1978 United States Grand Prix West

The 1978 United States Grand Prix West, otherwise known as the 6th United States Grand Prix West, was the fourth race of the 1978 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged on the Long Beach Street Circuit on the 2 April 1978.'GRAND PRIX RESULTS: UNITED STATES GP, 1978', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr301.html, (Accessed 04/08/2018) The race, which required two separate qualifying sessions to set the grid, would see Gilles Villeneuve prove his raw talent, although it was his teammate that claimed victory.
Qualifying had seen Carlos Reutemann edge out his young Canadian teammate at the head of the field, with ex- driver Niki Lauda in third. Mario Andretti was next for ahead of John Watson and Alan Jones, while Riccardo Patrese beat Jody Scheckter to head the fourth row.
The start of the race would see an all Ferrari/ fight for the lead, with Watson making a superb start to skate inside Lauda and the Ferraris into the first corner. The Ulsterman's lunge would run both Lauda and Reutemann wide, allowing Villeneuve to sneak into the lead, with Watson ultimately having to settle for second. 
The top four would quickly disappear from the chasing pack led by Andretti, with Villeneuve leading from Watson, Lauda and Reutemann. They would continue to run nose-to-tail for some time, until Watson suffered an engine failure on lap ten.
That failure promoted Lauda into second, although he was unable to take his Ferrari replacement before his engine had a total electrical failure. Villeneuve was duly left with a small lead over Reutemann, while Jones had been promoted to a distant third after a long battle with Andretti.
Unfortunately for Villeneuve his hopes of a maiden win were ended just before half-distance, the Canadian crashing heavily while lapping Clay Regazzoni. Reutemann was therefore gifted the lead from Jones and Andretti, with the latter moving in to re-pass the as the laps ticked away.
Into the closing stages and Reutemann was cruising, for Andretti was simply unable to take enough time out of him to catch back up. Behind, Jones encountered a fuel pressure issue and dropped back, promoting Patrick Depailler into third ahead of Ronnie Peterson.
With that the race was run, with Reutemann easing home to claim another impressive victory for the Michelin shod Ferrari. Andretti was next ahead of Depailler, with Peterson, Jacques Laffite and Patrese completing the points, while Jones' afternoon saw him limp the Williams home in seventh.
==Background==
The city of Long Beach, California was fast becoming a familiar sight for Formula One, with the third United States Grand Prix West serving as the fourth round of the campaign.D.S.J., 'The United States Grand Prix West: Scratcher's Paradise', motorsportmagazine.com, (Motor Sport, 01/05/1978), https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-1978/84/united-states-grand-prix-west, (Accessed 04/08/2018) Indeed, the only real change to the circuit was the fact that the start/finish line had been moved a of the way around the circuit to Shoreline Boulevard. Timing and scoring was, however, still up the hill on Ocean Boulevard, meaning that the actual race distance would be about 80 laps.
Furthermore, the huge entry list, combined with the relatively short lap and narrow streets, meant that the FIA decided to restrict the grid to just 22 starters. In addition, it was decided that there could only be a maximum 26 cars on track at any one time, meaning a pre-qualifying session was scheduled for the eight "newest" entries. Those eight would fight for four slots in the official qualifying session, with a further four then missing out in qualifying.
Into the entry list itself and the favourites to make it through the pre-qualifying phase were the duo of Riccardo Patrese and Rolf Stommelen. In South Africa those two had shown that the new Milton Keynes squad were a force to be reckoned with, particularly given the experience of its founders. Indeed, the exact origin of Arrows' strong start was to be shown the moment arrived on circuit, unloading the first of their new DN9s.
The new Shadow, when stood next to the FA1, would look almost identical, the only real difference being the Arrow's golden livery compared to the Shadow's black-white coloration. In truth the DN9, despite only making its debut in Long Beach, had been designed by Tony Southgate before he left to join form Arrows, and had been in development since .D.S.J., 'Notes on the Cars at Long Beach', motorsportmagazine.com, (Motor Sport, 01/05/1978), https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-1978/39/notes-cars-long-beach, (Accessed 04/08/2018) Regardless, some minor development on the DN9 since then had made the car more reliable then when Southgate had overseen its development, with three examples produced ahead of the 1978 BRDC International Trophy.
