Awesome footage. Thanks for giving a native LB son a chance to see his city when F1 lit up the streets. Wish I was around to experience it first hand. Very cool.
Hi. I was there for this race in 1976 and a few others - I was only eight or nine at the time. Every year, my father managed to score seats right near the apex of Queen’s Hairpin which allowed us to witness the chaos that ensued every year at the start. The noise was phenomenal and you could smell the steel brakes cooking. I would wander about during the race but I was so short that I couldn’t see over the barriers! All I could see were the air boxes zipping by! NOTE: I’m also a SoCal native.
yes. don't know if i commented on this yet but I was also at this race. Dad and I were in the first set of bleachers coming down the hill on back straight from hairpin. Classic racing back then. Only F1 race I've ever been to. Races are way to expensive today.
And the Ligier was beautiful. I understand why people say it was ugly, because the aibox was oversized making the whole of the car less proportioned, but I find it lovely...
And the Sound was incredible..!! I was on the inside of the hairpin turn at the end of Shoreline Dr. Taking photos of the cars.. It was great.!! Vince R.
Chris Pook, at the time a travel agent, came up with the idea of a street race in Long Beach. God bless him for it!! I've been to every race, first as a corner worker, then as a spectator, and will be there again this year.
Great vid! Thanks for posting it. I was at this race. My buddy & I had seats about 2 turns past the bottom of the hill on Linden Ave. My 1st big road trip as a 19-yr-old race fan.
I love how they dance around down the really fast straights. I think it's because back then you never knew one of these things was just going to lift off on you? So these guys would just give it a little twitch all the time as they drove down the straights to make sure they still had traction?
love racing from the 70s.Look at the cars dance around under braking for the hairpin then the rear end powerslides out on acceleration.Todays cars look like they run in a slot cut in the track!
Does anyone remember what the ticket prices were? I was 14 at the time, I remember they sent out flyers for the race and I so wanted to go. Got my dad to take me.. got to the gate.. and the Irish in him came out when he saw the prices. He got pissed and left in a hurry! My god I was disappointed! I could hear the cars and as he stormed off, I was trying to peek through ever crack just get a glimpse.. just saw some flashes. Went to my 1st F1 race in 1990. Thanks for vid, saw it 36yrs later :)
Chris Pook and Dan Gurney was also a key organizer for Long Beach! Also sat at the bottom of the "Linden Leap" wow wish they would bring that back! LB lives on!
esta fue la ultima carrera en q se permitieron las tomas dinamicas por sobre el casco del piloto. En su apogeo las tomas llegaron a la altura de 1.5mts
Ugly? The Regazonni and Lauda's Ferrari is recognized as maybe the most beautiful GP Ferrari ever. The Shadow was incredibly cool. The McLaren and Lotus were in transition from their beauties in the early 70s, but come on, some of these cars are gorgeous and at least -- unlike the boring uniformity in today's design -- unique from one another. And I was at this race (in fact, I saw myself in the video) and yes, the sound was spectacular.
Great race. It's a bit of a shame that this race wasn't featured in Rush, but probably for good reason. It didn't help the Hunt-Lauda story much, and I can only imagine just how difficult (and expensive) it is to recreate street circuits in movies.
These cars had a great sound, but they're ugly as hell. Who ever came up with the idea of putting a GP in Long Beach California. I know it's turned out to be a success, first in F!, later in Indy Cars, but how'd they come up with the idea in the first place?
@@tundetheepic8631 I believe Chris Pook was English, so it took an English guy to come up with the idea of a GP at Long Beach, California. The footage here shows you don't necessarily need constant battles at the front of the field to make an entertaining race. Regazzoni runs away with it from the beginning, but the rest of the field stays close enough to each other for most of the race that we see a lot of good scraps deeper in the field. I remember Regazzoni as one of the few F1 drivers in the 70s to take a shot at the Indy 500.
excellent video
Awesome footage. Thanks for giving a native LB son a chance to see his city when F1 lit up the streets. Wish I was around to experience it first hand. Very cool.
Hi. I was there for this race in 1976 and a few others - I was only eight or nine at the time. Every year, my father managed to score seats right near the apex of Queen’s Hairpin which allowed us to witness the chaos that ensued every year at the start.
