1979 South Australian Open
The 1979 South Australian Open, also known by its sponsored name Berri Fruit Juices South Australian Open, was a men's ATP tennis tournament held at the Memorial Drive Park in Adelaide, Australia. It was the 78th edition of the tournament and was held from 10 December until 16 December 1979. Third-seeded Kim Warwick won the singles title.


1979 South Australian Open, Finals, Doubles
Colin Dibley /  Chris Kachel defeated  John Alexander /  Phil Dent 6–7, 7–6, 6–4


1979 South Australian Open – Doubles
The event was being held for the first time since 1977.


1979 South Australian Open – Doubles
Colin Dibley and Chris Kachel won the title, defeating John Alexander and Phil Dent 6–7, 7–6, 6–4 in the final.


1979 South Australian Open – Singles
Kim Warwick won the title, defeating Bernard Mitton 7–5, 6–4 in the final.


1979 South Australian state election
State elections were held in South Australia on 15 September 1979. All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Premier of South Australia Des Corcoran was defeated by the Liberal Party of Australia led by Leader of the Opposition David Tonkin.


1979 South Australian state election
The Liberals originally won 25 seats, but a court decision overturned their win in Norwood. Labor won the Norwood by-election, which meant the Liberals held 24 seats, with Labor on 20 seats, and 1 each to the Australian Democrats, National Country Party, and an Independent Labor.


1979 South Australian state election, Background
Premier Don Dunstan abruptly resigned on 15 February 1979 due to ill health, and was succeeded by Deputy Premier Des Corcoran. Dunstan resigned from parliament, and his seat was retained for Labor by Greg Crafter at the by-election in March 1979.


1979 South Australian state election, Background
Spurred by positive opinion polls and seeking to escape the shadow of Dunstan, Corcoran called a snap election (without pre-informing the party apparatus) in order to gain a mandate of his own. The election campaign was plagued by problems, which allowed an opening for the Liberals under Tonkin. It did not help matters that The Advertiser was biased toward the Liberal campaign.


1979 South Australian state election, Summary of results
Labor suffered a large swing, losing seven seats (six to the Liberals, one to Independent Labor Norm Peterson). The Liberals also won 55 percent of the two-party vote to Labor's 45 percent. In most of Australia, this would have been enough for a landslide Liberal victory. However, the Liberals only won 13 seats in Adelaide, netting them a total of 25 seats, a bare majority of two. Narrow as it was, it was the first time the main non-Labor party in South Australia had won the most seats while also winning a majority of the vote since the Liberal and Country League won 50.3 percent of the two-party vote in 1959.


1979 South Australian state election, Summary of results
The Liberal majority was pared back even further after the Court of Disputed Returns struck down the result in Norwood. The court found that a Liberal Party advertisement in an Italian language newspaper, which described Liberal candidate Frank Webster as "your representative" ("il vostro deputato"), gave the false impression that Webster was the sitting member. Labor regained Norwood at the 1980 Norwood state by-election, reducing the Liberals to 24 seats, just enough to govern.


1979 South Australian state election, Summary of results
In the South Australian Legislative Council, the Liberals won 6 seats, Labor won 4, and Australian Democrats won 1; giving numbers of 11 Liberal, 10 Labor and 1 Democrat, leaving the Liberal government one seat short of a majority.


1979 South Australian state election, Aftermath
Corcoran was bitter in defeat, believing sections of the ALP had undermined him during the campaign. He resigned as leader soon after the election, and retired from politics in 1982.


1979 South Australian state election, Aftermath
In 1982, when legislation to enable the Roxby Downs uranium mine was opposed by both Labor and the Democrats, Norm Foster resigned from the Labor Party in order to support the legislation, and sat as an independent in the Legislative Council.


1979 South Australian state election, Results, House of Assembly
These numbers include the result of the 1980 Norwood state by-election.


1979 South Australian state election, Results, House of Assembly
South Australian state election, 15 September 1979House of Assembly << 1977–1982 >>


1979 South Australian state election, Results, Legislative Council
South Australian state election, 15 September 1979Legislative Council << 1975–1982 >>


1979 South Australian state election, Post-election pendulum
These numbers include the result of the 1980 Norwood state by-election.


1979 South Australian state election, Post-election pendulum
Subsequently, the 1982 Mitcham by-election and 1982 Florey by-election were held. The Democrats retained Mitcham by 45 votes, while Labor increased their margin in Florey.


1979 South Carolina Gamecocks football team
The 1979 South Carolina Gamecocks football team represented the University of South Carolina as an independent team in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Gamecocks would finish the season 8–4 overall and be invited to the Hall of Fame Classic. The Gamecocks would lose the Classic to Missouri, 14–24.


1979 South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer team
The Gamecocks' 1979 season was the program's second ever, and is noted for the new program reaching the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament for the first time.


1979 South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer team
The Gamecocks finished with their second consecutive winning record, at 14-5. They faced the Clemson Tigers in their first match of the 1979 tournament, losing 1–0 to the more established (eighth tournament) Clemson squad.


1979 South Carolina Gamecocks men's soccer team
This season was also the last at Carolina for senior Brian Winstead, who would leave the school as the leading goal-scorer in school history (a title he would hold for seven years); and Paul Turin, a star goalkeeper who would go on to play for the Tulsa Roughnecks in the NASL.


1979 South Korean presidential election
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 6 December 1979 following the assassination of Park Chung Hee on 26 October. The members of the National Conference for Unification, who among other things, were responsible for election of president, choose Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah as the President of the Republic of Korea unopposed; Choi had been acting President since Park's death.


1979 South Korean presidential election
President Choi was supposed to serve for the remainder of late President Park's term, which would have ended in 1984. However, a coup d'état took place six days after the elections, with Chun Doo-hwan seizing power. He allowed Choi to remain in power for eight months, before being elected president in August 1980.


1979 South Korean presidential election, Results
In order to be elected, a candidate had to receive the vote of over 50% of the incumbent members of the National Conference for Unification. With 2,560 delegates present, Choi had to receive at least 1,281 votes to be elected. He received 2,465 votes, 96.29% of the total possible.


1979 South Pacific Classic
The 1979 South Pacific Classic was an Association of Tennis Professionals men's tournament held on outdoor grass courts at the Milton Courts in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia that was part of the  1979 Grand Prix tennis circuit. It was the sixth edition of the tournament and was held from 8 October until 14 October 1979. Unseeded Phil Dent won the singles title.


1979 South Pacific Classic, Finals, Doubles
Geoff Masters /  Ross Case defeated  John James /  Chris Kachel 7–6, 6–2


1979 South Pacific Games
The 1979 South Pacific Games, held at Suva in Fiji from 28 August to 8 September 1979, was the sixth edition of the South Pacific Games.


1979 South Pacific Games, Sports
There were 18 sports contested at the 1979 South Pacific Games:


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
For the 1979 Games, 19 countries and a projected 2,672 athletes took part.


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
Eighteen sports as reported in Pacific Islands Monthly. The newly introduced sports were: cricket, hockey, lawn bowls, and squash.


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
Netball: In Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM), it was reported that "Papua New Guinea took the bronze" in the 1979 netball competition, behind Fiji and Cook Islands. However, a few pages later in PIM's results for the netball, Tonga is listed as finishing in third place.


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
Swimming: There were either 24 or 23 events on the programme, depending on whether the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay was contested and officially included in the medals. A publication from Guam's Political Status Education Coordinating Commission claims that Guam swimmer Hollis Kimbrough, "won a record seven medals in the '79 SPG alone", and as such, the Pacific Islands Monthly results could be incomplete as only four medals are listed for Kimbrough there plus two men's relay medals for Guam – and the men's 4 × 200 is omitted.


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
Table tennis: There were seven events on the programme (or perhaps only six or five, depending on whether the respective team competitions for men and women were played and medals officially awarded). The five events for table tennis in the list of results from the November 1979 issue of Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM) are the mixed doubles, men's and women's singles and doubles. PIM reported earlier in the same issue that Fiji had won the women's team event (as well as the women's doubles), but neither women's or men's team events appear in the PIM results.


1979 South Pacific Games, Notes
Weightlifting: Ten men's weight divisions were contested, with one medal event only per division (for the maximum total lift of snatch + clean-and-jerk).


