With the east coast Watkins Glen track on the downslope after two fatalities in successive years and a politically charged 1975 event, the USGP West was created for the 1976 season on a tight circuit made up of city streets in Long Beach, California, located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area on the west coast. A Formula 5000 race was held there in 1975, and the US was just the second country (after Italy in 1957) to host two Championship F1 events in the same season. Southern California had seen a championship Formula One race before; the 1960 United States Grand Prix was held at the famed Riverside Raceway, which was just an hour's drive from Long Beach. Like most street circuits used in Formula One and other disciplines of motor racing, Long Beach gained a reputation for being a grueling race that was very punishing on the car and driver- typical of a city street circuit the race was an intense test of brakes, suspensions and transmissions. The circuit was an immediate success from its first race in 1976, and it became the U.S.'s answer to the Monaco Grand Prix – it was just as popular an event as the most important of Formula One Grand Prix races – and the typically sunny and excellent Southern California weather and the Monaco-esque Mediterranean climate there made for a very pleasant setting. The 1976 event was won by Swiss Clay Regazzoni in a Ferrari with his teammate Niki Lauda finishing 2nd and Patrick Depailler finishing 3rd while furiously charging through the field after an incident he had early in the race.