However, only two of the DN9s would make it across the Atlantic, for Clay Regazzoni had had his example written off in an accident during the International Trophy race. That car had been intended to be delivered to American racers Interscope Racing, with Shadow forced to give them the newest of the DN9s for Danny Ongais to race. Regazzoni, meanwhile, was forced to use his old DN8 in Long Beach, while Hans-Joachim Stuck was given the development version of the new creation.
Joining Arrows, but not the two factory Shadows, in the pre-qualifying phase would be Ongais in his customer DN9, with the American racer one of a number of drivers to schedule a pre-race test at Willow Springs. He would be joined by the lone , this time piloted by Irish Formula Two runner Derek Daly, as well as Keke Rosberg in the . Arturo Merzario was also made to pre-qualify in his self-built car, as well as Brett Lunger and Héctor Rebaque in their customer and es respectively.
Elsewhere, arrived in California with a host of minor updates for their new BT46s, the most noticeable being re-arrangement of the radiators on the nose and front wing. The whole front end could also be raised or lowered with out adjusting the front suspension, allowing the team to fine-tune the angle of the nose as well as the front winglets. Both John Watson and Niki Lauda would test the updates ahead of the US race, with the spare car subsequently updated to the same spec.
 had also been busy reworking their 008s, although most of their efforts had gone on building a new car for Didier Pironi, as well as rebuilding the new spare after it was crashed by Patrick Depailler at Silverstone. , meanwhile, were unchanged, but decided not to waste their time with their customised gearbox, music to the ears of Ronnie Peterson. Instead, the Swede and teammate Mario Andretti would get a selection of variously tuned Cosworth DFV engines to run, with home hero Andretti getting first pick.
Over at there had been next to no change for James Hunt, while Patrick Tambay had had his nose reshaped to better cut through the air. , in contrast, had built a third version of their new 312T3, handed to Gilles Villeneuve, while Carlos Reutemann used the car he crashed at Kyalami. likewise arrived with a new car for the eponymous Emerson to race, as did , albeit with more bodywork and cooling updates for Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
 had been less active during the post-South Africa break, with Jean-Pierre Jarier and Jochen Mass using the exact same, modified, PC4s they had used all season. Likewise, had done little to Vittorio Brambilla and Rupert Keegan's cars, while their spare had yet to be assembled. , meanwhile, had two cars for Jody Scheckter to sample, still based on their original WR1 design, with Lamberto Leoni in a similar position at .
Jacques Laffite would continue to campaign the development version of the new Ligier JS9, with the Frenchman using his battle hardened JS7 as a spare. Completing the non-pre-qualifying entry would be Alan Jones in the , with the Australian racer getting a new chassis ahead of the fourth race of the season.
Into the Championship and despite failing to score in South Africa it was still Andretti whom led the Championship hunt, joined at the head of the field by race winning teammate Peterson. The Swede arrived a point behind his teammate, while also being point ahead of Depailler and Lauda, with Reutemann a further point back in fifth. Elsewhere, Watson had got onto the board in seventh ahead of Jones and Hunt, while Tambay had remained the final scorer having slipped to thirteenth in the table.
A second victory of the season for Team Lotus-Ford Cosworth at Kyalami had ensured that the Norfolk based squad had a small lead in the International Cup for Constructors table, leaving South Africa with a seven point advantage. Closest to them were Brabham-Alfa Romeo, having looked more competitive with their new car, while Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth were in third after a strong weekend. Ferrari had slipped to fourth ahead of Fittipaldi-Ford Cosworth, while Williams-Ford Cosworth found themselves level McLaren-Ford Cosworth in sixth.