1979 South Pembrokeshire District Council election
An election to South Pembrokeshire District Council was held in May 1979. An Independent majority was maintained. It was preceded by the 1976  election and followed by the 1983 election. On the same day there was a UK General Election and were elections to the other local authorities and community councils in Wales.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election
The South West Hertfordshire by-election, 1979 was a parliamentary by-election held on 13 December 1979 for the British House of Commons constituency of South West Hertfordshire.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Previous MP
The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Geoffrey Hugh Dodsworth (born 7 June 1928) resigned due to ill health. On 24 October 1979 he was appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, a notional office of profit under the Crown, in order to vacate his Parliamentary seat.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Previous MP
He is an accountant, who had contested Don Valley in 1959 and Hartlepool in 1964. He had represented South West Hertfordshire from the February 1974 general election.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
Six candidates were nominated. The list below is set out in descending order of the number of votes received at the by-election.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
1. The Conservative candidate was Richard Lewis Page (born on 22 February 1941), a mechanical engineer and company director.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
He served previously as MP for Workington, between winning a 1976 by-election and being defeated at the 1979 general election. Page had also contested Workington in the February 1974 and October 1974 general elections, at the time represented by senior Labour cabinet minister, Fred Peart.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
After winning this by-election he was a junior minister under John Major. He stepped down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
2. Mrs Susan A. Reeves was the Labour candidate. She was a housewife and had worked as a child guidance officer, although by 1983 she was working as a teacher and speech therapist. She was born on 31 March 1943.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
She contested the Chelmsford constituency in the 1979 general election, Stevenage in 1983 and Suffolk Coastal in 1987.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
3. The Liberal Party candidate was Dane S.C. Clouston, who in 1974 was a mature student and former banker. He was born in September 1938 and had contested the Newbury seat in the 1970, February 1974 and October 1974 general elections.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
5. D.W. Bundy represented the Anti Common Market and Free Trade Party.


1979 South West Hertfordshire by-election, Candidates
6. N.Q. Ffooks was an Independent, using the ballot paper label "Father Christmas: support Southampton University Rag".


1979 Southeast Asian Games
The 1979 Southeast Asian Games (Indonesian: Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 1979), officially known as the 10th Southeast Asian Games, was a subcontinental multi-sport event held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 21 to 30 September 1979. This was the first time that Indonesia hosted the games. Indonesia is the fifth nation to host the Southeast Asian Games after Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore. The games was officially opened and closed by President Soeharto at the Senayan Sports Stadium. The final medal tally was led by host Indonesia, followed by Thailand and Burma.


1979 Southeastern 500
The 1979 Southeastern 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on April 1, 1979, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the American community of Bristol, Tennessee. The race was notable as then-rookie driver Dale Earnhardt got the first win of his career, he would later go on to win 76 races and 7 championships.


1979 Southeastern 500
This race was not televised or recorded in any format, watching it live or listening to it on local radio were the only methods of watching this race.


1979 Southeastern 500, Summary
Five hundred laps were completed on a paved oval track spanning 0.533 miles (0.858 km) in only two hours and fifty-five minutes. Six cautions slowed the race for 44 laps. Twenty-six thousand people attended this live event to see Dale Earnhardt defeat Bobby Allison by a time of three seconds. Jake Elder was Earnhardt's crew chief at that time; his nickname was "Suitcase" because he would help a NASCAR driver achieve glory and then leave him for another driver the following season. The notable speeds were: 91.033 miles per hour (146.503 km/h) for the average speed and 111.668 miles per hour (179.712 km/h) for the pole position speed achieved by Buddy Baker.


1979 Southeastern 500, Summary
Chevrolet vehicles made up the majority of the 30-car racing grid. Millikan would catch something in his eye and would have to report to hospital; J.D. McDuffie ended up being the substitute driver for him.


1979 Southeastern 500, Summary
The winner of the race would receive a purse of $19,800 ($69,749.38 when adjusted for inflation). Earnhardt took the lead on lap 474 from Darrell Waltrip and lead until the finish. If he wrecked Waltrip, it must not have been too bad because he still finished on the lead lap.


1979 Southeastern 500, Summary
Ralph Jones (a driver-owner) was the last-place finisher of this race; he was forced to end his participation in the race due to brake issues on lap 31. There were three terminal crashes in the race along with three engine failures, one quitter along with a driver with a water pump issues in his vehicle and a driver with a defective rear end on his vehicle.


1979 Southeastern 500, Summary
Mike Potter's career of sporadic starts in Cup and start-and-parks in Busch began in this race. Elmo Langley would enjoy his last real competitive race at this venue. He'd have a few start and parks after this but this was the last time he really tried to finish a race.


1979 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament
The 1979 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, MS from May 11th through May 13th. Mississippi State won the tournament and earned the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA Tournament.


1979 Southern 500
The 1979 Southern 500, the 30th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 3, 1979, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.


1979 Southern 500
This would be the last race without Dale Earnhardt until 2001 Dura Lube 400, and the last in not featuring the name Earnhardt on the starting grid until the 2012 Bank of America 500.


1979 Southern 500, Background
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.


1979 Southern 500, Background
The track is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people.


1979 Southern 500, Background
Darlington has something of a legendary quality among drivers and older fans; this is probably due to its long track length relative to other NASCAR speedways of its era and hence the first venue where many of them became cognizant of the truly high speeds that stock cars could achieve on a long track. The track allegedly earned the moniker The Lady in Black because the night before the race the track maintenance crew would cover the entire track with fresh asphalt sealant, in the early years of the speedway, thus making the racing surface dark black.


1979 Southern 500, Background
Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" because drivers can run lap after lap without a problem and then bounce off of the wall the following lap. Racers will frequently explain that they have to race the racetrack, not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car.


1979 Southern 500, Race report
Three hundred and sixty seven laps were completed on a spanning 1.366 miles (2.198 km) for a grand total of 501.3 miles (806.8 km). The total time of the race was three hours, fifty-eight minutes, and fourteen seconds. Speeds were: 126.259 miles per hour (203.194 km/h) for the race average and 154.88 miles per hour (249.26 km/h) for the pole position speed. There were nine cautions for fifty-two laps.


1979 Southern 500, Race report
David Pearson, who was in semi-retirement and had left the Wood Brothers after a disastrous pit stop at the Rebel 500 earlier that year, was driving for Rod Osterlund as a substitute for rookie contender Dale Earnhardt, injured at the Pocono race, defeated Bill Elliott by two laps and four seconds.


1979 Southern 500, Race report
This was David Pearson's first win in a General Motors car since he won the 1961 Dixie 400 in a Pontiac and the first of just two for him at the wheel of a Chevrolet. Pearson's victory also marked the last of only nine starts for David Pearson in 1979. While he wasn't a familiar sight on the track this season the Silver Fox was still selected by fans as the Cup Series' Most Popular Driver at year's end. Ironically this was only time in Pearson's career he won that honor. This would be one of the final races in NASCAR history that a racing car without a visible sponsor won. In today's NASCAR, most drivers have a primary sponsor and a secondary sponsor due to the amount of money spent on racing components in a given season.


1979 Southern 500, Race report
Darrell Waltrip had controlled the race until late-race incidents that dropped him to 11th, which ended his shot at sweeping the track's two races. Waltrip would not be considered a good competitor at Darlington for most of his career, despite four Rebel 500 wins (1977, 1979, 1981 and 1984). He would typically dominate the early portions of the race during the 1970s before an incident would force him out of contention for the win. Those late-race incidents would later cause Waltrip to lose the 1979 championship to Richard Petty. The top prize of the race was $29,925 ($105,416.68 when considering inflation).


1979 Southern 500, Race report
The participants of this race were all American-born males. With the lone Chrysler of Ed Negre and H.B. Bailey's lone Pontiac, this was the last Cup race with eight car makes in the starting lineup. Ed Negre would make his final appearance here while Billy Smith would make his only professional stock car appearance. Notable crew chiefs who participated in the race were Buddy Parrott, Tex Powell, Joey Arrington, Kirk Shelmerdine, Darrell Bryant, Dale Inman, Harry Hyde, and Jake Elder.


1979 Southern 500, Race report
Hurricane David approached the East Coast of the United States during the course of the race. The storm had made landfall in Eastern Florida while the drivers were racing.


1979 Southern 500, Finishing order
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased * Driver failed to finish race


1979 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1979 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place from February 24–March 4, 1979. The quarterfinal round was hosted at campus sites, while the semifinals and finals were hosted at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. The Appalachian State Mountaineers, led by head coach Bobby Cremins, won their first Southern Conference title and received the automatic berth to the 1979 NCAA Tournament.


1979 Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
All of the conference's eight members were eligible for the tournament. Teams were seeded based on conference winning percentage. The tournament used a preset bracket consisting of three rounds.


1979 Southern Cross Rally
The 1979 Southern Cross Rally, officially the Southern Cross International Rally was the fourteenth running of the Southern Cross Rally. The rally took place between the 13th and the 17th of October 1979. The event covered 2,733 kilometres from Sydney to Port Macquarie. It was won by George Fury and Monty Suffern, driving a Datsun Stanza.


1979 Southern Illinois Salukis football team
The 1979 Southern Illinois Salukis football team was an American football team that represented Southern Illinois University (now known as Southern Illinois University Carbondale) in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Under fourth-year head coach Rey Dempsey, the team compiled an 8–3 record. The team played its home games at McAndrew Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.


1979 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team
The 1979 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team was an American football team that represented the University of Southern Mississippi as an independent during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fifth year under head coach Bobby Collins, the team compiled a 6–4–1 record.


1979 Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament
The 1979 Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament was the league's annual postseason tournament used to determine the Southwest Conference's (SWC) automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The tournament was held from May 12 through May 14 at Disch–Falk Field on the campus of The University of Texas in Austin, TX.


1979 Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament
The number 1 seed Texas Longhorns went 3-0 to win the team's 1st SWC Tournament under head coach Cliff Gustafson.


1979 Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The tournament featured the top four finishers of the SWC's 9 teams in a double-elimination tournament.


