1979 Long Beach GP pics

[Andrew]

Here are scans from slides I took at the 1979 Long Beach GP. Unlike in 1978, when all I did was sit in my reserved seat, in 1979 I wandered around more, taking pics of cars and drivers going in and out of the paddock (Long Beach Arena or Long Beach Convention Center?), in the paddock itself, and street scene pics. It was a more colorful event than 1978 for some reason, maybe because I was a year older (19), but also these slides are Kodachrome rather than the Ektachrome I used in 1978, and the color was better to begin with, and has held up better. I have some almost 60-year-old Kodachrome slides my dad took that still look great.

This group:
1. Mechanic squeezing starter fluid into Autodelta (Alfa) V12 in the Brabham BT48.
2. Copersucar FD06 (?) driven by Fittipaldi. I was hanging out at the time with a friend whose wife had been an exchange student in Brazil, and had at that time to Brazilian students living with them, one of who was an unbelievably gorgeous woman, so of course we had to hang out at the Fittipaldi pits, and Emerson and the mechanics were only too happy to talk to two beautiful women who were fluent in Portugese and could speak intelligently about Brazil and F1 racing.
3. Brabham BT48 (Autodelta Alfa V12) in the paddock. Is that Gordon Murray behind the car with the mop of curly hair?
4. Niki Lauda in the BT48 Brabham/Alfa.

More to follow

Andrew

[Andrew]

Oops; #4 is Lauda obviously walking, not in his car. File management is not my forte.
Andrew

[Andrew]

Second group:
1. Gilles Villeneuve getting interviewed after practice.
2. Lauda now in BT48 Brabham/Alfa,
3. Has Stuck, racing for ATS at the time. I saw him 15 years later at an endurance race at Sears Point, and he looked basically identical but with less hair. He was digging deep into the guts of his 911 with the mechanics, sorting out some problem. I always liked him for some reason, and his father was a great racer before it.
4. Emerson Fittipaldi in the pits, doing his best movie star look. I ran into him about a year ago at Laguna Seca at that odd international team formula race. Funny how we all get older.

One more batch to come.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Last group.
1. Derek Daly getting towed into the pits in his Ensign (Teddy Yip?) by a rope wrapped around the roll bar.
2. Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the first modern turbo car, Renault RS01, I believe. RS02 came out later in 1979, but I don't remember if they had any of them at Long Beach, which was early in the season.
3. Jody Scheckter in the Ferrari 312T4. I see that Villeneuve won and Scheckter was second. Scheckter was champion that year.

I have 1980 pics too, but haven't scanned any yet. Any interest?

Andrew

[GreyGTV6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Any interest? Andrew

[davbert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Last group. 1. Derek Daly getting towed into the pits in his Ensign (Teddy Yip?) by a rope wrapped around the roll bar. 2. Jean-Pierre Jabouille in the first modern turbo car, Renault RS01, I believe. RS02 came out later in 1979, but I don't remember if they had any of them at Long Beach, which was early in the season. 3. Jody Scheckter in the Ferrari 312T4. I see that Villeneuve won and Scheckter was second. Scheckter was champion that year. I have 1980 pics too, but haven't scanned any yet. Any interest? Andrew

[alfettish]

The little Alfa badge in that last picture is hilarious.
The car is ugly but has an impressive shape.