===Entry list===
The full entry list for the is outlined below:
No. 	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor 	Chassis 	Engine 	Model 	Tyre
1 	Niki Lauda 	Parmalat Racing Team 	 	BT45C 	 	115-12 3.0 F12 	
2 	John Watson 	Parmalat Racing Team 	 	BT45C 	 	115-12 3.0 F12 	
3 	Didier Pironi 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	008 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
4 	Patrick Depailler 	Elf Team Tyrrell 	 	008 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
5 	Mario Andretti 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	78 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
6 	Ronnie Peterson 	John Player Team Lotus 	 	78 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
7 	James Hunt 	Marlboro Team McLaren 	 	M26 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
8 	Patrick Tambay 	Marlboro Team McLaren 	 	M26 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
9 	Jochen Mass 	ATS Racing Team 	 	HS1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
10 	Jean-Pierre Jarier 	ATS Racing Team 	 	HS1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
11 	Carlos Reutemann 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	312T2 	 	015 3.0 F12 	
12 	Gilles Villeneuve 	Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC 	 	312T2 	 	015 3.0 F12 	
14 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	Fittipaldi Automotive 	 	F5A 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
15 	Jean-Pierre Jabouille 	Equipe Renault Elf 	 	RS01 	 	EF1 1.5 V6t 	
16 	Hans-Joachim Stuck 	Shadow Racing Team 	 	DN9 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
17 	Clay Regazzoni 	Shadow Racing Team 	 	DN8 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
18 	Rupert Keegan 	Team Surtees 	 	TS19 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
19 	Vittorio Brambilla 	Beta Team Surtees 	 	TS19 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
20 	Jody Scheckter 	Walter Wolf Racing 	 	WR3 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
22 	Lamberto Leoni 	Team Tissot Ensign 	 	N177 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
24 	Derek Daly 	Olympus Cameras Hesketh Racing 	 	308E 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
25 	Héctor Rebaque 	Team Rebaque 	 	78 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
26 	Jacques Laffite 	Ligier Gitanes 	 	JS7/9 	 	MS76 3.0 V12 	
27 	Alan Jones 	Williams Grand Prix Engineering 	 	FW06 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
30 	Brett Lunger 	Liggett Group/BS Fabrications 	 	M26 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
32 	Keke Rosberg 	Theodore Racing Hong Kong 	 	TR1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
35 	Riccardo Patrese 	Arrows Racing Team 	 	FA1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
36 	Rolf Stommelen 	Arrows Racing Team 	 	FA1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
37 	Arturo Merzario 	Team Merzario 	 	A1 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
39 	Danny Ongais 	Interscope Racing 	 	DN9 	 	DFV 3.0 V8 	
Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
==Practice Overview==
==Qualifying==
Qualifying on the tight narrow streets of Long Beach would be a two phase affair, with a pre-qualifying session to be staged for the eight "newest" drivers. Four of those eight would then get to take part in the full practice/qualifying sessions, with two timed periods on Friday, immediately after pre-qualifying, before a final timed hour of running on Saturday afternoon, after a race-practice session. As for a target time the circuit record of 1:21.630, set by Niki Lauda in 1977 to claim pole, was expected to be bettered by the aces in the field.
===Pre-Qualifying Report===
The pre-qualifying session was scheduled for Friday morning, with the eight "rabbits" heading out to wake up the town of Long Beach at 8:00 am. The first full qualifying/practice session was scheduled to start directly afterwards, meaning all of their equipment was out in the pitlane as the "rabbits" hit the circuit.
There was little surprise that the two s topped the pre-qualifying, although there were some raised eyebrows in the fact that Rolf Stommelen had gone three tenths faster than teammate Riccardo Patrese. Arturo Merzario was third fastest and safely through, having set a quick time early, while Brett Lunger used his experience to get through in his privately run . Out therefore went Keke Rosberg (), Héctor Rebaque (privateer ), Danny Ongais (privateer ) and the debuting Derek Daly ().
====Pre-Qualifying Results====
The full pre-qualifying results for the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor	Time 	Gap
1 	36 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	1:23.540	—
2 	35 	Riccardo Patrese	 	1:23.840	+0.300s
3 	37 	Arturo Merzario 	 	1:24.729	+1.189s
4 	30 	Brett Lunger 	 	1:25.076	+1.536s
DNPQ* 	32 	Keke Rosberg 	 	1:25.785	+2.245s
DNPQ* 	25 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	1:26.128	+2.588s
DNPQ* 	39 	Danny Ongais 	 	1:26.150	+2.610s
DNPQ* 	24 	Derek Daly 	 	1:26.615	+3.075s
Source:	Source:	Source: 	Source: 	Source: 	Source:
** Rosberg, Rebaque, Ongais and Daly all failed to pre-qualify.
===Friday Qualifying===
After the pre-qualifiers had woken up Long Beach the real stars of F1 in hit the circuit, led out by the s and s. Another early starter would be Patrick Tambay, whom completed some install laps in the spare , before switching to his race car. That, however, did not go to plan, with Tambay spinning the spare and stalling on the circuit bringing out a brief stoppage as the new M26 was towed back to the pits.
