shop, where the two forged an agreement. By the next season, with Andretti driving Chapman's revolutionary Lotus 78, the two were winning races together and, of course, in 1978, captured the World Championship. At about the same time as Andretti's retirement from the race, Depailler spun and dropped from third to seventh, and after 20 laps, Regazzoni led by 13 seconds over Lauda, Jody Scheckter and Tom Pryce in the Shadow. Depailler, furious over his mistake, was storming back up the line as he got by Jean-Pierre Jarier and Ronnie Peterson within six laps. When Pryce broke a driveshaft on lap 33 and Scheckter had a front wishbone snap on lap 34, Depailler was back in third place, behind the two Ferraris. After his incident with Watson, Laffite had driven brilliantly in just the third race for the new Matra-powered Ligier. He passed Jochen Mass on lap 45, and Jarier on lap 46 to take over fourth place. With 20 laps to go, Lauda was having trouble selecting gears and decided to try to nurse the car home rather than make a run at Regazzoni. Jarier had dropped to sixth behind Mass, also with gearbox trouble. Then, on the next to last lap, with only first and fifth gears left, he was also overtaken by Fittipaldi, who scored the first Championship point for his own Copersucar team. Regazzoni took an easy win, the fourth of his career, completing the Grand Chelem of pole position, fastest lap, victory, and leading every lap. Lauda successfully brought his ailing car home second, 42 seconds back, and Depailler completed a fine recovery from his spin by taking third. The first USGP West was a success. Indeed, former team manager Rob Walker said, "I think the creation of the Long Beach GP was the greatest achievement in motor racing this decade." Classification Qualifying *Drivers in red failed to qualify Race Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Constructors' Championship standings Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Further reading Doug Nye (1978). The United States Grand Prix and Grand Prize Races, 1908-1977. B. T. Batsford. Rob Walker (July, 1976). "1st United States Grand Prix West: Regga Runs Away". Road & Track, 78-82. United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West United States Grand Prix West