1977 United States Grand Prix West

Formula One motor race August 2023 F1 United States United States Grand Prix West Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit Long Beach.png April 3 1977 4 17 Long Beach Street Circuit Temporary street course 2.02 3.251 80 161.60 260.08 Temperatures of 68 F C; winds of 10.9 mph km/hhttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/CA/Long%20Beach/1977-04-03 Weather information for the 1977 United States Grand Prix West The Old Farmers' Almanac November 17, 2013 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:21.650 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:22.753 62 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari Jody Scheckter South Africa 1928 Wolf-Ford USW The 1977 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Long Beach Grand Prix1977 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes http://www.progcovers.com/motor/f11977.html The Programme Covers Project) was a Formula One motor race held on April 3, 1977 in Long Beach, California. It was the fourth race of the 1977 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1977 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 80-lap race was won by Mario Andretti, driving a Lotus-Ford. Andretti held off Niki Lauda in the Ferrari to become the only American to win a Formula One race on home soil, while also giving the ground-effect Lotus 78 its first win. Jody Scheckter finished third in the Wolf-Ford. Summary The Formula One circus arrived at Long Beach in mourning following the deaths of Tom Pryce at the South African Grand Prix and Carlos Pace in a light aircraft crash near São Paulo. The Shadow team signed Alan Jones as Pryce's replacement, while Pace's place at Brabham was taken by Hans-Joachim Stuck. Stuck had been expected to drive for the new ATS team with its old Penske car but changed his mind, meaning that ATS had to sign Jean-Pierre Jarier instead.http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-1977/57/united-states-grand-prix-west The United States Grand Prix West: The Racer's Racer Wins at Home Motor Sport London May 1977 57 October 21, 2017 The first practice session saw Jody Scheckter fastest in the Wolf with a time of 1:22.79, just ahead of Andretti in the Lotus 78. In the second session, Andretti went faster with a 1:22.06, but Ferrari's Niki Lauda took the pole position in final qualifying on Saturday with a 1:21.63. Scheckter was third, joined on the second row by the second Ferrari of Carlos Reutemann. On Sunday, it was 68 degrees °F (20 °C) and very pleasant as the cars formed on the starting grid. At the green light, Scheckter shot past both Lauda and Andretti, and led into the first turn. Reutemann pulled next to Andretti on the inside approach to the turn, but braked too late and slid straight on. Andretti avoided a T-bone by braking in time to duck behind him into the corner. James Hunt was allegedly pushed from behind, though no one knows for sure, and when he hit John Watson's right rear wheel with his left front, he was launched six feet in the air, showing Watson the entire underside of his McLaren. On landing, he slid past Reutemann and down the escape road. Hunt was able to make it back to the pits, and though his suspension was bent, he carried on, and ended up missing a point for sixth by just two seconds. Meanwhile, the trio of Scheckter, Andretti and Lauda continued the battle they had been waging all weekend, with Scheckter leading by 1.7 seconds after three laps. On lap 4, Lauda was pressuring Andretti and tried to pass in the hairpin at the end of the curving back straight. He locked the Ferrari's brakes, but kept his foot down hard to avoid hitting Andretti's Lotus. The resulting flat spots on Lauda's tires caused a serious vibration throughout the race, and probably took away his chance of winning. Scheckter maintained a consistent cushion over the battle for second; after 25 laps, Andretti was 2.5 seconds behind and Lauda was 4 seconds back. Even as they periodically worked their way through traffic, the three leaders never lost contact for more than half a lap. The Long Beach circuit was not particularly suited for cars that generate much downforce, and the new Lotus, with its higher aerodynamic drag, could not match the straight line speed of Scheckter's Wolf; Andretti continually closed in through the corners, but could not find a way past. thumb|right|The McLaren driven by James Hunt almost in the air and close to Carlos Reutemann's Ferrari (#12) with the rest of the racers behind them "I was preparing for a real banzai under braking," Andretti later said. "I needed to go from fifth to first gear in order to do it, and the way the gearboxes were in those days, I had maybe one or two tries to do that. My objective was to do it if I was in a position at the end of the race. Then I saw a twitch and, obviously, he had a tire that was slightly deflating." On lap 58, Scheckter's lap time suddenly increased by two seconds, and as he passed the pits, he pointed emphatically to the crew at his right front tyre, which had developed a slow leak. The tyre began locking up time and again under braking, but Scheckter decided he was going to stay out and go as far as he could. For 18 laps, he tenaciously fought a losing battle as he held off each of Andretti's desperate attempts to pass as his deflating tyre got softer and softer. "It was not at the point that the tyre was really going down, because it was the left side, not the right side, and it was not to the point that he really backed off any sooner because his braking point and turning point for the corner was the same." On lap 77, Andretti outbraked the Wolf and pulled inside him entering the hairpin. "It's not that he went wide," he said afterwards, "I just got him clear at the braking point, and then after I went by him, I distanced myself." The