It was also not a good start to the day for James Hunt in the sister car, with the Brit almost blowing up his engine as he completed a run with the blanks left in front of his radiators. Fortunately the Brit was able to rejoin after a top-up of water and a cool, only to slap the barriers as he rejoined. He hopped back to the pits to take over the spare car, which had just been restarted after Tambay's spin, with the Frenchman himself now running in his race car.
Elsewhere things were also not going to plan at , with Mario Andretti looking quick early on, only to blow up one of the development engines supplied to the team. He therefore had to switch to the spare, while teammate Ronnie Peterson was getting used to running the non-Lotus modified Hewland gearbox. Over at , meanwhile, Carlos Reutemann had to switch to his spare early on, a legacy of a gearbox issue in his race car, although both himself and teammate Gilles Villeneuve were given plenty of Michelin tyres to set the pace with.
Indeed, Reutemann, and the trouble free Lauda in the #1 Brabham, would dictate the pace, exchanging a series of quick laps to get into the 1:20.000s. The Argentine was the first to do so, and duly recorded a 1:20.636 to settle the issue, although by this stage there was chaos reigning in the timekeepers office. Indeed, the quick ramp-up in pace, combined with the relocation of the timing line, meant that the teams were not prepared to trust the official stop watch.
Furthermore the bumpy Long Beach circuit, combined with the number of 2nd gear corners, was causing a lot of minor issues, which added up across the field to cause some severe failures. Indeed, Hans-Joachim Stuck would end the session with a totalled gearbox in his , while Patrese in the "cousin" was destroying his drivetrain faster than the Milton Keynes squad could repair it. Elsewhere the two s shook themselves to pieces, Jean-Pierre Jarier smacked the wall, causing Jacques Laffite to spin into the barriers in avoidance, with everyone else inspecting wear and tear to their driveshafts.
The afternoon run on Friday was nothing short of shambles on the timekeeping side, with no clear indication of the ultimate pace at all. Indeed, several published timesheets were required before the officials decided to simply publish a combined list of times from the afternoon and morning sessions to appease the teams. Furthermore the non-pre-qualifiers appealed to the officials, and their fellow entrants, to get the pre-qualifying times deleted, although there was near-universal agreement that those times were accurate.
On track, meanwhile, it seemed as if McLaren were finally up to speed, although the spare car was still being piloted by Hunt, his race car having had more damage than initially believed. Another promising performance was being put in by Alan Jones in the , the Australian racer deciding that the new car was far more worthy of his attentions than his old FW06. Gilles Villeneuve was also looking quick, getting on terms with Andretti at the top of the charts, although no-one was thought to have matched Reutemann's morning pace.
In terms of the stragglers, were having their familiar struggle with their turbocharger which was, unsurprisingly, not enjoying getting bounced about on the city bumps. Pre-qualifiers Lunger and Merzario, meanwhile, were running quicker than they had done in their early-morning run-out, but were unable to get into the fastest 22. The session would then come to a very smokey conclusion, with Peterson suffering a huge engine failure in his Lotus, with bits of Cosworth DFV flung across the city streets.
===Saturday Qualifying===
Friday night would be a busy one in the pits, with almost every car in the field rebuilt after being shaken apart during Friday's running. That fact would not, however, prevent the teams from ignoring the intended aims of the "untimed" session on Saturday morning, with everyone pushing as hard as they could. There were a large number of incidents as a result, the most notable being Rupert Keegan destroying his in the final moments of the session, with Hans-Joachim Stuck having his own accident while trying to avoid him.
Stuck would miss the final qualifying session, while Keegan was given the spare Surtees to try and scrape through, only to destroy that on his first flying lap. Their mishaps were not, however, as significant as the fact that the timekeepers still had not managed to solve the issues they had had since midday on Friday. Indeed, their solution was to simply disregard any time that was not an improvement on a driver's best from Friday, although this was not made known until they published the final results at the end of the day.
Regardless, it was still Reutemann whom would top the timesheets at the end of the session, the Argentine grabbing pole despite failing to beat his Friday effort. His teammate Villeneuve therefore dictated the pace on Saturday, and duly joined his teammate in the 1:20.000s, getting ahead of Lauda. Elsewhere the Renault of Jean-Pierre Jabouille was impressive, so long as it was going in a straight line, with its V6t engine the only unit capable of matching the outright speed of the V12s in the back of the s in the speed trap.