1979 Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1979 Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 1-3, 1979 at The Summit in Houston, TX. The first round took place on February 24 at the higher seeded campus sites.


1979 Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Number 1 seed Arkansas defeated 2 seed Texas 39-38 to win their 2nd championship and receive the conference's automatic bid to the 1979 NCAA Tournament.


1979 Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format and Seeding
The tournament consisted of 9 teams in a single-elimination tournament. The 3 seed received a bye to the Quarterfinals and the 1 and 2 seed received a bye to the Semifinals.


1979 Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team
The 1979 Southwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team was an American football team that represented the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in the Southland Conference during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their sixth year under head coach Augie Tammariello, the team compiled a 4–7 record.


1979 Soviet Cup
The 1979 Soviet Cup was an association football cup competition of the Soviet Union. The winner of the competition, Dinamo Tbilisi qualified for the continental tournament.


1979 Soviet Cup, Competition schedule, Group stage
Games took place between February 28 – March 14, 1979.


1979 Soviet Cup Final
The 1979 Soviet Cup Final was a football match that took place at the Lenin's Central Stadium, Moscow on 11 August 1979. The match was the 38th soviet cup final and was contested between Dynamo Moscow and Dinamo Tbilisi. Previous cup holders Dynamo Kyiv were eliminated in Quarter-finals by CSKA Moscow. Dinamo Tbilisi defeated the opponent on penalties and won the cup for the second time.


1979 Soviet Cup Final, Previous encounters
Previously these two teams met each other eight times in the competition with Dynamo from Moscow being victorious five times and Dinamo from Tbilisi three times. Two of these encounters were cup finals, both won by Dynamo Moscow in 1937 and 1970.


1979 Soviet First League
The 1979 Soviet First League was the ninth season of the Soviet First League and the 39th season of the Soviet second tier league competition.


1979 Soviet Second League
1979 Soviet Second League was a Soviet competition in the Soviet Second League.


1979 Soviet Second League, Zone 2
1979 Football Championship of Ukrainian SSR was the 49th season of association football competition of the Ukrainian SSR, which was part of the Soviet Second League in Zone 2. The season started on 31 March 1981.


1979 Soviet Second League, Zone 2
The 1979 Football Championship of Ukrainian SSR was won by Kolos Nikopol.


1979 Soviet Second League, Zone 2
The "Ruby Cup" of Molod Ukrayiny newspaper (for the most scored goals) was received by Avanhard Rivno.


1979 Soviet Top League, Overview
1979 Top League was composed of 18 teams, the championship was won by Spartak Moscow.


1979 Soviet Top League, Overview
On 11 August 1979, a mid-air collision killed virtually the entire FC Pakhtakor Tashkent team. The Top League ordered all the other teams to make three players available for a draft to restock the team, and Pakhtakor was given exemption from relegation for the next three years.


1979 Soviet Union legislative election
Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held in the Soviet Union on 4 March 1979.


1979 Soviet Union legislative election, Electoral system
Candidates had to be nominated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) or by a public organisation. However, all public organisations were controlled by the party and were subservient to a 1931 law that required them to accept party rule. The CPSU itself remained the only legal one in the country.


1979 Soviet Union legislative election, Electoral system
Voters could vote against the CPSU candidate, but could only do so by using polling booths, whereas votes for the party could be cast simply by submitting a blank ballot. Turnout was required to be over 50% for the election to be valid.


1979 Soviet Union legislative election, Candidates
CPSU candidates accounted for around three quarters of the nominees, whilst many of the others were members of Komsomol.


1979 Soviet economic reform
The 1979 Soviet economic reform, or "Improving planning and reinforcing the effects of the economic mechanism on raising the effectiveness in production and improving the quality of work", was an economic reform initiated by Alexei Kosygin, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. During Leonid Brezhnev's rule of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) the Soviet economy began to stagnate; this period is referred to by historians as the Era of Stagnation. Even after several reform attempts by Kosygin and his protégés, the economic situation in the country continued to deteriorate.


1979 Soviet economic reform
In contrast to his earlier reform initiative, the 26th Congress decided that his government would implement the reform during the  Eleventh five-year plan from 1981–1985. This never happened, and even Brezhnev complained that implementation of the reform had been slow. This unfinished reform is seen by some as the last major pre-perestroika reform initiative put forward by the Soviet government.


1979 Soviet economic reform, Intentions
The reform was initiated, and created, by Premier Alexei Kosygin in a joint decision with the Central Committee (CC) and the Council of Ministers. The reform tried to reaffirm and separate the economic functions of the state and the ministries. To accomplish this, several procedures were established to ensure that each ministry would contribute to the state budget. All ministries were given a fixed budget even if the ministry did not fulfill the five-year plan. The reform  supported giving enterprises more autonomy from the central government and extending the rights of the ministries by giving them new principles.


1979 Soviet economic reform, Intentions
The reform tried to improve labor productivity by introducing new production indicators via the State Standards Committee, and tried to solve some of the USSR's economic problems by reducing the effects of sectorial barriers set up by the ministries. The reform succeeded in giving more power to the regional authorities and the Soviet Republics; this development was consolidated by a Central Committee decree in 1981.


1979 Soviet economic reform, Implementation
The 1979 reform was an attempt to reform the existing economic system without any radical changes. The economic system was centralised even more than previously. The effectiveness of the planned economy was improved in some sectors, but not enough to save the stagnation economy of the USSR. One of the major goals of the reform was to improve the distribution of resources and investment, which had long been neglected because of "sectorialism" and "regionalism". Another priority was the elimination of the influence "regionalism" had on the five-year plan.


1979 Soviet economic reform, Implementation
The 1965 reform tried, with little success, to improve the quality of goods produced. In the 1979 reform Kosygin tried to displace gross output from "its commanding place" in the planned economy, and new regulations for rare and high-quality goods were created. Capital investment was seen as a very serious problem by the Soviet authorities by 1979, with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Premier Kosygin claiming that only an increase in labor productivity could help develop the economy of the more technologically advanced Soviet Republics such as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR).


1979 Soviet economic reform, Implementation
When Kosygin died in 1980, the reform was practically abandoned by his successor, Nikolai Tikhonov. Brezhnev told the 26th Congress that the implementation of the reform had been very slow. Tikhonov, during his speech to the 26th Congress, told the delegates that parts of the reform would be implemented during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (1981–1985).


1979 Soviet nuclear tests
The Soviet Union's 1979 nuclear test series was a group of 31 nuclear tests conducted in 1979. These tests  followed the 1978 Soviet nuclear tests series and preceded the 1980 Soviet nuclear tests series.


1979 Spanish Grand Prix
The 1979 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 April 1979 at the Circuito Permanente del Jarama near Madrid, Spain. It was race 5 of 15 in both the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 75-lap race was won by Patrick Depailler, driving a Ligier-Ford, with Lotus drivers Carlos Reutemann and Mario Andretti second and third respectively.


1979 Spanish general election
The 1979 Spanish general election was held on Thursday, 1 March 1979, to elect the 1st Cortes Generales of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 208 seats in the Senate.


1979 Spanish general election
This was the first election held under the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) remained the largest party, winning 168 of the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies and 119 of the 208 seats in the Senate. As a result, Adolfo Suárez went on to form a minority government, depending on support from Manuel Fraga's Democratic Coalition, which experienced an electoral decline.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
The Spanish Cortes Generales were envisaged as an imperfect bicameral system. The Congress of Deputies had greater legislative power than the Senate, having the ability to vote confidence in or withdraw it from a Prime Minister and to override Senate vetoes by an absolute majority of votes. Nonetheless, the Senate possessed a few exclusive, yet limited in number functions—such as its role in constitutional amendment—which were not subject to the Congress' override. Voting for the Cortes Generales was on the basis of universal suffrage, which comprised all nationals over eighteen and in full enjoyment of their political rights.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
For the Congress of Deputies, 348 seats were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of three percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each constituency. Additionally, the use of the D'Hondt method might result in an effective threshold over three percent, depending on the district magnitude. Seats were allocated to constituencies, corresponding to the provinces of Spain.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
Each constituency was entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, with the remaining 248 fixed among the constituencies in proportion to their populations, at a rate of approximately one seat per each 144,500 inhabitants or fraction greater than 70,000. Ceuta and Melilla were allocated the two remaining seats, which were elected using plurality voting.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
For the Senate, 208 seats were elected using an open list partial block voting, with electors voting for individual candidates instead of parties. In constituencies electing four seats, electors could vote for up to three candidates; in those with two or three seats, for up to two candidates; and for one candidate in single-member districts.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
Each of the 47 peninsular provinces was allocated four seats, whereas for insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, districts were the islands themselves, with the larger—Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife—being allocated three seats each, and the smaller—Menorca, Ibiza–Formentera, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma—one each. Ceuta and Melilla elected two seats each. The law also provided for by-elections to fill seats vacated up to two years into the legislature. Additionally, autonomous communities could appoint at least one senator each and were entitled to one additional senator per each million inhabitants.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Electoral system
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the electors registered in the constituency for which they sought election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within fifteen days of the election being called.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Election date
The term of the Cortes elected in the 1977 election was not to be continued beyond 15 June 1981 in the event they were not dissolved earlier. An election was required to be held within from thirty to sixty days after the date of expiry of the Cortes Generales, setting the latest possible election date for the Cortes Generales on Friday, 14 August 1981.


