When Fangio, Moss, Gurney and Hill all went head-to-head at Long Beach

F1

Historic race meetings packed with stars and cars are now relatively commonplace – but, in 1976, Long Beach was witness to a groundbreaking event

Moss and Fangio with a W196

Former Mercedes team-mates Moss and Fangio with a W196

Getty Images

These days the idea of racing heroes manning legendary motor sport machinery on hallowed asphalt is not a wholly uncommon sight.

Goodwood, Silverstone, Monterey and many other venues often play host to the great and even greater names of the racing world in a celebration of all that is fast and furious.

At Long Beach 1976 though, the idea was played out on a large scale for the very first time, on what have just may have been the greatest historic racing gathering of all – and all as a support for the ’76 Formula 1 race on the same weekend.

As Preston Lerner remembers in a fascinating feature for this month’s magazine, Fangio, Moss, Brabham, Gurney and many more joined to put some vintage competition metal through its paces on the gritty streets of Long Beach.

Moss with Ireland chatting and smiling

Moss with Ireland

Phil Reilly Collection, Larry Crane

12 drivers with 10 world drivers’ championships, 10 Monaco Grands Prix, six Le Mans 24 Hours and even an Indianapolis 500 between them gathered – even for today, this pedigree is hard to match at an historic motor sport event.

Bugatti mechanic Jim Stranberg told Lerner: “At that race, I met every hero I ever had – at least the ones who were still alive.”

From the archive

The event was masterminded by tour guide and motor sport entrepreneur Chris Pook, who first of all brought an F5000 street race to Long Beach for 1975, featuring Mario Andretti, Al Unser and Chris Amon before taking it up a gear with a world championship F1 meeting the next season.

Pook worried though that ‘just’ an F1 race on its own wouldn’t be enough to draw in a US audience so used to oval racing – and so started to call in the stars of the European circuit scene.

Associate Steve Earle, who also put on smaller scale historic events, began to lend a hand, as did Dan Gurney and Phil Hill, who were co-directors of the GP.

The line-up which was eventually secured was nothing short of stellar: as well as the two aforementioned US stars, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Rene Dreyfus, Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme, Carrol Shelby, Richie Ginther, Innes Ireland and Maurice Trintignant all lined up for a weekend’s historic action Long Beach.

Dan Gurney racing in the 1959 BRM P25

1959 BRM P25 driven by Gurney

Phil Reilly Collection, Larry Crane

The garage was no less impressive: Fangio was manning his legendary Mercedes W196, whilst also running would be Moss’s Maserati 250F, a 1932 Bugatti Type 51, a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, the Ferrari 375 used by Alberto Ascari at the 1952 Indy 500, a BRM P25 and a Cooper T51.

With practice sessions and then a demonstration race across the Friday and Saturday, fans were given plenty of time to take in the stars in their less-than-reasonably priced cars.

From the archive

“I’m sure there have never been as many international racing stars gathered together at one time,” Pook said. “That event alone would be worth the price of admission on Saturday.”

Friday practice was not without drama, as, understandably, some of the vintage machinery was a little reluctant to get going.

As detailed in the magazine, post-practice the drivers gathered for a meal at which Fangio, revered by even those sat around him, gave a toast.

“I looked around the room and everybody’s mouth kind of dropped open,” Earle says. “It wasn’t just humility. It was the way Fangio saw things. He was on a plane above everybody else.”

On ‘race day’ – the Saturday – drivers were supposed to set off in pairs as part of a demonstration run, though some took it more seriously than others.

Gurney floored it, Brabham cruised and Moss broke down – whilst Ireland decided to jump in with Dreyfus, describing it as a “seven-lap accident”.

Fangio found himself in mood on that day in Southern California, and mesmerising as he demonstrated the Silver Arrow, glinting in the sunlight, at some serious speed.

The event was described as a roaring success. On that momentous day in Long Beach, Preston Lerner believes motor sport might have witnessed its greatest day in historic racing.

Click here to read the full story.

Comments

Loading Comments