At first, a small group of famous drivers gathered for the cameras; Moss, Fangio, Dreyfus, Hill and Gurney.
Here is Dale LaFollette’s version of Heroes at the Long Beach Grand Prix of 1976. Please also read Larry Crane’s version (click here). Note the two photographers did not know each other at the time and didn’t know one was shooting the same scene from a different angle.–Ed.
Story and photos by Dale LaFollette
My May issue of MotorSport magazine arrived some time ago and as I thumbed through it, memories came flooding back as there was a story about a historic race in 1976 that I was quite familiar with.
In 1976, my closest friend Frank Fitch and I decided we needed to be at the first Long Beach Grand Prix, scheduled for March 28th. Frank was a service engineer for Mazda and a Formula B racer whose financial obligations had halted his racing program. I was three years into a career as manager of Portland International Raceway and I wanted to see how the folks in Long Beach would transform city streets into a racetrack overnight. Frank just wanted to see the race.