At the back, meanwhile, both Patrese and Stommelen would make the cut for the race with relative ease, while Merzario and Lunger both failed to improve enough to join them. Keegan, meanwhile, had done enough to take the final grid slot in 22nd, but with two Surtees destroyed, and teammate Vittorio Brambilla's requiring a rebuild after his own accident on Saturday, the Brit would not be able to join the grid. Stuck should have inherited the spot, but simply could not rebuild the German's new DN9, hence the final grid slot fell to Didier Pironi, whom looked to have dropped out of qualifying after having an accident early on in the final session.
===Qualifying Results===
The full qualifying results for the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor 	Time 	Time 	Gap
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor 	Q1* 	Q2 	Gap
1 	11 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	1:20.636 	— 	—
2 	12 	Gilles Villeneuve 	 	1:22.113 	1:20.836 	+0.200s
3 	1 	Niki Lauda 	 	1:22.327 	1:20.937 	+0.301s
4 	5 	Mario Andretti 	 	1:22.141 	1:21.188 	+0.552s
5 	2 	John Watson 	 	1:22.830 	1:21.244 	+0.608s
6 	6 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	1:22.890 	1:21.474 	+0.838s
7 	7 	James Hunt 	 	1:22.358 	1:21.738 	+1.102s
8 	27 	Alan Jones 	 	1:22.750 	1:21.935 	+1.299s
9 	35 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	1:23.061 	1:22.006 	+1.370s
10 	20 	Jody Scheckter 	 	1:22.740 	1:22.163 	+1.527s
11 	8 	Patrick Tambay 	 	1:23.691 	1:22.234 	+1.598s
12 	4 	Patrick Depailler 	 	1:22.790 	1:22.414 	+1.778s
13 	15 	Jean-Pierre Jabouille 	 	1:25.191 	1:22.491 	+1.855s
14 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	1:22.963 	1:22.630 	+1.994s
15 	14 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	1:23.313 	1:22.790 	+2.154s
16 	9 	Jochen Mass 	 	1:23.990 	1:23.106 	+2.470s
17 	19 	Vittorio Brambilla 	 	1:23.675 	1:23.212 	+2.576s
18 	36 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	1:23.540 	1:23.291 	+2.655s
19 	10 	Jean-Pierre Jarier 	 	1:23.870 	1:23.419 	+2.783s
20 	17 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	1:23.505 	1:23.454 	+2.818s
21 	37 	Arturo Merzario 	 	1:24.217 	1:23.589 	+2.953s
22† 	18 	Rupert Keegan 	 	1:23.677 	— 	+3.041s
23† 	16 	Hans-Joachim Stuck 	 	1:23.733 	— 	+3.097s
DNQ‡ 	3 	Didier Pironi 	 	1:23.792 	— 	+3.156s
DNQ 	30 	Brett Lunger 	 	1:24.344 	1:23.795 	+3.159s
DNQ 	22 	Lamberto Leoni 	 	1:25.906 	1:24.008 	+3.372s
DNPQ 	32 	Keke Rosberg 	 	1:25.785 	1:25.785 	1:25.785
DNPQ 	25 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	1:26.128 	1:26.128 	1:26.128
DNPQ 	39 	Danny Ongais 	 	1:26.150 	1:26.150 	1:26.150
DNPQ 	24 	Derek Daly 	 	1:26.615 	1:26.615 	1:26.615
Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)	Source:'USA West 1978: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/08/2018)
** An issue with the timing/scoring during the Friday afternoon session meant the times from that and the morning session were combined.
*† Keegan and Stuck were unable to start the race due to accidents during qualifying.
*‡ Pironi failed to qualify but was allowed to start due to Keegan and Stuck's accidents.
===Grid===
==Race==
75,000 people gathered around the Long Beach Street Circuit ahead of the race, with a large, uncounted, population lining the roofs of the buildings around the 2.02 mile circuit. Regardless, there were no concerns ahead of the race, with pre-race warm-up passing without any major issues. Indeed, the only confusion ahead of the start would be the parade lap, with the cars starting off on Shoreline Drive, with the start line, stopping on Ocean Boulevard at the finish line, before resuming in grid formation around to Shoreline Drive to make the start.
