faulty shock absorber slowed Lauda, and he was caught by the group of cars he had left behind. Regazzoni pitted again, as the crew adjusted the rear anti-roll bar, but the Ferrari challenge was crumbling. When Lauda came in on lap 38, the crew discovered the offending shock absorber; when the Austrian also learned of his countryman's death, he gave up the chase. Insistent on fighting to the end, Scheckter continued to hold fourth, ahead of Fittipaldi, throwing the Tyrrell around in opposite lock slides, as the McLaren clung to his gearbox. On the 44th lap, Scheckter's engine suddenly lost fuel pressure when a feed pipe broke. He coasted to a stop as Fittipaldi slashed by, knowing that a second World Championship in three years was his. After the race, Scheckter admitted that he knew he was holding Fittipaldi up. "But I didn't think he should pass, although he was being pushed from behind by Arturo Merzario. He tried three times to outbrake me, but I wouldn't let him get away with it." With Scheckter out, McLaren also clinched its first Constructors' Championship, ten years after Bruce McLaren and Teddy Mayer had founded the team. At the front, Reutemann was in no trouble. Hunt, however, was struggling with fading brakes, and Pace, in third with the second works Brabham, was ready to pounce. When he saw his opportunity, he set the race's fastest lap just five laps from the finish, and on the next lap, he took second place from the ailing Hesketh of Hunt, completing a 1–2 for Brabham. The red and white uniforms of the McLaren crew mobbed the circuit to honor their World Champion, the Brabham team celebrated their victors, and the crowd – especially the Brazilians among them – poured over the fences and jammed the pit area. The win was the 100th for the Cosworth Ford engine in Formula One, but for the second year in a row at the Glen, it was tragically flawed by the death of a promising young driver. It was also the last US driving appearance of two-time World Champion and three-time USGP winner Graham Hill, who finished eighth in his own Embassy Hill Lola. Classification Qualifying *Positions with a pink background indicate drivers that failed to qualify — Dolhem was allowed to start at the back of the grid despite failing to qualify in the top 25 as "first