The checkered history of the United States Grand Prix
27 April 2021
Bernard Cahier/Getty Images
When Miami holds its first Grand Prix in 2022, it will become the 11th U.S. venue to host Formula 1 racing since 1959. Promoted by Tom Garfinkel, CEO of the Miami Dolphins, the race will represent the return of motorsports’ highest echelon to Florida, where, at Hard Rock Stadium, the open-wheel cars will compete for the next ten years. (That’s one race a year for ten years, by the way, not one decade-long race.)
America’s Grand Prix history is as checkered as the flag that’s waved at the finish line, with some truly memorable races and others which the F1 overlords would probably prefer that we forgot. Let’s take a look.
Sebring, Florida
Although Riverside, California, hosted a 1958 race it dubbed “The United States Grand Prix,” it was a year later that Formula 1 first came to American shores as the final round of the 1959 World Championship. It was an eventful debut, with New Zealand’s Bruce McLaren taking victory in his Cooper T51 from Frenchman Maurice Trintignant by just six tenths of a second. At 22, McLaren became F1’s youngest winner; Jack Brabham ran out of fuel on the last lap, pushing his own Cooper across the line to secure the world championship.
Riverside, California
1960 saw Riverside host its first Grand Prix that actually featured Formula 1 cars—but not all of them. With the championship already won by Jack Brabham, Enzo Ferrari decided not to enter the race. Local hero Dan Gurney was favored to head the field but could only manage to qualify third behind Brabham and Stirling Moss. Brabham took an early lead but, fearing that he would run out of gas as he had done the previous year, he overfilled his fuel tanks, causing gas to slosh out onto the hot exhaust pipes. A flaming Cooper certainly excited the rather small 25,000-person crowd but meant Brabham had to pit. In the end, Moss comfortably clinched the win by some 38 seconds over Innes Ireland and Bruce McLaren, having lapped the rest of the field.
Watkins Glen, New York
Formula 1 found its home for almost 20 years at Watkins Glen, with the race running from 1961–80. The drivers loved it, with the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association voting the event the best-organized race of the season in 1965, 1970, and 1972. Fans enjoyed the theatrics of the lavender-suited starter “Tex” Hopkins who waved the stars and stripes, cigar clenched in his teeth, to commence racing. 1976 was perhaps Watkins Glen’s most memorable race with James Hunt reeling in Jody Scheckter to help clinch Hunt’s world championship victory. “The adrenalin was pumping, and it was the old calculated risk being run up the pole again,” describes Hunt in his 1977 book Against All Odds. “I had to get close and just drive on the ragged edge until I could get a passing opportunity. Finally, I was close enough at the chicane to suck out of his slipstream on the straight and then I was alongside him and away.”
Long Beach, California
The United States Grand Prix West was held in the shadow of the Queen Mary cruise ship around the docks of Long Beach between 1976 and 1983. Between 1980 and 1983, the U.S. held two races per year (and, in 1982, three), hence the “West” designation in the event’s title; Watkins Glen was “East.”
The Long Beach circuit was optimistically described as America’s Monaco, because it was narrow, tortuous, and framed by unforgiving concrete barriers. Despite its proximity to Hollywood, however, Long Beach wasn’t quite as glamorous as Monaco. 1980’s race proved just how tricky the track could be when Bruno Giacomelli spun his Alfa Romeo and caused absolute chaos as he reversed back onto the track. The ensuing traffic jam looked like it belonged on the nearby I405. Later in the race Clay Regazzoni lost his brakes at 180 mph at the end of the straight at Shoreline Drive. His Ensign ploughed into the previously-crashed Brabham of Ricardo Zunino and ricocheted into the tire barriers. Amazingly, Regazzoni survived, although he was paralyzed by the accident.
Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Having built a track and ramp for Evel Knievel to jump the casino’s famous fountain back in 1967, the owners of Caesar’s Palace decided they would go bigger and better for their next foray into motorsports. For two years (1981–82) Caesar’s car park became a Formula 1 circuit, but it was a gamble that didn’t pay off. Sand used for the run-off areas drifted across the track, making the surface ridiculously slippery, while the heat of the desert combined with the unusual counter-clockwise direction of the circuit to make it the most grueling of all F1 races. When Nelson Piquet struggled to a fifth-place finish to claim his world championship in 1981, he wound up with heat exhaustion. The crowds seemed to find the event tiresome, and final attendance wasn’t nearly enough to cover Caesar’s costs.
Detroit, Michigan
When downtown Detroit first became the setting for Formula 1 in 1982, it was the third American race of the season. The street circuit looped around GM’s Renaissance Center HQ, incorporating a tunnel (cue more Monaco references) and even a railway crossing. It quickly became known as a race of attrition, with survival being the main goal for most teams. By 1988, the race’s final year, conditions were so bad that the road surface was literally breaking up beneath the cars. It’s fair to say that the drivers were not sad to see Detroit removed from the Grand Prix calendar.
Dallas, Texas
Track disintegration was also a major feature in the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, held at Fair Park. It was an especially warm weekend and track temperatures reached 150 degrees Fahrenheit. It was so hot that the Williams team put together a special water-cooled cap for its drivers to wear under their helmets. The race was pretty action-packed, with the lead changing hands through tire-wear issues and driver errors. The chilled Rosberg eventually took glory. Despite the excitement, and with Larry Hagman starting the proceedings, the Dallas Grand Prix was a one-off, never to be repeated.
Phoenix, Arizona
First held in the heat of June in 1989, Phoenix’s F1 race was marked by a low turnout and a rather tedious track layout. To be fair, trying to create a challenging circuit based on streets laid out in a regulated grid system was never going to be easy, but the long straights and tight second-gear corners made the layout dull for the drivers. Despite this the 1990 race saw Ayrton Senna and Jean Alesi stage an epic battle for the lead that was voted by F1 fans on Twitter as their favorite U.S. Grand Prix.
Indianapolis, Indiana
After an eight-year break, Formula 1 returned to the United States and to the Brickyard itself. It was, unsurprisingly, popular with fans and over 225,000 people were said to have attended in 2000. The Grand Prix racers would only use about a mile of the famous banking, but even that proved too much in 2005; the Michelin tires couldn’t cope with the loads generated and seven teams were forced to withdraw from the race. With just six cars on track from three teams, the race itself was a joke. Despite the setback, the event carried on until 2007.
Austin, Texas
Since 2012 The Circuit of the Americas just outside Austin has been the home of the United States Grand Prix. The circuit was designed, like so many modern F1 tracks, by Herman Tilke and provides plenty of action both on and off track. 2016’s championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg was held in front of crowd of nearly 270,000—a turnout aided, no doubt, by a Taylor Swift gig over the weekend. What will Miami come up with to outdo Austin in 2022?
Courtesy of Hagerty