===Report===
There would be the briefest of pauses on Shoreline Boulevard before the field were released, with Carlos Reutemann managing to hold the lead from pole. That was, until John Watson went skating inside the as the leaders hit the brakes to take Queen's hairpin for the first time, forcing Reutemann to run wide as the Ulsterman slid past the apex. Niki Lauda would also be forced out wide, having been on the opposite side of the #11 Ferrari, while Gilles Villeneuve, having been sat right behind the trio, was able so slip into the lead on the exit as Watson tried to gather himself back up.
As the Italian engined cars tripped over each other at the front of the field, Alan Jones shot to the head of contingent in the , only to get put back in his place by Mario Andretti into the first corner. The rest of the first third of a lap was undramatic, with the field flying past the finish line in a long crocodile, although with still an entire tour of the circuit still to complete before the first lap was officially over. Regardless, the first visit to the Le Gasomet hairpin would not go so well, with Jean-Pierre Jarier and Arturo Merzario smacking into one-another to leave both limping back to the pits for repairs.
The rest of the opening lap and a third passed without issue, with Villeneuve establishing a small lead over Watson, with Reutemann and Lauda hoping to pay the Ulsterman back for running them wide. Home hero Andretti was next, still being bugged by Jones, while Ronnie Peterson was fighting with James Hunt after both being stung by the Williams off the line. Jody Scheckter then led the rest of the field across the line, with Riccardo Patrese in the middle of said pack with a bent front wing, a legacy of making a poor start.
The early stages would see Villeneuve establish himself in the lead, inching away from Watson, while Lauda sent his Brabham scything past Reutemann to claim third into Queens. Behind them would remain Andretti and Jones, while Hunt disappeared early on when he misjudged his entry into one of the tighter corners, clipped the inside wall, and spun into retirement. He was soon joined on the sidelines by Watson, whose V12 managed to destroy its oil tank, while Jochen Mass dropped out with a brake failure in his .
Watson's disappearance promoted Lauda into second, although Villeneuve did not seem too worries about the fact that the defending World Champion was on his tail. Indeed, the Austrian ace was instead having to worry about retribution from Reutemann, for Andretti, Jones and Peterson were quietly slipping away as best of the Cosworth contingent. Another gap followed before the next group flashed past, headed by Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter.
As the laps ticked away Jones became more aggressive in his attempts to take Andretti, and duly slithered past the on lap nineteen at the second hairpin. The Australian racer duly dragged the naturalised American onto the back of Reutemann, who was now stuck behind Lauda in second. Indeed, it seemed as if Lauda had no answer to Villenueve out front, with the Canadian youngster continuing to gap his more experienced rivals behind.
Villeneuve's lead was made all the more secure when Lauda's car suddenly drifted to a silent stop down Shoreline Drive, an ignition failure causing his engine to cut out. Reutemann was therefore gifted a now lonely second, Jones and Andretti still not back on terms with the Argentine, with the rest of the field divided into small, but rather unexciting, groups. It seemed as if the Canadian racer was set for a dominant victory well before the half-distance mark, although that would soon change.
Indeed, as the half-distance mark loomed Villeneuve made his first mistake, getting out of shape through the esses on Pine Avenue, before trying to lunge his Ferrari inside the lapped Clay Regazzoni into the following corner. Unfortunately, the #12 Ferrari smacked a kerb, which duly flicked the Canadian into the side of the mid-turn, pitching Villeneuve into a spin. The Ferrari went sliding across the nose of Regazzoni on two wheels, before smashing into the barriers backwards to end Villeneuve's hopes of a maiden victory.
Reutemann duly inherited the lead, with Jones now a clear second as Andretti hit tyre trouble. Depailler was next as Peterson had dropped back down the field with his own Goodyear related issues, with Scheckter trying hard to pass his former teammate. Jacques Laffite was next ahead of Patrese's blunted Arrows, while the V6t was out just after half-distance with its usual turbo failure.
Jones now became the star of the race, steadily creeping closer to Reutemann's Ferrari to keep the Argentine ace looking in his mirrors rather than the track ahead. However, it seemed as if Jones' pressure was actually having more of an effect on his Williams, for a structural failure of his nose section had caused the front wing endplates to scrape the ground. Fortunately, the issue did not develop any further meaning Jones, who could neither see nor feel any real difference, continued to harass the Ferrari ahead with the same vigour as ever.
