miller Dave Cowart	BMW 3.5 CSL	1
42	GTU	01	Roehrig Racing	Dave White Kurt Roehrig	BMW 320i	1
Not started
43	GTO	14th	Corvettes Unlimited	Rusty Schmidt Douglas Grunnet	Chevrolet Corvette	1
44	GTO	41	BR Racing	Mark Leuzinger Mike Van der Werff	De Tomaso Pantera	2
45	GTX	00	Interscope Racing		Porsche 935 Turbo	3

¹ not started ² not started ³ did not show up for training

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
46	GTX	13	Hal Shaw Racing	Hal Shaw Gary Belcher	Porsche 935 Turbo
47	GTX	19th	Chris Cord	Chris Cord Jim Adams	Chevrolet Monza
48	GTO	49	Joe Pirotta	Joe Pirotta Bill Lang	Chevrolet Corvette
49	GTO	51	Kirby Hitchcock Racing	Robert Kirby John Hotchkis	Porsche Carrera
50	GTO	98	Lance Van Every	Lance Van Every Ash Tisdelle	Porsche Carrera RSR

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTX	David Hobbs	Derek Bell	BMW 320i Turbo	Overall victory
GTU	Bob Bergstrom	Rick knoop	Mazda RX-7	Rank 9
GTO	Bob Tullius	Brian Fuerstenau	Triumph TR8	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 50
• Started: 42
• Valued: 27
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 6.437 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 4: 58: 47.980 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 125
• Total distance of the winning team: 804.672 km
• Winner's average: 161.581 km / h
• Pole position: Peter Gregg - Porsche 935 Turbo (# 86) - 2: 14.979 = 171.690 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Peter Gregg - Porsche 935 Turbo (# 86) - 2: 14.962 = 171.712 km / h
• Racing series: 15th round of the 1979 World Sports Car Championship
• Racing series: 13th round of the IMSA GT series 1979

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race results

Previous race of the 6 Hours of Brands Hatch 1979

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6 Hours of Vallelunga 1979

Previous race Portland 100 Mile Race 1979

IMSA GT Championship

Succession race 100-mile race at Road Atlanta in 1979, the second race