1979 Spanish general election, Overview, Election date
The Prime Minister had the prerogative to dissolve both Houses at any given time—either jointly or separately—and call a snap election, provided that no motion of no confidence was in process, no state of emergency was in force and that dissolution did not occur before one year had elapsed since the previous one. Additionally, both Houses were to be dissolved and a new election called if an investiture process failed to elect a Prime Minister within a two-month period from the first ballot.


1979 Spanish general election, Parties and leaders
Below is a list of the main parties and coalitions which contested the election:


1979 Spanish general election, Opinion polls, Voting intention estimates
The table below lists voting intention estimates in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first and using the dates when the survey fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. Where the fieldwork dates are unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed with its background shaded in the leading party's colour. If a tie ensues, this is applied to the figures with the highest percentages. The "Lead" column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the parties with the highest percentages in a given poll. When available, seat projections are also displayed below the voting estimates in a smaller font. 176 seats were required for an absolute majority in the Congress of Deputies.


1979 Spanish local elections
The 1979 Spanish local elections were held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect all 67,505 councillors in the 7,870 municipalities of Spain and all 1,152 seats in 43 provincial deputations. The elections were held simultaneously with local elections in the four foral deputations of the Basque Country and Navarre and the ten island councils in the Balearic and Canary Islands.


1979 Spanish local elections
While the national ruling Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) emerged as the largest party overall, an alliance between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) saw  municipal control over the main urban areas switching to left-wing parties.


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Municipalities in Spain were local corporations with independent legal personality. They had a governing body, the municipal council or corporation, composed of a mayor, deputy mayors and a plenary assembly of councillors. Voting for the local assemblies was on the basis of universal suffrage, with all nationals over eighteen, registered in the corresponding municipality and in full enjoyment of all political rights entitled to vote. The mayor was in turn elected by the plenary assembly, with a legal clause providing for the candidate of the most-voted party to be automatically elected to the post in the event no other candidate was to gather an absolute majority of votes.


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Local councillors were elected using the D'Hondt method and a closed list proportional representation, with an electoral threshold of five percent of valid votes—which included blank ballots—being applied in each local council. Councillors were allocated to municipal councils based on the following scale:


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Additionally, municipalities below 25 inhabitants, as well as those having traditionally adopted it, were to be organized through the open council system (Spanish: régimen de concejo abierto), in which electors would directly vote for the local major.


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
The electoral law provided that parties, federations, coalitions and groupings of electors were allowed to present lists of candidates. However, groupings of electors were required to secure the signature of at least 0.1 percent of the electors registered in the municipality for which they sought election—needing to secure, in any case, the signature of 500 electors—. Electors were barred from signing for more than one list of candidates. Concurrently, parties and federations intending to enter in coalition to take part jointly at an election were required to inform the relevant Electoral Commission within ten days of the election being called.


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Provincial deputations were the governing bodies of provinces in Spain, having an administration role of municipal activities and composed of a provincial president, an administrative body, and a plenary. Basque provinces and Navarre had foral deputations instead—called Juntas Generales in the Basque Country—. For insular provinces, such as the Balearic and Canary Islands, deputations were replaced by island councils in each of the islands or group of islands. For Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza–Formentera this figure was referred to in Spanish as consejo insular (Catalan: consell insular), whereas for Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote and La Palma its name was cabildo insular.


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Most deputations were indirectly elected by local councillors from municipalities in each judicial district. Seats were allocated to provincial deputations based on the following scale:


1979 Spanish local elections, Electoral system
Island councils and the foral deputations of Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Navarre were elected directly by electors under their own, specific electoral regulations.


1979 Spanish local elections, Municipal elections, City control
The following table lists party control in provincial capitals, as well as in municipalities above or around 75,000.


1979 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1979 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 18–20 May 1979 at the Circuito Permanente del Jarama.


1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship
The 1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the tenth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship. The final took place in Vojens, Denmark. The championship was won by host Denmark (25 points) who beat England (24 points) and Poland (20 points).


1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship, Semifinal 1
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fellns - non-starter • nc - non-classify


1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship, Semifinal 2
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fellns - non-starter • nc - non-classify


1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship, World final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fellns - non-starter • nc - non-classify


1979 Speedway World Team Cup
The 1979 Speedway World Team Cup was the 20th edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions.


1979 Speedway World Team Cup
The final took place on 16 September at the White City Stadium in London. New Zealand won their first title defeating defending champions Denmark, who finished in second place.


1979 Speedway World Team Cup, Qualification, Round A
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1979 Speedway World Team Cup, Tournament, Continental Semifinal
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1979 Speedway World Team Cup, Tournament, Continental Final
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1979 Speedway World Team Cup, Tournament, Intercontinental Final
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1979 Speedway World Team Cup, Tournament, World Final
M - exclusion for exceeding two-minute time allowance • T - exclusion for touching the tapes • X - other exclusion • E - retired or mechanical failure • F - fell


1979 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season
The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the franchise’s 60th year with the National Football League and its 20th season in St. Louis. Bud Wilkinson would be fired in Week 13 after starting 3–10; Larry Wilson, a Pro Football Hall of Fame safety for the Cardinals from 1960–72, would take over as interim head coach and lead the Cardinals to a 2–1 record to finish the season. Wilson would not return for the 1980 season but would return as Vice President and General Manager nine years later when the Cardinals had moved to Phoenix.


1979 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season, Regular season
In his NFL debut, Ottis Anderson had 193 rushing yards.


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season
The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 98th season in St. Louis, Missouri and its 88th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 86-76 during the season and finished third in the National League East, 12 games behind the eventual NL pennant and World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Regular season
First baseman Keith Hernández won the MVP Award this year, along with Willie Stargell, batting .344, with 11 home runs and 105 RBIs. Hernández also won the Gold Glove. Left fielder Lou Brock collected his 3,000th career hit and played his final season in MLB.


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Regular season
Pete Vuckovich and Silvio Martínez each won 15 games. Garry Templeton became the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate and led the league in triples for a third consecutive season.


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1979 St. Louis Cardinals season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1979 Stanford Cardinals football team
The 1979 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the Pacific-10 Conference during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by first-year head coach Rod Dowhower, the Cardinals had a 5–5–1 overall record (3–3–1 in Pac-10, sixth).


1979 Stanford Cardinals football team
Senior starting quarterback Turk Schonert split time with freshman John Elway.


1979 Stanford Cardinals football team
Dowhower was promoted to head coach in January; he was previously the receivers coach for two seasons under Bill Walsh, who left for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. After the season in January 1980, Dowhower left to become the offensive coordinator with the NFL's Denver Broncos, and was succeeded by alumnus Paul Wiggin.


1979 Stanford Cardinals football team, Game summaries, San Jose State
Mike Dotterer became the first freshman in school history to score three touchdowns in one game during Stanford's 45–29 victory. The Spartans were led by first-year head coach Jack Elway, father of John, who became Stanford's head coach after the 1983 season.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals
The 1979 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1978–79 season, and the culmination of the 1979 Stanley Cup playoffs. The New York Rangers challenged the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, who made their fourth straight appearance. It was New York's first foray into the Finals since 1972. The Canadiens would win the best-of-seven series, four games to one, to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup championship.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals
This was the last Stanley Cup Final until 2013 where both teams were from the Original Six, and the first of six consecutive Finals involving a team from the New York metropolitan area. The next five Finals would be contested by the Rangers' crosstown rivals the New York Islanders, who would win the first four of those series to forge a dynasty matching that of the Canadiens.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals
By defeating the Rangers, the Canadiens completed the rare accomplishment of winning four consecutive titles in a North American league competition consisting of at least sixteen teams, and remain the only team based outside the New York metropolitan area to do so. Prior to the Canadiens' dynasty, the feat had been achieved only twice before, both times by the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball. The aforementioned Islanders are the only team to accomplish it since.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Paths to the Finals
Montreal defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 and the Boston Bruins 4–3 (highlighted by the "too many men on the ice" game seven overtime win) to advance to the Final.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Paths to the Finals
New York defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2–0, the Philadelphia Flyers 4–1 and the New York Islanders 4–2 to make it to the finals.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Game summaries
The Canadiens won the Cup in five games, winning it on home ice for the first time since 1968. After the game Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer and Ken Dryden retired, while head coach Scotty Bowman would leave the Canadiens to join the Buffalo Sabres, which would mark the end of the Canadiens' dynasty. Montreal Canadians scored 46 total points during the Stanley Cup finals, while the New York Rangers scored 26 points in the finals.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Game summaries
This Final marked the second time in four years that Bowman and Fred Shero coached against each other. In 1976, they coached against each other, though Shero was with the Philadelphia Flyers.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The 1979 Stanley Cup was presented to Canadiens acting captain Serge Savard by NHL President John Ziegler following the Canadiens 4–1 win over the Rangers in game five.