As the race wore on it seemed that fatigue, both mechanical and physical, was becoming a factor, highlighted by Patrese as he misjudged his entry into a corner and smashed a wheel rim, forcing him to limp into the pits and drop out of the points. Jones also seemed to be tiring, the Williams finally beginning to drift away from Reutemann and back towards Andretti, although the Australian racer's engine was the real source of his loss of pace. Elsewhere Patrick Tambay was reeling in Scheckter as the became more jittery on the throttle, contemplating how to make a move as the laps ticked away. 
Ultimately, Tambay would make his bid for fifth on lap 60, sending his inside the Wolf into Queens having sold Scheckter a dummy on the brakes. Yet, Scheckter still decided to take the racing line, and duly smacked drove into the Frenchman's car, breaking his own rear corner. The Wolf was out on the spot, while Tambay continued with his steering and suspension slightly buckled but otherwise fine.
As their fight resolved itself Andretti pulled into striking distance of Jones, and duly sent the home crowd into rapture by surging past the Williams down Shoreline Drive on lap 63. That seemed to have an affect on Reutemann, for the Argentine sent himself into a pirouette exiting Le Gasomet a few moments later, but fortunately emerged from the tyre smoke pointing in the right direction, and with a perfectly healthy car. The Argentine then blasted off to try and rebuild the damage done to his lead, for the gap between himself and Andretti had suddenly halved.
Jones, meanwhile, was losing more and more pace as his Cosworth engine faltered, the V8 unit being starved of fuel due to a pick-up issue. Depailler and a recovering Peterson were first to flash past, before Tambay and Laffite charged past in the closing stages. In the space of a few laps Jones had gone from a safe second to a solitary seventh, and soon to be eighth, with any hopes of scoring points now resting on the others ahead falling over one another.
That would, ultimately, be the fate of Tambay, whom found himself under attack from Laffite in the as the former's steering problems grew. Indeed a lunge by the #26 Ligier into Queens with four laps to go saw Tambay just fend him off, before Laffite tried again on the following lap. This time, however, Laffite misjudged his braking and slid into the side of the McLaren, bouncing up over the wheels before crashing down on Tambay's front wing, destroying the front section of his compatriot's car.
Tambay was out on the spot, although Jones' renewed hopes of a point were snatched away by Patrese in the final moments as the Italian recovered to sixth. Out front, meanwhile, Reutemann completed a faultless final quarter of the race to claim another impressive victory, with Andretti slipping over ten second back in second at the chequered flag. Depailler found himself a surprise third having nursed his Tyrrell around for almost the entire race distance, with Peterson and Laffite the last of those on the lead lap.
===Results===
The full race results for the are outlined below:
Pos. 	No. 	Driver 	Constructor	Laps 	Time/Retired	Grid 	Points
1 	11 	Carlos Reutemann 	 	80 	1:52:01.301 	1 	9
2 	5 	Mario Andretti 	 	80 	+11.061s 	4 	6
3 	4 	Patrick Depailler 	 	80 	+28.951s 	12 	4
4 	6 	Ronnie Peterson 	 	80 	+45.603s 	6 	3
5 	26 	Jacques Laffite 	 	80 	+1:22.884 	14 	2
6 	35 	Riccardo Patrese 	 	79 	+1 Lap 	9 	1
7 	27 	Alan Jones 	 	79 	+1 Lap 	8 	
8 	14 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	 	79 	+1 Lap 	15 	
9 	36 	Rolf Stommelen 	 	79 	+1 Lap 	18 	
10 	17 	Clay Regazzoni 	 	79 	+1 Lap 	20 	
11 	10 	Jean-Pierre Jarier 	 	75 	+5 Laps 	19 	
12 	8 	Patrick Tambay 	 	74 	Accident 	11 	
Ret 	20 	Jody Scheckter 	 	59 	Accident 	10 	
Ret 	19 	Vittorio Brambilla 	 	50 	Transmission	17 	
Ret 	15 	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	 	43 	Turbo 	13 	
Ret 	12 	Gilles Villeneuve 	 	38 	Accident 	2 	
Ret 	1 	Niki Lauda 	 	27 	Ignition 	3 	
Ret 	3 	Didier Pironi 	 	25 	Gearbox 	22 	
Ret 	37 	Arturo Merzario 	 	17 	Gearbox 	21 	
Ret 	9 	Jochen Mass 	 	11 	Brakes 	16 	
Ret 	2 	John Watson 	 	9 	Gearbox 	5 	
Ret 	7 	James Hunt 	 	5 	Accident 	7 	
DNS* 	18 	Rupert Keegan 	 	 	 	 	
DNS* 	16 	Hans-Joachim Stuck 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	30 	Brett Lunger 	 	 	 	 	
DNQ 	22 	Lamberto Leoni 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	32 	Keke Rosberg 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	25 	Héctor Rebaque 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	39 	Danny Ongais 	 	 	 	 	
DNPQ 	24 	Derek Daly 	 	 	 	 	
Source:	Source:	Source: 	Source: 	Source:	Source: 	Source:	Source:
