The 1979 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 7, 1979 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the fifteenth and final race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors. This event was also referred to as the United States Grand Prix East in order to distinguish it from the United States Grand Prix West held on April 8, 1979 in Long Beach, California. The 59-lap race took place in wet conditions, and was won by Gilles Villeneuve, driving a Ferrari. René Arnoux finished second in a Renault, with Didier Pironi third in a Tyrrell-Ford. The win, Villeneuve's third of the season, enabled him to secure second place in the Drivers' Championship behind team-mate Jody Scheckter. This was the final Formula One race for the 1969 and 1970 championship runner-up Jacky Ickx, Alex Ribeiro, Arturo Merzario and former Brabham driver Hans-Joachim Stuck, as well as the final race for the Wolf team. Villeneuve's win was also to be the final one for a car with a flat-12 engine and the three points scored by Elio de Angelis would be the last points scored by the Shadow team. Summary By the time the teams got to Watkins Glen for the last race of the 1979 season, Jody Scheckter had already clinched the Drivers' Championship, while his Ferrari team had secured the Constructors' Championship. On Friday, the rain was heavy enough all day that only a few cars made any serious attempt at a lap time. Of the six that did actually record a time, Gilles Villeneuve was fastest by over nine seconds. Saturday started bright and sunny, and Alan Jones topped the charts in his Williams for the entire session. He ended up 1.3 seconds quicker than the Brabham of Brazilian Nelson Piquet, who gained the front row in his first drive at Watkins Glen. Scheckter had trouble with the engine in his race car and traffic with his spare, and ended up 16th, one spot ahead of the previous season's champion, Mario Andretti. The forecast for Sunday was a 50% chance of rain. About twenty minutes before the start, the rain came, and all but two of the cars started with rain tires. The two that did not were Piquet and Andretti, who, in 17th spot on