Motorsports in 1979 was notable for several landmark events that helped shape the direction of major racing series around the world. In American stock car racing, the 1979 Daytona 500 became a defining moment in NASCAR history, as it was the first 500-mile NASCAR race broadcast live flag-to-flag on national television by CBS. The dramatic finish saw leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crash on the final lap, allowing Richard Petty to take the victory and adding to his legendary career, while a post-race brawl involving Yarborough and the Allison brothers caught live on TV brought unprecedented mainstream attention to the sport and boosted its popularity nationwide. Petty’s success that year helped propel him to his seventh and final NASCAR Winston Cup Championship.
On the global stage, the 1979 Formula One season culminated in Jody Scheckter winning the World Drivers’ Championship for Ferrari, delivering the team its last drivers’ title for more than two decades and marking a high point in his career. In U.S. open-wheel racing, the Indianapolis 500 of that year was won by Rick Mears — one of his four career Indy 500 victories — while 1979 also saw the emergence of CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) as a rival to the longstanding USAC series, with Mears capturing the CART championship standings. Together, these events demonstrated a period of transition and growing media exposure in motorsport, with greater national and international audiences tuning in and the profiles of drivers and series rising accordingly.