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Stanley Cup engraving
The following Canadiens players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup


1979 Stanley Cup Finals, Broadcasting
The Stanley Cup Finals were produced by CBC, who carried the game in Canada and were shown in the United States on the NHL's syndicated package. Dan Kelly called the play-by-play for Games 1, 3, 4, and 5 entirely. Danny Gallivan and Dan Kelly split play-by-play for Game 2 only. Gary Dornhoefer served as color commentator for Games 1 and 5, Gerry Pinder served as color commentator for Game 2 only, Bobby Orr served as color commentator from Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, Dick Irvin Jr. served as color commentator for the entire Finals. Dick Irvin Jr. also served as studio host in Montreal and Dave Hodge in New York and Howie Meeker served as studio analyst. ABC was contracted to televise game seven. Since the Finals ended in five games, the contract was void.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs
The 1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League, (NHL) began on April 10, after the conclusion of the 1978–79 NHL season. The playoffs concluded on May 21, with the three-time defending champion Montreal Canadiens defeating the New York Rangers 4–1 to win the final series four games to one for the Stanley Cup. Three Original Six teams made the semifinals, which would not happen again until the 2014 Conference Finals.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Playoff seeds
The twelve teams that qualified for the playoffs are ranked 1–12 based on regular season points.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Playoff seeds
Note: Only teams that qualified for the playoffs are listed here.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Preliminary Round, (1) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (8) Vancouver Canucks
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Preliminary Round, (2) New York Rangers vs. (7) Los Angeles Kings
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Preliminary Round, (3) Atlanta Flames vs. (6) Toronto Maple Leafs
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Preliminary Round, (4) Buffalo Sabres vs. (5) Pittsburgh Penguins
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Quarterfinals, (1) New York Islanders vs. (8) Chicago Black Hawks
This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. New York won the only previous meeting in a two-game sweep in the 1977 Preliminary Round.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Quarterfinals, (2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (7) Toronto Maple Leafs
This was the fifteenth playoff meeting between these two teams; with the teams splitting the fourteen previous series. They met in previous year's Stanley Cup Semifinals, which Montreal won in a four-game sweep.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Quarterfinals, (2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (7) Toronto Maple Leafs
These teams did not meet again in the playoffs until 2021.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Quarterfinals, (3) Boston Bruins vs. (6) Pittsburgh Penguins
This was the first playoff series meeting between these two teams.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Quarterfinals, (4) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (5) New York Rangers
This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. Philadelphia won the only previous meeting in seven games in the 1974 Stanley Cup Semifinals.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Semifinals, (1) New York Islanders vs. (4) New York Rangers
This was the second playoff series meeting between these two teams. The Islanders won the only previous meeting 2–1 in the 1975 Preliminary Round.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Semifinals, (2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) Boston Bruins
This was the 18th playoff series meeting between these two teams, which Montreal led 15–2 in previous meetings. This series served as the final chapter in this rivalry for the late 1970s following Montreal's Cup Finals victories over Boston in 1977 and 1978 in four and six games respectively.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Semifinals, (2) Montreal Canadiens vs. (3) Boston Bruins
This series is best remembered for its dramatic conclusion in the late stages of game seven. Boston's Rick Middleton scored the go-ahead goal with four minutes remaining in regulation. Montreal's dynasty and success over Boston in the playoffs were suddenly in serious jeopardy. However, with time winding down to less than three minutes remaining, Boston committed a series-defining penalty for having too many men on the ice. With Montreal on the power play, Guy Lafleur scored the game-tying goal with 1:14 remaining to force overtime. Approaching the midway point of the first overtime, Yvon Lambert would score the series-winning goal to send the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fourth straight year. This marked the 14th straight playoff meeting between the two teams that ended with the Canadiens defeating the Bruins.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals
This was the 12th playoff series (and only Finals) meeting between these two teams. New York led 6–5 in previous meetings. Their last encounter was won by New York in six games in the 1974 Stanley Cup Quarterfinals.


1979 Stanley Cup playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals
Prior to 2013, this was the last time two Original Six clubs met in the finals. Both teams would next appear in the Stanley Cup Finals as follows: Canadiens winning in 1986, Rangers winning in 1994.


1979 Star World Championships
The 1979 Star World Championships were held in Marstrand, Sweden in 1979.


1979 Star World Championships, Results
Legend: DNS – Did not start; DSQ – Disqualified; WDR – Withdrew;


1979 State of the Union Address
The 1979 State of the Union address was given by President Jimmy Carter to a joint session of the 96th United States Congress on January 23, 1979.


1979 State of the Union Address
The speech lasted 32 minutes and 32 seconds. and contained 3257 words.


1979 State of the Union Address
The Republican Party response was delivered by Senator Howard Baker Jr. (TN) and Representative John Rhodes (AZ).


1979 Stella Artois Championships
The 1979 Queen's Club Championships  (known for sponsorship as the Stella Artois Championships) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts at the Queen's Club in London in the United Kingdom that was part of the 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix circuit. It was the 77th edition of the tournament and was held from 11 June through 17 June 1979. Second-seeded John McEnroe won the singles title.


1979 Stella Artois Championships, Finals, Doubles
Tim Gullikson /  Tom Gullikson defeated  Marty Riessen /  Sherwood Stewart 6–4, 6–4


1979 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan were the defending champions but only McMillan competed that year with Colin Dibley.


1979 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Dibley and McMillan lost in the second round to John Feaver and John James.


1979 Stella Artois Championships – Doubles
Tim Gullikson and Tom Gullikson won the doubles title at the 1979 Queen's Club Championships tennis tournament defeating Marty Riessen and Sherwood Stewart in the final 6–4, 6–4.


1979 Stella Artois Championships – Singles
The 1979 Queen's Club Championships  (known for sponsorship as the Stella Artois Championships) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts at the Queen's Club in London in the United Kingdom that was part of the 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix circuit. It was the 77th edition of the tournament and was held from 11 June through 17 June 1979.


1979 Stella Artois Championships – Singles
Tony Roche was the defending champion but did not compete that year. Second-seeded John McEnroe won the singles title,  defeating Víctor Pecci in the final 6–7, 6–1, 6–1.


1979 Stevenage Borough Council election
The 1979 Stevenage Borough Council election took place on 3 May 1979. This was on the same day as other local elections. The entire council was up for election and the Labour Party retained control of the council.


1979 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
The 1979 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards were released by the Hastings Bad Cinema Society in 1980 to honour the worst films the film industry had to offer in 1979. The ballot was later revisited and the expanded version was released in late 2004. Listed as follows are the original ballot's picks for Worst Picture and its dishonourable mentions, which are films that were considered for Worst Picture but ultimately failed to make the final ballot (17 total), and all nominees included in the expanded ballot. All winners are highlighted.


1979 Stock Car Brasil season
The 1979 Stock Car Brasil Championship was the first season of Stock Car Brasil, with 14 races, beginning on April 22, 1979 at the Autódromo Internacional de Tarumã in Rio Grande do Sul, with José Carlos Palhares at the pole position. The first winner was Affonso Giaffone Filho, and finished in December 1979 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace  in São Paulo, with a victory of Paulo Gomes and having as First Champion of Stock Car Brasil, Paulo Gomes.


1979 Stockholm Open
The 1979 Stockholm Open was a tennis tournament played on hard courts. The men's event was part of the 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix, while the women's took part of the 1979 WTA Tour and took place at the Kungliga tennishallen in Stockholm, Sweden. The women's tournament was held from 2 November through 5 November 1979 while the men's tournament was held from 5 November through 11 November 1979.


1979 Stockholm Open, Finals, Men's Doubles
Peter Fleming /  John McEnroe defeated  Tom Okker /  Wojciech Fibak, 6–4, 6–4


1979 Stockholm Open, Finals, Women's Doubles
Betty Stöve /  Wendy Turnbull defeated  Billie Jean King /  Ilana Kloss, 7–5, 7–6


1979 Stockholm Open – Men's Doubles
Wojtek Fibak and Tom Okker were the defending champions, but lost in the final this year.


1979 Stockholm Open – Men's Doubles
Peter Fleming and John McEnroe won the title, defeating Fibak and Okker 6–4, 6–4 in the final.


1979 Stockholm Open – Men's Singles
McEnroe successfully defended his title, defeating Gene Mayer 6–7, 6–3, 6–3 in the final.


1979 Stockholm municipal election
The Stockholm municipal election of 1979 was held on 16 September 1979 concurrently with the 1979 Swedish parliamentary election. This election used a party-list proportional representation system to allocate the 101 seats of the Stockholm City Council (Stockholms stadsfullmäktige) amongst the various Swedish political parties. Voter turnout was 86.4%.


1979 Stockholm municipal election
The Stockholm Party was founded in this year, and was allocated three seats in this election, marking the first time a party entered or exited the Stockholm City Council since the Centre Party earned their first mandate in 1966.


1979 Sugar Bowl
The 1979 Sugar Bowl was the 45th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday, January 1. Part of the 1978–79 bowl game season, it matched the top-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (11–0) and the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide (10–1) of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). A hard-fought 14–7 victory gave Alabama head coach Bear Bryant his fifth national championship.


