Click here to read the program for this event. If you are the owner of this work and would like for it to be taken down, please email me: metalfuelandrubber at gmail dot com

1978 series Rookie of the Year Joe Ruttman won the first race of his USAC Stock Car career at the Milwaukee Mile in the Miller 200, the fourth race of the 1979 season. Ruttman, a California native whose older brother Troy had been one of USAC’s three separate Stock Car champions in 1956 (not to mention an Indianapolis 500 winner in 1952), would lead 152 of the 200 laps in the race on the way to victory. Terry Ryan was second, while 1979 series champion AJ Foyt was third.

The USAC series featured an impressive mix of drivers who starred in multiple generations and divisions of racing, and the Milwaukee race was no exception. Bobby Allison and Tom Sneva completed the top five; Bill Venturini led a lap and finished 19th; then-rookie Rusty Wallace, a decade away from his Winston Cup title, qualified fourth but placed 24th after a differential failure.

This article is part of my series of posts intended to help preserve the history of USAC’s Stock Car championship that ran from 1956-1984. If you are the owner of the program linked above and would like for it to be taken down, please email me: metalfuelandrubber at gmail dot com