Reflections: 1978 Formula 1 at Watkins Glen

Ferrari's Carlos Reutemann won the 1978 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen ahead of Williams's Alan Jones and Wolf's Jody Scheckter. Mario Andretti, who'd already clinched his first F1 world championship driving the wonderful Lotus 79, started from pole and led the first two laps before his Cosworth DFV surrendered, and was joined by fellow non-finishers Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda, Keke Rosberg, Hans Stuck, and other legends at the bottom of the results.

Nestled between the DNFs and those who landed on the podium, one B. Rahal of Ohio placed 12th on his Grand Prix debut. As teammate to Scheckter at Wolf, Bobby Rahal had a competitive car at his disposal and managed to finish the 59-lap contest as the top American in the field.

Rahal would make one more F1 start at the final round in Canada, and with no prospects to remain in the series, Indy cars eventually beckoned where he won the 1986 Indy 500 and earned three CART IndyCar championships before retiring at the end of the 1998 season.

Rahal's foray into F1 was all too brief, but he clearly enjoyed the experience.

"It was the culmination of a lot of effort and a big dream realized to get to F1," Rahal told RACER. "The plan was to drive in F3 with Walter Wolf, using the first Dallara F3 car, and prepare to learn the tracks to get ready for Formula 1. We did that, picked our way through British and European F3 championships with good results, and parlayed that into doing two races, Watkins Glen, and Canada.

"I remember getting there at the Glen, getting to the garage which was empty, seeing both cars under wraps, and pulling back the cover on my car and seeing my name on the engine cover. It was such a thrill to see that."

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Rahal's first F1 race was, as a matter of choice, lacking fireworks and daring maneuvers, as he recalls.

"We qualified 20th out of 26 cars; Rene Arnoux was next to me in the Surtees, and it was a race where I didn't want to do anything stupid – an American making his debut at the U.S. Grand Prix – so I probably treated things a little conservatively," he said. "We qualified on the standard tire whereas Jody had qualifying tires, so that made some difference, but who knows how much. Nevertheless, we made the race, and didn't do anything spectacular, but all I wanted to do was get to the finish without hitting anything!

"And it was frigid. A very cold day, and the race long – long for me. The longest I'd done before that was a 100-mile Formula Atlantic race, and this was a 200-mile grand prix. I just wanted to get to the end and get to the next race. It was a workman-like debut."

Scheckter was able to reach the podium in his Wolf-DFV, and Rahal took the lessons learned in New York to the season finale in Canada.

"Jody finished third in the race, and it wasn't an easy car to drive," he continued. "And for me it was about gaining experience. My next weekend in Montreal was more spectacular; that experience from Watkins Glen paid off, and it was a point of pride. We got to F1 without paying for it, and I'm forever indebted to Walter Wolf and to a guy named Oliver Stahel, who was the 'S' you see on the car. They were the two that believed in me and to drive for Walter Wolf in your first Formula 1 race as Jody Scheckter's teammate...that wasn't too bad."

Rahal also enjoyed racing with some of the drivers he got to know while driving Atlantics.

"It was pretty cool to be on the grid with all those guys, and at the next race, we passed a lot of them before we had a mechanical issue. I raced with Keke Rosberg and Patrick Tambay and with Gilles Villeneuve all the time in Atlantics, and to have your debut with them, at your home grand prix, was pretty special."