One + A = Mismatch

Once and for all, declared the press releases, the $288,900 Questor Grand Prix would decide the burning question: "Can brute American power beat effete European technology?" Can, in other words, the growling Formula A racing cars that are prepared in the U.S. hold their own against the sleek little Formula One machines from the international Grand Prix circuit?

Right up until race time last week at California's new $25.5 million Ontario Motor Speedway, the drivers were doing their rhetorical best to build the gate for the "dream race." The U.S.'s George Follmer, extolling the superior acceleration of the Formula A's 5-liter engine, hinted of "fantastic refinements." Britain's Graham Hill, noting the agility and quickness of the Formula One with its 3-liter motor, dismissed the U.S. cars as "second rate." Actually, the drivers knew the answer to the burning question all along--and so, after two 100-mile heats, did the 68,825 fans at the speedway. Ron Grable, the lone Formula A driver to finish in the top 12, said it all: "There's no chance we could ever beat them."

So Much Clutter. There is no chance either that the speedway promoters will be able to hype much interest in another dream race--unless they bill it as the Ralph Nader Grand Breakdown. The U.S. cars were not merely routed; they were run into the ground. The field--13 Formula As, 17 Formula Ones--was reduced when Swede Savage's Eagle-Plymouth spun around and crashed into a retaining wall. Savage, pulled unconscious from the car, was later reported in fair condition.

Other top U.S. drivers suffered different misfortunes. Al Unser, winner of last year's Indianapolis 500, had to drop out when his Lola-Chevrolet developed oil pressure problems. A.J. Foyt drove a McLaren-Chevrolet until the motor quit. Follmer's Lotus-Ford suffered a broken rocker arm. British Driver Derek Bell, for one, regarded the U.S. cars as so much clutter. "It's frustrating," he groused, "for a Formula One driver to wait for the As to get out of the way."

Passing Maneuver. Everyone got out of the way of Mario Andretti, one of the few Americans driving Formula Ones on the Grand Prix tour. During some qualifying laps, his blood-red Ferrari 312-B spun out of control and slammed into a wall. Unhurt and undaunted, Andretti hustled to Phoenix, Ariz., for another race while his mechanics repaired the car's front suspension. Hopping a helicopter and then a private jet, he got back to Ontario just in time to qualify for the 12th starting position in the first heat.

Andretti snaked around the 3.2-mile course at an average speed of 109 m.p.h., fought his way past tenacious Mark Donohue in a Formula A Lola-Chevrolet and then closed on the leader, Scotland's Jackie Stewart. Executing a neat passing maneuver on the 31st lap, he gunned by Stewart's blue Tyrrell-Ford and won going away. The second heat was more of the same as Andretti bested Stewart by a 12.3-sec. margin. After accepting his $39,400 winner's prize, Andretti suggested that the U.S. Formula A team could take some consolation from the fact that the metal repair work on his winning Ferrari "was done right here in California, U.S.A."

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