In our first historic trip report, Larry Roberts tells us about his maiden F1 experience working as a photographer at the 1978 US Grand Prix West on the streets of Long Beach, California.

All images © Larry Roberts. Update: this article has been republished by Petrolicious: I Was There In 1978 When Formula 1 Thundered Around Long Beach

Sure, I had done ‘press pass’ photo shoots at other races before. But my first Formula One race at Long Beach in 1978 was of an entirely different magnitude. It was like jumping from Friday night Texas high school football to the Super Bowl! I had never really even been to Long Beach. I was working for a small motor racing magazine in West Los Angeles at the time and even though Long Beach had acquired the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose, I hadn’t traveled south on the 405 Freeway to check it out.