frenzied crowd of 70,000 finally burst into rapturous applause as Andretti accelerated into the lead. Scheckter's despair was complete when Lauda also went by on the next lap. The crowd cheered Andretti home, deflecting considerable pressure from Lauda right to the flag, as he won by less than a second. "It is one of the nicest moments of my career, even more satisfying than winning Indianapolis and really gratifying to have so many people pulling for me," Andretti said. "The car remained perfectly balanced throughout the race and the brakes were superb." "It was not that I was given a break," Mario still insists. "I outbraked him clean. To me, it was just as satisfying a win. Jody tried to say that the only reason I passed him was because the tyre was going down; but if that was the case, he would have had a lot of smoke and a lot of locking up, and there was none of that. So, it was a good, satisfying win." Scheckter held on for third place, and the scoring was completed by Patrick Depailler's Tyrrell, over a minute behind; Emerson Fittipaldi in the Copersucar; and Jarier in the ATS Penske-Ford. Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time/Gap 1 11 AUT Niki Lauda Ferrari 1:21.630 2 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus–Ford +0.238 3 20 RSA 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf–Ford +0.257 4 12 ARG Carlos Reutemann Ferrari +0.630 5 26 FRA Jacques Laffite Ligier–Matra +0.666 6 7 GBR John Watson Brabham–Alfa Romeo +0.742 7 28 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi–Ford +0.752 8 1 GBR James Hunt McLaren–Ford +0.899 9 34 FRA Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske–Ford +0.981 10 3 SWE Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell–Ford +1.025 11 19 ITA Vittorio Brambilla Surtees–Ford +1.029 12 4 FRA Patrick Depailler Tyrrell–Ford +1.045 13 22 SUI Clay Regazzoni Ensign–Ford +1.132 14 17 AUS Alan Jones Shadow–Ford +1.426 15 2 FRG Jochen Mass McLaren–Ford +1.601 16 6 SWE Gunnar Nilsson Lotus–Ford +1.754 17 8 FRG Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham–Alfa Romeo +2.181 18 10 GBR Brian Henton March–Ford +2.406 19 18 AUT Hans Binder Surtees–Ford +2.543 20 16 ITA Renzo Zorzi Shadow–Ford +2.727 21 30 USA Brett Lunger March–Ford +3.349 22 9 BRA Alex Ribeiro March–Ford +3.450 Source:https://results.motorsportstats.com/results/1977-united-states-grand-prix-west/classification/09e7ff3c-a330-4960-9e2f-737859e4fc40 1977 Formula One United States Grand Prix West Motorsport Stats 13 April 2021 Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 5 USA Mario Andretti Lotus-Ford 80 1:51:35.470 2 9 2 11 Austria Niki Lauda Ferrari 80 + 0.773 1 6 3 20 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter Wolf-Ford 80 + 4.857 3 4 4 4 France Patrick Depailler Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 1:14.487 12 3 5 28 Brazil 1968 Emerson Fittipaldi Fittipaldi-Ford 80 + 1:20.908 7 2 6 34 France Jean-Pierre Jarier Penske-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 9 1 7 1 UK James Hunt McLaren-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 8   8 6 Sweden Gunnar Nilsson Lotus-Ford 79 + 1 Lap 16   9 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Matra 78 Electrical 5   10 10 UK Brian Henton March-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 18   11 18 Austria Hans Binder Surtees-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 19   Ret Retired 3 Sweden Ronnie Peterson Tyrrell-Ford 62 Fuel System 10   Ret Retired 22 Switzerland Clay Regazzoni Ensign-Ford 57 Gearbox 13   Ret Retired 8 West Germany Hans-Joachim Stuck Brabham-Alfa Romeo 53 Brakes 17   Ret Retired 17 Australia Alan Jones Shadow-Ford 40 Gearbox 14   Ret Retired 2 West Germany Jochen Mass McLaren-Ford 39 Handling 15   DSQ Disqualified 7 UK John Watson Brabham-Alfa Romeo 33 Illegal Push Start 6   Ret Retired 16 Italy Renzo Zorzi Shadow-Ford 27 Gearbox 20   Ret Retired 9 Brazil 1968 Alex Ribeiro March-Ford 15 Gearbox 22   Ret Retired 12 Argentina Carlos Reutemann Ferrari 5 Accident 4   Ret Retired 30 USA Brett Lunger March-Ford 4 Accident 21   Ret Retired 19 Italy Vittorio Brambilla Surtees-Ford 0 Accident 11  Source:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1977/races/377/usa-west/race-result.html 1977 USA West Grand Prix formula1.com 7 October 2017 Notes This was the 50th Grand Prix start for Italian engine supplier Alfa Romeo. This victory, coupled with CART series wins in 1984, 1985, and 1987, made Mario Andretti the only driver to have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in both Formula 1 and in Indy cars. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 10px 1 South Africa 1928 Jody Scheckter 19 10px 1 2 AUT Niki Lauda 19 10px 1 3 ARG Carlos Reutemann 13 10px 4 4 USA Mario Andretti 11 10px 1 5 UK James Hunt 9Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1977/etats-unis-ouest/championnat.aspx United States West 1977 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 21 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 10px 1 ITA Ferrari 28 10px 2 CAN Wolf-Ford 19 10px 4 3 UK Lotus-Ford 13 10px 1 4 UK McLaren-Ford 9 10px 5 BRA 1968 Fittipaldi-Ford 8Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908–1977. B. T. Batsford. 0-7134-1263-1 Rob Walker (July, 1977). "2nd United States Grand Prix West: Patience At 11,000 RPM". Road & Track, 112–117. Gordon Kirby (April, 1997). "Proof of Concept". RACER, 68–103. Pete Lyons (April, 2002). "One Day At The Beach". RACER, 74–78. United States Grand Prix West 1977 1977 South African Grand Prix 1977 Spanish Grand Prix 1976 United States Grand Prix West 1978 United States Grand Prix West 1976 United States Grand Prix West 1978 United States Grand Prix West Grand Prix of Long Beach United States Grand Prix West Category:United States Grand Prix West Category:1977 in American motorsport United States Grand Prix West