Autumn Spectacle: Our USGP was always a fabulously colorful event, no matter whether the October foliage had peaked as in 1964 (above) or not, like 1965 (below).
Photo: Ozzie Lyons / www.petelyons.com
With F1 about to try another comeback in the U.S., next year in Texas, our minds inevitably reach back half a century to the first such noble experiment.
Pete Lyons
It was 1959 when promoter Alec Ulmann staged the inaugural United States Grand Prix (USGP) on the old airport course at Sebring, Florida. A youthful Bruce McLaren won aboard a Cooper. For 1960, Ulmann brought the circus west to the new road course at Riverside, California. Stirling Moss came first with a Lotus—yours truly was privileged to bear witness.