Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

40 years and counting

For 40 years racing has taken place on the streets of Long Beach, first with Formula 5000 (1975) and then F1 (1976 to 1983) before IndyCar (1984 to present). This Saturday, the Long Beach sPrix takes electric racing to California for the first time. In this photo, at the start of the 1978 US Grand Prix West, the Brabham-Alfa Romeo's of John Watson and Niki Lauda are vying for first place with the Ferrari's of Gilles Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann. The latter will have the last word.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.