** Keegan and Stuck were both unable to start due to accidents in practice/qualifying.
==Milestones==
* started their 150th race as an engine supplier.'4, USA West 1978', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), http://www.statsf1.com/en/1978/etats-unis-ouest.aspx, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
* Michelin made their tenth entry as a tyre supplier.'1978 US West GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2017), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1978&gp=US%20West%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
* Arturo Merzario started his 50th Grand Prix.
* Héctor Rebaque and Jean-Pierre Jabouille made their tenth Grand Prix entries.
* Maiden entry for Derek Daly.
* Carlos Reutemann claimed his third pole position.
** This was also the first pole set using Michelin tyres.
* Seventh career victory for Reutemann.
* secured their seventieth victory as both a constructor and engine supplier.
* Riccardo Patrese scored the first World Championship point for as a constructor.
* Maiden fastest lap recorded by Alan Jones.
** This was also the first for as a constructor since the split with Walter Wolf Racing.
** Also the 100th FL recorded by a Ford Cosworth engine.
==Standings==
Carlos Reutemann moved to the top of the World Championship standings after his second victory of the season, level on points with Mario Andretti but ahead of count-back. Ronnie Peterson was next ahead of Patrick Depailler, while Niki Lauda had slipped back down to fifth. Elsewhere, James Hunt was on the verge of slipping out of the top ten already, while Riccardo Patrese was on the board for the first time, ahead of Patrick Tambay.
In the International Cup for Constructors it was still who led the title hunt, the Norfolk squad leaving Long Beach with a nine point lead. were now their closest challengers ahead of , while slipped to fourth. Behind, moved ahead of and , while were on the board, just a point behind their pseudo-rivals .
 
Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship
Pos. 	Driver 	Pts. 	+/-
1 	Carlos Reutemann 	18 	4
2 	Mario Andretti 	18 	1
3 	Ronnie Peterson 	14 	1
4 	Patrick Depailler 	14 	
5 	Niki Lauda 	10 	2
6 	Emerson Fittipaldi 	6 	
7 	John Watson 	4 	
8 	Jacques Laffite 	4 	2
9 	Alan Jones 	3 	1
10 	James Hunt 	3 	1
11 	Clay Regazzoni 	2 	
12 	Didier Pironi 	2 	
13 	Riccardo Patrese 	1 	5
14 	Patrick Tambay 	1 	1
International Cup for Constructors	International Cup for Constructors	International Cup for Constructors	International Cup for Constructors
Pos. 	Team 	Pts. 	+/-
1 	 	27 	
2 	 	18 	2
3 	 	15 	
4 	 	14 	2
5 	 	6 	
6 	 	3 	2
7 	 	3 	1
8 	 	3 	1
9 	 	2 	
10 	 	1 	1
==References==
Images and Videos:
* F1-history, '1978 United States Grand Prix West Start', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 02/09/2013), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/1978-United-States-Grand-Prix-West-Start-397577809, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
* F1-history, '1978 United States Grand Prix West', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 02/09/2013), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/1978-United-States-Grand-Prix-West-397579629, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
* F1-history, 'Patrick Depailler (United States 1978)', deviantart.com, (DeviantArt, 14/02/2013), https://www.deviantart.com/f1-history/art/Patrick-Depailler-United-States-1978-354293907, (Accessed 04/08/2018)
References:
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1978 Grands Prix
Category:United States Grand Prix West
Category:Formula One races in the United States