1979 Sugar Bowl
The game marked the official debut of Alabama's "Big Al" costumed elephant mascot.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Penn State
The previous year, Penn State had gone 11–1 and won the Fiesta Bowl, with their only loss coming in a four-point heartbreaker to Kentucky at home. After surviving a very close opener in 1978 against Temple, Penn State rolled the rest of the season to a perfect 11–0 record and the top spot in both major polls. While some games were relatively close, the Nittany Lions generally won with ease. The defense, ranked first in the nation in scoring defense, led the charge, as they held opposing teams to ten points or less  eight times, with three shutouts. In the final week of the regular season, Penn State defeated rival Pittsburgh 17–10 to finish an undefeated regular season.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Alabama
The previous year, Alabama had gone 11–1, losing only to Nebraska, and steamrolled Ohio State 35–6 in the Sugar Bowl. Coming into that day, Alabama was third in the country, and when the top two teams lost, the Crimson Tide thought they were national champions. It was not to be, however, as Notre Dame, rolled over #1 Texas by four touchdowns in the Cotton Bowl, and jumped from fifth to first to become national champions. Feeling robbed, the Crimson Tide used it as motivation for the 1978 season. Alabama, however, suffered an early season loss to USC at Legion Field.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Teams, Alabama
Bryant, who as athletic director made the schedules, later admitted he made a mistake and made the five-game non-conference schedule exceptionally difficult in 1978; it included a brutal opener against Nebraska, Missouri, USC, and Washington in Seattle later in the season. The Tide, however, rebounded quite well from the loss, and went on a tear. Aside from a narrow victory against Washington, the defending Rose Bowl champions, Alabama dominated the rest of the schedule. After beating in-state rival Auburn 34–16 in the annual Iron Bowl, Alabama finished the season 10–1 and in the thick of the national championship race, second in both major polls.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The matchup forms
After the end of the regular season, it was a toss-up as to who would play where in the bowl games. Joe Paterno, head coach of Penn State, wanted to play in the Orange Bowl, which would be the last game of the night and would give Penn State the nation's undivided attention. Moreover, Paterno wanted his vaunted defense to face Oklahoma running back Billy Sims, the Heisman Trophy winner.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The matchup forms
Bryant wanted things differently. Bryant hoped, along with Sugar Bowl committee member Aruns Callery, that he could get Penn State to agree to face Alabama in a #1 v. #2 matchup in the Sugar Bowl. Bryant was wary of the pollsters after the shun to end the 1977 season, but he knew that if number two Alabama could beat number one Penn State, the Crimson Tide would be guaranteed a national championship regardless of what else happened with other teams.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The matchup forms
Finally, after the urging of Callery, Bryant called Paterno and attempted to coax him into meeting the Tide in the Sugar Bowl. Bryant recounted to Paterno that the two schools and coaches had a great Sugar Bowl matchup in December 1975, which the Tide won narrowly 13–6, and that he wanted to do it again. After several calls, Bryant finally convinced Paterno, and the matchup was on.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Pre-game information
The game kicked off shortly after 1:00 p.m. CST, televised by ABC with Keith Jackson on play-by-play and the color commentary provided by Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas head coach. At the same time was the Cotton Bowl on CBS.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Pre-game information
Alabama came into the game as a narrow one-point favorite.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Pre-game information
Alabama was the home team, and wore its crimson jerseys with its usual crimson helmets and white pants with the two crimson stripes. As the visitors, Penn State wore white jerseys with the usual white helmets (with navy blue center stripe) and all-white pants.


1979 Sugar Bowl, Pre-game information
Much of the pre-game hype surrounded the matchup between the Penn State defense and Alabama offense. Penn State had, arguably, its best defense ever under Paterno, and was an immovable object against the run. Alabama, on the other hand, was known for its hard-nosed rushing attack out of the wishbone. However, the x-factor in the game was that Alabama was to be the first team that Penn State would face all season that ran the wishbone, a difficult-to-stop formation that forces defenses to cover the entire field against both the run and the pass. Most pre-game predictions hinged on this, and whether or not Paterno would call a conservative game on offense.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, First quarter
The game started off with what was expected by most: a defensive struggle. Alabama attempted to run the ball hard out of the wishbone, as expected, and while it did have some success, each and every time the Penn State defense would toughen more and more the further Alabama moved the ball, eventually forcing punts. The Penn State offense, on the other hand, was simply non-existent. The Alabama defense was great in its own right, and Penn State literally struggled to gain a positive yard. As the first quarter came to a close, the game was tied 0–0.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Second quarter
The first twelve minutes of the second quarter went just like the first quarter, i.e. a defensive struggle with little or no offensive success. Finally, with about three minutes to go in the second quarter, Alabama seemingly was about to break through. After getting good field position via a Penn State punt, Alabama found itself at the Penn State 22–yard line with a 1st and 10. Alabama quarterback Jeff Rutledge dropped back to throw, and was hit as he attempted to deliver the ball. The pass sailed high, and was intercepted by linebacker Rich Milot.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Second quarter
Milot raced down the sideline with one man to beat. Major Ogilvie, who was on the other side of the field at the time of the interception, raced diagonally across the Superdome turf and knocked Milot out of bounds at the Alabama 37. At this point, Penn State was in field goal range and looked to break the 0–0 tie before halftime. However, on third down, Penn State quarterback Chuck Fusina was sacked for a big loss by Alabama's Byron Braggs, putting Penn State out of field goal range.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Second quarter
Penn State punted to Alabama with one minute, thirty-two seconds left in the first half. The Tide started at its own 20, and Ogilvie ran for two yards on first down. Paterno chose to call time-out, hoping that he could preserve the clock and force an Alabama punt, which would hopefully give Penn State a chance to get back into field goal range. Alabama, however, took advantage, when two plays later Steve Whitman rushed for four yards and a first down. Paterno's gamble had backfired, and now Bryant had another opportunity. Ever the opportunist, Bryant swung for the fences.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Second quarter
On the subsequent play, Tide fullback Tony Nathan ran for 30 yards, and followed it with another seven-yard run, down to the Penn State 30. Bryant called timeout, and Alabama came out throwing. Rutledge fired a strike to a diving Bruce Bolton in the endzone, and Alabama had broken the tie, 7–0.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Halftime
At halftime, Alabama was seemingly the better team on paper. Against the number-one ranked Penn State defense, Alabama had racked up 214 yards, 129 of which were on the ground, and carried a touchdown lead at intermission.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Halftime
On the other hand, Penn State struggled greatly in the first half. Although the defense kept Alabama mostly out of the endzone, the Tide still racked up plenty of yards. The Penn State offense, though, was simply manhandled. At the end of the first half, Penn State had -7 yards rushing, and only 29 yards passing, thus gaining only 22 total yards in the first half.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Third quarter
Alabama looked to further cement their lead after a solid drive in the third quarter that saw the Tide go deep into Penn State territory. Penn State, however, got tough again as the Tide drove further, and ultimately forced a field goal attempt. The usually reliable Alan McElroy, however, missed a chip-shot field goal that would have put Alabama up 10–0.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Third quarter
After that, though, the Penn State defense would make adjustments. To avoid big passing plays like those that doomed them at the end of the first half, Paterno and company chose to keep the free safety deep in case of a pass. Sure enough, the next time Rutledge went back to throw deep, Penn State safety Pete Harris snagged an interception and returned it to Alabama territory. A few plays later, Fusina finally connected with his star end Scott Fitzkee for a 17-yard touchdown pass, and the game was tied 7–7.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Third quarter
Late in the third quarter, the game was still tied 7–7, and Penn State was forced to punt. Usually, Major Ogilvie returned punts for Alabama, but on a hunch, Bryant decided to use Lou Ikner, a speedy senior who had seen limited action. As it turned out, Bryant picked the right time to gamble. Ikner fielded the punt, and raced down the left sideline, before cutting back to the middle of the field to cap a 62–yard punt return, giving the Tide a first and goal at the Penn State ten.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Third quarter
However, the Penn State defense got tough, and held Alabama to no gain on first and second down. On third down, Bryant and offensive coordinator Mal Moore thought Penn State would be playing a pass, and thus called an option left. Jeff Rutledge took the snap and spun away from center around left end, and a very surprised Penn State defense, which as Bryant and Moore had predicted were expecting a pass, was in no position to defend it. Rutledge forced the sole defender to commit to him, and when he did he pitched the ball to the trailing back, Major Ogilvie, who ran in untouched for the touchdown.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Third quarter
Alabama, once more, was on top. The third quarter ended with Alabama up 14–7, one quarter away from a national championship.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
After getting the ball early in the fourth quarter, Penn State could do nothing. The Crimson Tide defense seemed stronger than ever, and Penn State simply could not move the ball effectively. The clock was running, and finally Alabama regained possession of the ball following a Penn State punt with eight minutes to play. The Nittany Lions were desperate, and everyone knew it; they needed a big turnover. As if the football gods had smiled upon them, they got one. Alabama had the ball on its own 22-yard line when Rutledge ran an option left. He engaged a Penn State defender, and pitched the ball to Major Ogilvie. However, Ogilvie was not expecting a pitch and was in fact not even looking at Rutledge; the ball bounced off of Ogilvie's back and Penn State recovered the fumble deep in Alabama territory.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
Now with all of the momentum, Penn State found quick success. On first down, Penn State running back Matt Suhey charged up the middle for 11 yards, and Penn State had it first and goal on the Alabama eight-yard-line. On first and goal, Penn State ran the ball, which netted about two yards. On second and goal, Fusina came out firing to Fitzkee, who caught the ball at about the three and seemed destined to score. There was no Alabama defender in sight, and Fitzkee seemingly could walk in.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
As he turned to run into the endzone, however, Alabama cornerback Don McNeal came flying up from his position, finally free from a tangle with a wide receiver, and delivered a picture-perfect hit on Fitzkee, using his own momentum to drive him out of bounds at the one-yard line. The commentators of the game, Jackson and Broyles, gushed over the incredible tackle by McNeal. Fitzkee, who thought he had a sure touchdown, would say after the game, "I have no clue where the Alabama defensive back came from."


