Indianapolis 500
Starting Grid for the 1979 Indianapolis 500
| Position | Car Num. | Driver | Car Name/Entrant* | Make/Model | Qual Speed |
| 1 | 9 | Rick Mears | The Gould Charge | Penske/Cosworth | 193.730 |
| 2 | 1 | Tom Sneva | Sugaripe Prune | McLaren/Cosworth | 192.990 |
| 3 | 2 | Al Unser (W) | Pennzoil | Chaparral/Cosworth | 192.500 |
| 4 | 12 | Bobby Unser (W) | Norton Spirit | Penske/Cosworth | 189.910 |
| 5 | 3 | Gordon Johncock (W) | North American Van Lines | Penske/Cosworth | 189.750 |
| 6 | 14 | A.J. Foyt (W) | Gilmore Racing Team | Parnelli/Cosworth | 189.610 |
| 7 | 6 | Wally Dallenbach | Foreman Industries | Penske/Cosworth | 188.280 |
| 8 | 4 | Johnny Rutherford (W) | Budweiser | McLaren/Cosworth | 188.130 |
| 9 | 15 | Johnny Parsons | Hopkins | Lightning/Offy | 187.810 |
| 10 | 24 | Sheldon Kinser | Genesee Beer | Watson/Offy | 186.670 |
| 11 | 89 | Lee Kunzman | Vetter Windjammer | Parnelli/Cosworth | 186.400 |
| 12 | 36 | Mike Mosley | Theodore Racing | Eagle/Cosworth | 186.270 |
| 13 | 46 | Howdy Holmes (R) | Armstrong Mould/Jiffy Mix | Wildcat/Cosworth | 185.860 |
| 14 | 45 | Janet Guthrie | Texaco Star | Lola/Cosworth | 185.720 |
| 15 | 11 | Tom Bagley | Dairy Queen/Kent Oil | Penske/Cosworth | 185.410 |
| 16 | 77 | Salt Walther | Dayton-Walther | Penske/Cosworth | 184.160 |
| 17 | 10 | Pancho Carter | Alex XLNT Foods | Lightning/Offy | 185.800 |
| 18 | 29 | Cliff Hucul | Hucul Racing | McLaren/Offy | 186.200 |
| 19 | 23 | Jim McElreath | Amax Coal | Penske/Cosworth | 185.880 |
| 20 | 17 | Dick Simon | Sanyo | Vollstedt/Offy | 185.070 |
| 21 | 73 | Jerry Sneva | National Engineering Co. | Spirit/AMC | 184.370 |
| 22 | 34 | Vern Schuppan | Wysard Motor Co. | Wildcat/DGS | 184.340 |
| 23 | 31 | Larry Rice | S&M Electric | Lightning/Offy | 184.210 |
| 24 | 80 | Larry Dickson | Russ Polak | Penske/Cosworth | 184.180 |
| 25 | 72 | Roger McCluskey | National Engineering Co. | McLaren/Cosworth | 183.900 |
| 26 | 69 | Joe Saldana | KBHL/Spirit of Nebraska | Eagle/Offy | 188.770 |
| 27 | 25 | Danny Ongais | Interscope Racing | Penske/Cosworth | 188.000 |
| 28 | 7 | Steve Krisiloff | Frosty Acres/Winton Sales | Lightning/Offy | 186.280 |
| 29 | 97 | Phil Threshie | Guiffre Brothers Crane | King/Chevrolet | 185.850 |
| 30 | 44 | Tom Bigelow | Armstrong Mould | Lola/Cosworth | 185.140 |
| 31 | 19 | Spike Gehlhausen | Sta-On Car Glaze/WIRE | Wildcat/Cosworth | 185.060 |
| 32 | 92 | John Mahler | Intercomp/Sports Magazine | Eagle/Offy | 184.320 |
| 33 | 50 | Eldon Rasmussen | Vans by Bivouac/WFMS | Antares/Offy | 183.920 |
| 34 | 22 | Bill Vukovich II | Hubler/WNDE/Thermo-King | Watson/Offy | 187.040 |
| 35 | 59 | George Snider | KBHL/Spirit of Nebraska | Lightning/Offy | 185.310 |
- * complete car name/entrant data not available for all entries
- (R) - Indicates Rookie
- (W) - Indicates Past Winner