1977 United States Grand Prix West

1977 United States Grand Prix West
Race 4 of 17 in the 1977 Formula One season
Race details
Date	April 3, 1977
Official name	Long Beach Grand Prix
Location	Long Beach, California
Course	Temporary street course
Course length	3.251 km (2.02 miles)
Distance	80 laps, 260.08 km (161.60 miles)
Weather	Temperatures of 68 °F (20 °C); winds of 10.9 miles per hour (17.5 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time	1:21.650
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Time	1:22.753 on lap 62
Podium
First	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford
Second	Niki Lauda	Ferrari
Third	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1977 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Long Beach Grand Prix^[2]) 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.

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.^[3]

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.

"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.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	1:21.630
2	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus–Ford	+0.238
3	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf–Ford	+0.257
4	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	+0.630
5	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier–Matra	+0.666
6	7	John Watson	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+0.742
7	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi–Ford	+0.752
8	1	James Hunt	McLaren–Ford	+0.899
9	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske–Ford	+0.981
10	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell–Ford	+1.025
11	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees–Ford	+1.029
12	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell–Ford	+1.045
13	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign–Ford	+1.132
14	17	Alan Jones	Shadow–Ford	+1.426
15	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren–Ford	+1.601
16	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus–Ford	+1.754
17	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham–Alfa Romeo	+2.181
18	10	Brian Henton	March–Ford	+2.406
19	18	Hans Binder	Surtees–Ford	+2.543
20	16	Renzo Zorzi	Shadow–Ford	+2.727
21	30	Brett Lunger	March–Ford	+3.349
22	9	Alex Ribeiro	March–Ford	+3.450
Source:[4]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	80	1:51:35.470	2	9
2	11	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	80	+ 0.773	1	6
3	20	Jody Scheckter	Wolf-Ford	80	+ 4.857	3	4
4	4	Patrick Depailler	Tyrrell-Ford	80	+ 1:14.487	12	3
5	28	Emerson Fittipaldi	Fittipaldi-Ford	80	+ 1:20.908	7	2
6	34	Jean-Pierre Jarier	Penske-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	9	1
7	1	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	8
8	6	Gunnar Nilsson	Lotus-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	16
9	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Matra	78	Electrical	5
10	10	Brian Henton	March-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	18
11	18	Hans Binder	Surtees-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	19
Ret	3	Ronnie Peterson	Tyrrell-Ford	62	Fuel System	10
Ret	22	Clay Regazzoni	Ensign-Ford	57	Gearbox	13
Ret	8	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	53	Brakes	17
Ret	17	Alan Jones	Shadow-Ford	40	Gearbox	14
Ret	2	Jochen Mass	McLaren-Ford	39	Handling	15
DSQ	7	John Watson	Brabham-Alfa Romeo	33	Illegal Push Start	6
Ret	16	Renzo Zorzi	Shadow-Ford	27	Gearbox	20
Ret	9	Alex Ribeiro	March-Ford	15	Gearbox	22
Ret	12	Carlos Reutemann	Ferrari	5	Accident	4
Ret	30	Brett Lunger	March-Ford	4	Accident	21
Ret	19	Vittorio Brambilla	Surtees-Ford	0	Accident	11
Source:[5]

• This was the 50th Grand Prix start for Italian engine supplier Alfa Romeo.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jody Scheckter 19 2 Niki Lauda 19 3 Carlos Reutemann 13 4 Mario Andretti 11 5 James Hunt 9 Source:[6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 28 2 Wolf-Ford 19 3 Lotus-Ford 13 4 McLaren-Ford 9 5 Fittipaldi-Ford 8 Source:[6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908–1977. B. T. Batsford. ISBN 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.