| Gallery One F1 -'72 to '86 |
| Gallery Two F1 -2000 to '06 |
| Gallery Three - Non F1 |
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Thoughts on the 1973 United States Grand Prix Part One: An Overview of the 1973 Formula One Season Part Two: Watkins Glen Part Three: The 1973 USGP at Watkins Glen: The Numbers Game Part Four: My Photographs…….What is There…and What Isn’t The 1973 season had 15 Grand Prix’s compared to only the 12 for the 1972 season. The new races were in Brazil (Interlagos), Sweden (Anderstop), and Austria (Osterreichring). Also new for the season was the UOP Shadow Formula One Team. This team was run by the American Don Nichols with sponsorship by Universal Oil Products. Shadow had (and would continue to do so) been in the CanAm Challenge and despite Dan Gurney’s earlier foray into F1, Shadow represented the real American attempt to achieve something in Formula 1. With the entrance of Shadow, we see a well developed structure backed by a major sponsor and run in an “American” way. Doesn’t quite work out as the team lasts for only 7 1/2 years with only one victory to its credit…….. Part Two: Watkins Glen Watkins Glen is located in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York. The circuit was enlarges for the 1971 GP and now is 3.377 in length….the track was also widened to 24 feet across. The event is always well organized and the autumn coloring is spectacular. What the F1 teams REALLY like about the race is the large crowd (between 100,000 and 150,000 every year) and very large prize fund. Every year the USGP has the biggest pay-out of all the F1 races, and the pay-out for 1973 was $300,000. The Kendall Garage (which houses all the F1 teams) had a “spectators lane” running through the middle of it that allowed us fans a chance to watch the cars being worked on at any time of the day without getting in the way of the mechanics……cool. Since this would be my wife’s (Patty) first GP, I decided to treat her (and moi) by buying a Pit Roof Seat. These cost $100 each for the weekend instead of the typical $25 for a normal weekend pass. Our seats were in the first row over the Tyrrell and March Pits…… I only walked a little bit around the circuit on Friday and spent all of Saturday and Sunday “cemented” to this spot. We were here when Cevert was killed…. Part Three: The 1973 United States Grand Prix…….. the Numbers Game…… 1: The race was held on October 7, 1973 2: On Pole: Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72/E 1:39.657 The grid this year is now 2 by 2. Second on the grid was Reutemann in a Brabham. 3: The Winner was Ronnie Peterson… flag to flag 4: The other points positions were… 2nd: James Hunt March –Ford 3rd: Carlos Reutemann Brabham-Ford 4th: Denny Hulme McLaren-Ford 5th: Peter Revson McLaren-Ford 6th: E. Fittipaldi Lotus-Ford As mentioned earlier, because of the purchase of “expensive” seats you will notice that most of the photos were taken from the same vantage point. That being said, it was pretty neat to be over the pits for most of the weekend. The weekend was chilly…. Friday was sunny but race day was dark and there was a threat of rain showers. The race was set to go off at 3:00Pm and that it did. James Hunt in the Hesketh March 731 was the surprise of the weekend. He passed Lole on the 3rd lap and ran nose to tail with Ronnie to the end, though he never was a threat to actually pass “Super Swede”. Patty and I left for the Glen late Wednesday evening. We stayed in a B&B, which was nice and cozy. When we got home late Sunday night, we found out that the world had changed. The Yom Kippur War had started….and in the next few weeks the USA and the USSR would be facing a confrontation and our good friends the Saudi’s would turn off the oil spigot and start the Oil Embargo…… And F1 was entering into a period of change as well…….. JYS retires and Tyrrell goes with a “youth movement” and signs Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler for 1974. Ferrari brings back Clay Reggazoni and signs Niki Lauda…. Plus abandons the Prototype Series and concentrates on F1. Emerson Fittipaldi is tired of Ronnie being faster than him and switches to McLaren,,, and brings Texaco sponsorship from Lotus with him. About the pics…… McLaren raced 3 cars at the Glen. Jody Scheckter drove the 3rd team car with Denny Hulme and Peter Revson in their usual mounts. Pictures include a shot of Denny Hulme ( nicknamed the “Bear”) with Jody in the car behind his in the pits.. Jody was called “Baby Bear”.
Denny finished 4th in the race..his picture was taken on Friday.
I have 2 pics of Jody…on Friday afternoon and the other during the race…Jody was a DNF.
Peter Revson was Patty’s favorite driver. Here are pics of Peter in the pits and another with Mclaren boss Teddy Mayer. Revson finished in 5th place on Sunday.
Arturo Merzario at speed with the Ferrari….. during the race Art lost his front wing so the team took off his rear wing as well….. he finished 16th and 4 laps down to Ronnie.
BRM team… ran 3 drivers which was the usual for them…. JP Beltoise, Clay Reggazoni, and Niki Lauda. Here are pics of all 3.
Frank Williams who will find success in much later years ran the Iso Marlboro’s. Howden Ganley came in 12th and the great Jacky Ickx raced this one time for Frank…..he finished a fine 7th.
March had a number of drivers…. J-P Jarier in the works team…. Here he is in the pits, in the office, and at speed…. Look at his right rear wheel….. ouch!
Mike Beuttler ran a non-works March for the season…….this pic was taken on Friday.
James Hunt was one of the 2 stars of the weekend…. James shocked everybody by finishing 2nd. Here are pics of him on the grid, alone in the pits, and being interviewed on the podium by Chris Economaki.
Brabham also had 3 drivers…… Lole finished 3rd in the race….. here he is on the grid with Ronnie and at speed on the main straight.
Wilson Fittipaldi at least finished the race but 7 laps behind Ronnie.
Here are 3 picks of John Watson….. in the Kendall Garage just after Cevert’s fatal crash, driving down the pit lane, and at speed…he was a DNF for the race.
Team Surtees were non-factors this weekend… Carlos Pace sitting in the pits and also at speed on the track. Jochen Mass was the other driver…here he is at speed….both were DNF’s.
Chris Amon is seen here in the 3rd Tyrrell…the team withdrew after Cevert’s fatal crash.
A number of pics of JYS…. In conversation with designer Derek Gardner with Amon behind them, JYS at a happier time in the pits and coming in after Cevert’s crash. The pic of JYS on the track was taken on Friday.
Team Lotus….. Emmo’s pics…. Emmo listening to Peter Warr shouting instructions, Emmo coming down pit lane, Emmo in the car, and Emmo earning 6th place on Sunday.
Ronnie Peterson (one of my favorites)……. Ronnie preparing to go out with Chapman walking by, Ronnie on Friday, Ronnie on pole with a stop watch put on him, Ronnie on his way to victory, and finally, Ronnie just beginning to celebrate on the podium, with Lord Hesketh, Ronnie’s wife Barbo, and Colin Chapman ducking out before he gets soaked….
The Americans….. The UOP Shadows….. a look into the office, Jackie Oliver on Friday, and George Follmer at speed……. They finished 15th and 14th…...but the cars looked pretty……..
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