The noise was phenomenal and you could smell the steel brakes cooking. I would wander about during the race but I was so short that I couldn’t see over the barriers! All I could see were the air boxes zipping by!
NOTE: I’m also a SoCal native.
yes. don't know if i commented on this yet but I was also at this race. Dad and I were in the first set of bleachers coming down the hill on back straight from hairpin. Classic racing back then. Only F1 race I've ever been to. Races are way to expensive today.
very nice indeed
This is one of a kind footage. An exquisite find!
And the Ligier was beautiful. I understand why people say it was ugly, because the aibox was oversized making the whole of the car less proportioned, but I find it lovely...
And the Sound was incredible..!! I was on the inside of the hairpin turn at the end of Shoreline Dr. Taking photos of the cars.. It was great.!! Vince R.
Chris Pook, at the time a travel agent, came up with the idea of a street race in Long Beach. God bless him for it!! I've been to every race, first as a corner worker, then as a spectator, and will be there again this year.
Great vid! Thanks for posting it. I was at this race. My buddy & I had seats about 2 turns past the bottom of the hill on Linden Ave. My 1st big road trip as a 19-yr-old race fan.
I love how they dance around down the really fast straights. I think it's because back then you never knew one of these things was just going to lift off on you? So these guys would just give it a little twitch all the time as they drove down the straights to make sure they still had traction?
love racing from the 70s.Look at the cars dance around under braking for the hairpin then the rear end powerslides out on acceleration.Todays cars look like they run in a slot cut in the track!
Does anyone remember what the ticket prices were? I was 14 at the time, I remember they sent out flyers for the race and I so wanted to go. Got my dad to take me.. got to the gate.. and the Irish in him came out when he saw the prices. He got pissed and left in a hurry! My god I was disappointed! I could hear the cars and as he stormed off, I was trying to peek through ever crack just get a glimpse.. just saw some flashes. Went to my 1st F1 race in 1990. Thanks for vid, saw it 36yrs later :)
Grandstand seats on Shoreline were 20$. I think general admission was around 6$
What I find really interesting about this video is the amount of visible suspension movement there is in these pre-ground effect chassis.
Chris Pook and Dan Gurney was also a key organizer for Long Beach! Also sat at the bottom of the "Linden Leap" wow wish they would bring that back! LB lives on!
esta fue la ultima carrera en q se permitieron las tomas dinamicas por sobre el casco del piloto. En su apogeo las tomas llegaron a la altura de 1.5mts
why did they ban the high air boxes, they did make the cars look horrible especially the Ligier.
Ugly? The Regazonni and Lauda's Ferrari is recognized as maybe the most beautiful GP Ferrari ever. The Shadow was incredibly cool. The McLaren and Lotus were in transition from their beauties in the early 70s, but come on, some of these cars are gorgeous and at least -- unlike the boring uniformity in today's design -- unique from one another. And I was at this race (in fact, I saw myself in the video) and yes, the sound was spectacular.
I love those Tyrells. :D
Great race. It's a bit of a shame that this race wasn't featured in Rush, but probably for good reason. It didn't help the Hunt-Lauda story much, and I can only imagine just how difficult (and expensive) it is to recreate street circuits in movies.
Unusual to see a circuit with two really tight hairpins. BTW, how many people were hitching a ride on Regazzoni's Ferrari after the race? :-)
LOL that is hilarious! Thanks for the reply. I guess inflation is high, $20 = $1000 today.
These cars had a great sound, but they're ugly as hell. Who ever came up with the idea of putting a GP in Long Beach California. I know it's turned out to be a success, first in F!, later in Indy Cars, but how'd they come up with the idea in the first place?
idk but some guy called Chris Pook did it
@@tundetheepic8631
I believe Chris Pook was English, so it took an English guy to come up with the idea of a GP at Long Beach, California.
The footage here shows you don't necessarily need constant battles at the front of the field to make an entertaining race. Regazzoni runs away with it from the beginning, but the rest of the field stays close enough to each other for most of the race that we see a lot of good scraps deeper in the field. I remember Regazzoni as one of the few F1 drivers in the 70s to take a shot at the Indy 500.