concrete canyons necessitated by the street layout, and seven cars failed to qualify. At the start, Regazzoni rocketed away and settled into the lead, ahead of Hunt, Depailler, and teammate Lauda. Exiting the first turn, Vittorio Brambilla squeezed Carlos Reutemann into the wall, putting both cars out. Then, on the curving back "straight" by the harbor, Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus broke its rear suspension and jerked hard into the wall at 160 miles per hour. He emerged with only a stiff neck. On lap four, Hunt was bearing down on Depailler for second place. He tried to slip inside the Tyrrell entering the right-hand hairpin just before the back straight, but Depailler closed the door, forcing Hunt to go around on the left. As they exited the corner side-by-side, Depailler moved across and pushed the McLaren into the barrier. Hunt yanked himself from his car, certain that it was undrivable, and shook his fist at Depailler each time the Frenchman came around. After the race, the McLaren mechanics came to retrieve the car and were able to drive it back to the pits! On the same lap, John Watson bumped Laffite's Ligier from behind, breaking the nose on his Penske. Laffite was spun around by the contact and dropped from eighth to fourteenth place. Meanwhile, Lauda made his way by Depailler on lap five and took second place, seven seconds behind Regazzoni, who was beginning to seem untouchable. Mario Andretti had moved from fifteenth on the grid to ninth in the Parnelli VPJ 4B-Ford, including the fastest lap to that point, but was finished when he lost the water in his engine (although he didn't actually stop until lap 15 when the engine had completely cooked). This would be the last race for the American Vel's-Parnelli car. Over three seasons, it competed in 16 races, with Mario the car's only driver. Upon retiring from the race in Long Beach, Andretti was approached by a television reporter in the pits, asking, "How about this being your last race in Formula One?" Andretti replied, "What are you talking about?" The reporter said, "That's what Vel (Miletich) told me." Andretti said, "It may have been his last Grand Prix, but it won't be mine." Andretti terminated his relationship with Miletich and Parnelli Jones that day, but the next morning, by accident, joined Lotus team manager Colin Chapman for breakfast in a Long Beach coffee