Colin Chapman is in decision mode with Mario Andretti after a warm-up wreck has destroyed the pole winning car for the 1978 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Andretti, Chapman and Team Lotus came to Watkins Glen having clinched the 1978 World Championship a few weeks earlier at Monza. After Friday's qualifying, Andretti had been so pleased with his car that he said, "We don't know any more that we can do." A massive crowd had come to the track to celebrate the Championship with great hopes for an Andretti win on home turf. Sunday morning, with the record crowd lining the circuit, Andretti’s day began badly. On the last lap of the morning warm-up, the rear stub axle on Andretti's Lotus broke in the left-hander entering The Anvil. The car spun several times and then hit the barrier, knocking off a rear wheel. Faulty material in part was blamed and with no time to test the spare car a decision had to be made. Should Andretti start the race in the backup or take over the car that had been qualified eighth by teammate Jean-Pierre Jarrier? This photo was made during an intense meeting Chapman held with Andretti and the crew on pit road surrounded by the cars. See photo Colin Chapman 2 for the next step.
Colin Chapman makes his decision on which Lotus Formula One car Mario Andretti will drive in the 1978 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen after his primary car was wrecked in the morning warmup session. After an intense discussion with Andretti and the Lotus crew Chapman suddenly put his finger down on the rear tire of the car that had been qualified by Jean-Pierre Jarrier in the eighth position for the race. The decision was between that car and a backup car which had arrived that morning, untested and untried. The crew then took the Jarier car and fitted it out with all Andretti’s adjustments and settings in preparation for the race. It turned out that either car was the wrong decision as Andretti was passed after leading the first two laps of the race and then lost the motor on lap 27 of the 59-lap race. Jarrier fared better setting the race's fastest lap and getting the backup car up to third place but with three and a half laps to go he ran out of fuel, leaving him with a fifteenth-place finish.
James Hunt enters the ninety degree turn at the end of the pit straight in his Lowenbrau McLaren in the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. In 1978, McLaren ran its pair of M26s at the US and Canadian Grands Prix in an elegant blue livery for both James Hunt and Patrick Tambay. Hunt's McLaren was running Lowenbrau instead of his normal Marlboro colors as parent company Philip Morris also owned the Miller Brewing company. They were in the process of rolling out its newly acquired Lowenbrau beer brand with a marketing program in the Formula One North American rounds that year. Hunt would start sixth and finish seventh in the race, which he had won the previous two years. This program had a big impact on me as I was a student of motorsports marketing, and I could see the interest the car generated among the crowd at Watkins Glen that weekend. That Philip Morris would allow for other brands of the company to benefit from the racing program was not only smart marketing, but it also allowed the racing program more resources as the other brand could contribute to the overall racing budget. This lesson learned in 1978 was helpful in the 1990's when I worked with the Goodmark Foods NASCAR Penrose/Slim Jim racing programs, and we did some similar cross promotions with brands. I used this image in many sponsorship presentations over the years.