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
Now came third and goal, where Penn State ran the ball straight-ahead with Matt Suhey. After finding no hole, Suhey tried to dive in for the touchdown, but was met in the air by Curtis McGriff, a defensive tackle, and Rich Wingo, the middle linebacker. After the play, Fusina frantically searched for the ball, and asked Alabama linebacker Marty Lyons how far it was from the goalline. Lyons replied, "'Bout a foot. You better pass."


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
Finally, it was fourth and goal from the one-foot line with a national championship on the line. Penn State chose to power it in, but Alabama would have none of it. Again, Alabama surged backward through the Penn State line, and Guman was hit in the hole by Barry Krauss and Murray Legg, where he was stopped dead in his tracks. The Alabama defense had held after a thunderous collision just short of the goal line. Krauss, the man who delivered the brunt of the hit, was knocked unconscious and temporarily lost feeling in his extremities, but he would get up and run off the field under his own power.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
Alabama had held, but the game was not over. Roughly six minutes were still left, and Alabama was pinned up deep in its own territory. Penn State needed a stop and quickly got it. Alabama went three-and-out, and was forced to punt. On fourth down, the snap was botched and bounced to Alabama punter Woody Umphrey, who subsequently had to hurry the punt, resulting in a shank that went out of bounds near the Alabama 30. Penn State, though, had cost themselves. They were flagged for having twelve-men on the field, which gave Alabama a first down and new life.


1979 Sugar Bowl, The game, Fourth quarter
The Tide subsequently drove the ball farther and farther, nearly running out the clock. Penn State got the ball back with over a minute left, but their last drive came up short, ending on a 4th and 8 attempt by Chuck Fusina that fell incomplete.


1979 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR
The 7th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR (Russian: VII летняя Спартакиада народов СССР) was held in the Soviet Union in 1979, with the final stage in July and August 1979. Most events of the final stage were held in Moscow, with Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Vilnius, Kaunas, Tallinn and Riga also hosting some events.


1979 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, Early stages
The Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was a mass participation event, with millions of people taking part in competitions associated with it; the early stages consisted of minor qualification meets on the club, local and regional levels, with the best athletes representing their republics in the final stage. The cities of Moscow and Leningrad also fielded teams, with equal status to the republics.


1979 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, Final stage
The final stage of the 1979 Spartakiad served as a preparatory meet for the Summer Olympics of the following year, with many of the same venues being used. For the first time in the history of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, non-Soviet athletes were invited to take part; the final stage featured 2,306 international athletes from 84 nations, as well as 8,338 Soviet athletes.


1979 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, Final stage
More countries participated in the Spartakiad than in the following year's Olympics, due to the US-led boycott of the latter in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; the United States did not boycott the Spartakiad (as the USSR had not yet invaded Afghanistan at the time), although there were some objections in the country to the Soviet non-invitation of athletes from Israel and Egypt. Many of the non-Soviet teams were comparatively weak, and the vast majority of gold medals were won by Soviet athletes. Some world-class international athletes did take part, however; Miruts Yifter of Ethiopia won gold in both the 5,000 metres and the 10,000 metres, a feat he duplicated at the Olympics the following year.


1979 Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, Final stage
Although most events were open to international participation, a number of sports were still limited to Soviet athletes only.


1979 Summer Universiade
The 1979 Summer Universiade, also known as the X Summer Universiade, took place in Mexico City, Mexico.


1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held February 23–25 at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.


1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Jacksonville defeated South Florida in the championship game, 68–54, to win their first Sun Belt men's basketball tournament.


1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The Dolphins, in turn, received a bid for the 1979 NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Virginia Tech in the first round. Top-seeded South Alabama, who lost to Jacksonville in the semifinal round, still received an at-large bid, falling to Louisville in the second round.


1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
All six of the conference's members participated in the tournament field. They were seeded based on regular season conference records with the top two teams earning byes to the semifinal round.


1979 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Format
All of the games were played at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.


1979 Sun Bowl
The 1979 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Texas Longhorns and the Washington Huskies, played on Saturday, December 22, in El Paso, Texas.


1979 Sun Bowl, Background
The Huskies were the runner-up in the Pacific-10 Conference, behind USC. The Longhorns had lost two games by a combined total of nine points, with the two losses  costing them a Southwest Conference title. This was Washington's first Sun Bowl and Texas' second straight.


1979 Sun Bowl, Game summary
Husky defensive lineman Stafford Mays recovered quarterback Rick McIvor's fumble late in the first quarter in Longhorn territory. Ten seconds into the second quarter, junior quarterback Tom Flick threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to freshman Paul Skansi for the first score. On the second play of the Longhorns' ensuing drive, strong safety Greg Grimes recovered McIvor's fumble at the 25-yard line, giving Washington another shot at scoring. Five plays later, Willis Ray Mackey scored on a touchdown run to make it 14–0. But on Washington's next possession, Flick fumbled the ball to defensive lineman Kenneth Sims, who recovered it in Texas territory. Forty three yards later, Donnie Little threw a touchdown pass to Brad Beck with 3:10 to go in the half.


1979 Sun Bowl, Game summary
In gusty winds, the rest of the game was a defensive affair, with the Longhorns' fumbles in the first half proving costly. Skansi caught five passes for 52 yards and was named MVP. Mays had 12 tackles, a fumble recovery, and two sacks.


1979 Sun Bowl, Aftermath
The Huskies returned to the Sun Bowl three times (1986, 1995, 2002), but lost all three; the Longhorns returned in 1982 and 1994.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420
The 1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420 as a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 12, 1979, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420
By the following season, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Background
Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
This race was a 420-lap race; Harry Gant would be credited with the last-place finish due to an engine problem after only 18 laps of racing.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
Cale Yarborough would defeat Richard Petty by nearly three seconds after almost three hours of racing action. Yarborough would win his third Nashville race in a row along with his seventh and final Cup win at Nashville. A small crowd of 16000 people would see only three caution periods (lasting 27 laps) and nine different changes concerning the leader of the race. Joe Millikan would get his only pole position start here; qualifying at speeds up to 104.155 miles per hour (167.621 km/h). Darrell Basham places 24th in his only Winston Cup start.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
McDuffie finished higher before but leading 111 laps had to make this his top race of all time. He never had a race that he came close to leading this many laps in his entire career. Joe Millikan led the first 31 laps and McDuffie took the lead from him. He led and later hooked fenders with Cale Yarborough while battling for second place during the 52nd lap. Both spun out but both were able to continue. McDuffie had a shot to win this thing when he took the lead from Richard Petty on the 250th lap, leading 27 more laps, but lost two laps when he had to pit for fresh tires.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
The finish was marred by controversy. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison asserted that Cale Yarborough was a lap down at the finish. Said Petty, "He lost one lap when he spun (with J.D. McDuffie), then he lost another when he spent 22 seconds in the pits." Allison agreed, saying, "Richard won this race and I finished second. I don't know how they had Cale winning."


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
A star-studded top ten finishing chart would include fan favorites like Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress, Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Rudd. Al Elmore and Steve Spencer would make their NASCAR Cup Series debuts during this race.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
Notable crew chiefs for the race were Buddy Parrott, Tex Powell, Joey Arrington, Kirk Shelmerdine, Darrell Bryant, Dale Inman, and Jake Elder.


1979 Sun-Drop Music City USA 420, Summary
The entire racing purse for this event was $70,100 ($246,940.99 when adjusted for inflation). Yarborough would receive $12,275 for winning ($43,241.09 when adjusted for inflation) the race while last-place finisher Gant would only receive $360 of the total purse ($1,268.17 when adjusted for inflation).


1979 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker (also known as Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker or SBOP) was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker was already drawing larger crowds as more and more amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."


1979 Super Bowl of Poker
Prior to 1979, the only high dollar tournament a person could enter was the WSOP. 1972 WSOP Main Event Champion and outspoken ambassador for poker Amarillo Slim saw this as an opportunity. "The World Series of Poker was so successful that everybody wanted more than one tournament," he said. Slim called upon his connections and friendships with poker's elite to start a new tournament in the February 1979.


1979 Super Bowl of Poker
Before the SBOP had developed a reputation of its own, many of the most respected names in poker attended the tournament "more to support Slim and take advantage of the very fat cash games the event would obviously inspire." Slim modelled his SBOP after the WSOP with several events and a $10,000 Texas Hold'em Main Event.


1979 Super Bowl of Poker
One of the principal differences between the WSOP and the SBOP was the prize structure. The WSOP's prize structure was flat ensuring more people received smaller pieces of the prize pool. The SBOP typically used a 60-30-10 payout structure. In other words, only the first three places received money and generally in the ratio of 60% to first place, 30% to second place, and 10% to third. This payment schedule predominated the SBOP for the first 5 years of the event, but as the event grew the number of payouts increased while keeping the payout schedule top heavy.


1979 Super Bowl of Poker, 1979 Tournament
As one of the original participants in the WSOP, the 1979 tournament was built upon Amarillo Slim's popularity and reputation. Many of the biggest names showed up at the event. Despite the limited number of cash prizes offered at the SBOP, Poker Hall of Famer Johnny Moss succeeded in making it to the cash 4 times. Doyle Brunson, another Hall of Famer, finished in second place in the $1,000 Ace to five Lowball event. 2003 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Baldwin won the $5,000 Seven card Stud event.


1979 Supertaça de Portugal
The 1979 Supertaça de Portugal was the 1st edition of the Supertaça de Portugal although not the 1st official edition, the annual Portuguese football season-opening match contested by the winners of the previous season's top league and cup competitions (or cup runner-up in case the league- and cup-winning club is the same). The 1979 Supertaça de Portugal took place at the Estádio das Antas in Porto, home of FC Porto on the 17 August 1979, thus opening the 1979-1980 season. It was contested between two team from the city of Porto, F.C. Porto, the winners of the 1978–79 Primeira Divisão, and Boavista F.C., the winners of the 1978–79 Taça de Portugal.


1979 Supertaça de Portugal
Os Axadrezados defeated the Dragões 2–1 to claim the first Supertaça de Portugal thanks to two goals in either half from centre forward Júlio Augusto. Boavista saw two players sent off in the last 10 minutes of the game, but Porto were unable to equalise the game. After the match was finished, some confrontations followed with Porto supporters, after the defeat in their home stadium, which resulted in the trophy not being delivered to the winners on the pitch. As a result, the trophy was delivered on the following week at Boavista's home ground, Estádio do Bessa.


1979 Swedish Open
The 1979 Swedish Open was a men's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts and held in Båstad, Sweden. It was part of the 1979 Grand Prix circuit. It was the 32nd edition of the tournament and was held from 16 July through 22 July 1979. Björn Borg won the singles title.


1979 Swedish Open, Finals, Doubles
Heinz Günthardt /  Bob Hewitt defeated  Mark Edmondson /  John Marks 6–2, 6–2


1979 Swedish general election
General elections were held in Sweden on 16 September 1979. Although the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained the largest party, winning 154 of the 349 seats in the Riksdag, the liberal interim government of Ola Ullsten was succeeded by another centre-right coalition government composed of the People's Party, the Moderate Party and the Centre Party, led by Centre Party leader Thorbjörn Fälldin. The three parties together won 175 seats, compared to the 174 won by the Social Democrats and Communists. It was the only time that non-socialist parties retained power in an election between 1928 and 2010. The Moderates dramatically increased their representation in the Riksdag, becoming the largest party of the non-socialist bloc, a position they have maintained ever since.


1979 Swedish general election
Despite the unexpected victory, the coalition split in 1981 when the Moderates withdrew support in protest at Fälldin's tax policies, which they viewed as "too leftist". Despite not being the leader of the coalition party with the most seats, Fälldin had been the designate Prime Minister since his earlier resignation in 1978, upon disagreement over the question of nuclear power.


1979 Swedish general election, Results, By municipalities
Votes by municipality. The municipalities are the color of the party that got the most votes within the coalition that won relative majority.


1979 Swedish general election, Results, By municipalities
Cartogram of the map to the left with each municipality rescaled to the number of valid votes cast.


1979 Swedish general election, Results, By municipalities
Map showing the voting shifts from the 1976 to the 1979 election. Darker blue indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that formed the centre-right bloc. Darker red indicates a municipality voted more towards the parties that form the left-wing bloc.


1979 Swedish general election, Results, By municipalities
Votes by municipality as a scale from red/Left-wing bloc to blue/Centre-right bloc.


1979 Swedish general election, Results, By municipalities
Cartogram of vote with each municipality rescaled in proportion to number of valid votes cast. Deeper blue represents a relative majority for the centre-right coalition, brighter red represents a relative majority for the left-wing coalition.


1979 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix
The 1979 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 20–22 July 1979 at the Karlskoga Motorstadion in Karlskoga, Sweden.


1979 Swiss Championships
The 1979 Swiss Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Gstaad, Switzerland. It was the 34th edition of the tournament and was held from 9 July until 15 July 1979. The tournament was part of the 1979 Grand Prix tennis circuit and offered total prize money of $75,000. Third-seeded Ulrich Pinner won the singles title.


1979 Swiss Championships, Finals, Doubles
Mark Edmondson /  John Marks defeated  Ion Ţiriac /  Guillermo Vilas 2–6, 6–1, 6–4


1979 Swiss Indoors
The 1979 Swiss Indoors was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland that was part of the 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix. It was the 11th edition of the tournament and was held from 15 October through 21 October 1979. Third-seeded Brian Gottfried won the singles title.


1979 Swiss Indoors, Finals, Doubles
Frew McMillan /  Bob Hewitt defeated  Brian Gottfried /  Raúl Ramírez 6–3, 6–4


1979 Swiss federal election
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 21 October 1979. The Social Democratic Party and the Free Democratic Party emerged as the largest parties in the National Council, both winning 51 of the 200 seats.


1979 Swiss referendums
Six referendums were held in Switzerland in 1979. The first four were held on 18 February on reducing the voting age to 18 (rejected), a popular initiative "for the promotion of footpaths and hiking trails" (approved), "against advertising for addictive drugs" (rejected) and "for ensuring people's rights and the security of nuclear power installations" (rejected).


1979 Swiss referendums
The last two were held on 20 May on reforms to sales and direct federal taxation (rejected) and a federal resolution on the nuclear power law (approved).


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire
The Sydney Ghost Train fire at Luna Park Sydney in Milsons Point, New South Wales, Australia, killed six children and one adult on 9 June 1979. Inadequate fire-fighting measures and low staffing caused the fire to completely destroy the amusement park's ghost train. The ride is believed to have been first constructed in 1931 and transported between Milsons Point and Glenelg, South Australia, during 1934 and 1935.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire
The fire was originally blamed on electrical faults, but arson by known figures has also been claimed. The exact cause of the fire could not be determined by a coronial inquiry. The coroner also ruled that, while the actions of Luna Park's management and staff before and during the fire (in particular their choosing not to follow advice on the installation of a sprinkler system in the ride) breached their duty of care, charges of criminal negligence should not be laid. The case was reopened in 1987: no new findings were made, although the police investigation and coronial inquiry were criticised. The fire forced the closure of Luna Park until 1982, when it reopened under a new name and new owners.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire
A memorial garden was installed by Luna Park in 1995, but its fixtures were lost during the park's 2003 redevelopment. In replacement, a plaque listing those killed was placed at the location of the ride, but a promised mural to surround the plaque was never painted. A separate memorial park was created by North Sydney Council in 2007, including a sculpture by Michael Leunig.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire, Ride
Luna Park Sydney's Ghost Train was a ghost train-style amusement ride. Designed and constructed in 1931 at Luna Park Glenelg, the ride was transported to Milsons Point, New South Wales, along with all the other rides and reassembled prior to Luna Park Sydney's first opening in October 1935.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire, Ride
Architectural plans and drawings of rides and buildings at Luna Park Sydney are held at the State Library of New South Wales, including the Ghost Train ride. The plans and drawings include some from Luna Park Glenelg (Glenelg, South Australia) and Luna Park Melbourne (St Kilda, Victoria).


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire, Fire
On the night of 9 June 1979, a fire broke out inside the Luna Park Ghost Train at approximately 10:15 pm. Due to a combination of low water pressure, under-staffing within the park, and inadequate coverage of the Ghost Train by the park's fire hose system, the fire was able to completely consume the ride. It took an hour to bring the fire under control, but it was extinguished before any significant damage could be done to the adjacent River Caves and Big Dipper.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire, Fire
Around thirty-five people were believed to have been on the ride when thick smoke began to escape from the tunnel doors. Ride staff raised the alarm and began to pull people from the ride as their cars exited the tunnel. It was initially thought that everybody had escaped the fire, but at around 11:30 pm, the bodies of seven people were found inside the ride: John Godson and his two children, Damien and Craig, and four Waverley College students; Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson, and Seamus Rahilly.


1979 Sydney Ghost Train fire, Fire
At the time of the fire, investigating police speculated that the seven had climbed out of their cars and unsuccessfully tried to find their way out of the tunnel; had they stayed in the cars, they might have survived. Other evacuated passengers reported seeing empty cars exit the tunnel on fire.