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25px United States  1984 Dallas Grand Prix
Race details
Race 9 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One season
Circuit Fair Park Dallas.svg
Date July 8, 1984
Official name I Stroh's Dallas Grand Prix
Location Fair Park
Dallas, Texas
Course Temporary Street Course
3.901 km (2.424 mi)
Distance 67 laps, 261.37 km (162.41 mi)
Weather Very hot, sunny
Pole position
Driver 25px UK Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault
Time 1:37.041
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG
Time 1:45.353 on lap 22
Podium
First 25px Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda
Second 25px France René Arnoux Ferrari
Third 25px Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault

The 1984 Dallas Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on July 8, 1984 at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. It was the ninth round of the 1984 Formula One season.


Summary[]

Keke Rosberg Williams FW09 1984 Dallas F1

Winner Keke Rosberg, Williams

Arnoux Ferrari 126C4 1984 Dallas F1

Second-placed René Arnoux, Ferrari

1984 United States Grand Prix Dallas Piquet Senna

Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna

Keke Rosberg of Finland won his only race of the season at the Dallas Grand Prix. The race was one of only two races in 1984 where both of the year's dominant McLarens did not score (Belgium being the other), and gave Honda their first turbocharged Grand Prix win and indeed the company's first Grand Prix win since the 1967 Italian Grand Prix. René Arnoux's Ferrari was the only other car on the lead lap at the end after starting from the pit lane due to an electrical fault on the warm up lap, while Elio de Angelis came home third for Lotus. It was the only race of the season that cars using Goodyear tyres filled all three podium positions.

The event was conceived as a way to demonstrate Dallas' status as a "world-class city"[1] and overcame 104F (40C) heat, a disintegrating track surface and weekend-long rumors of its cancellation.[1][2] The tight and twisty course was laid out on the Texas State Fair Grounds with help from United States Grand Prix West founder Chris Pook, and featured two hairpin curves, but the surface was of poor quality. It was bubbling before qualifying, and after a few laps, it began to break apart.[1]

After the first practice on Friday, the Lotus drivers, Nigel Mansell and de Angelis, who both started from the front row with Mansell recording his first career pole position, said the temporary course was the roughest circuit they had ever driven. Nelson Piquet wondered whether the track, the drivers or the cars would break first in the oppressive heat. Afternoon qualifying saw temperatures continue to rise past 104F (40C), and Goodyear tires on the first three cars. The American rubber company recorded the highest track temperature in their 20 years of racing, 150F (66C).

Dallas was the first time since the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort that both Lotus drivers qualified on the front row of the grid. On that occasion, 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti and team mate Ronnie Peterson qualified 1-2.

After the Renault celebrity race on Saturday, Stirling Moss introduced himself to former US President Jimmy Carter in the VIP suite, saying, "I have never shaken hands with a president." Carter recognized Moss immediately.[2]

The race was scheduled to start at 11 am on Sunday, three hours earlier than usual, because of the heat, with the 30-minute warm-up planned for 7:45 am. This was apparently too early for Williams driver Jacques Laffite, who arrived at the circuit in his pajamas.[1] The warm-up was delayed and then canceled however, because a 50-lap Can-Am race on Saturday had damaged the circuit so badly that emergency repairs had gone on all night, and would continue until 30 minutes before the start. Niki Lauda and Alain Prost tried to arrange a boycott among the drivers, but Rosberg insisted they should race.[2]

"I don't know what all the fuss is about," Rosberg said. "We'll all complain and bind right up until the start time and then we'll go out and race as usual. We've come all this way and the race is all set up. Track surface or no track surface, you know as well as I do, we'll race." [3]

Bernie Ecclestone did not want to have 90,000 disappointed fans at the circuit, and viewers around the world, so the race went off with Larry Hagman (J. R. Ewing from the television series Dallas) waving the green flag to start the parade lap.[1][2]

Mansell led for almost half the race from his first pole position. Derek Warwick overtook de Angelis, whose engine was suffering from a misfire, and pulled alongside Mansell several times, but could not get around. He retired after an attempt to pass on lap 11 resulted in a spin. Lauda was next to challenge Mansell, but he was passed by de Angelis when his engine began to run on all six cylinders.

The first five cars (Mansell, de Angelis, Lauda, Rosberg, Prost) were now running as a group, and on lap 14, Rosberg passed Lauda for third and closed up on the two Lotuses. He passed de Angelis on lap 18, and soon was looking for a way past Mansell. Arnoux, having qualified fourth, had been unable to start his car on the grid, and began the race from the back of the pack. By the end of the first lap, he had already passed seven cars and now he and Piquet were closing on the group of leaders.

Rosberg, after briefly trading places with Prost, who had gotten by Lauda and de Angelis, finally forced Mansell into a big enough mistake for him to take the lead. Within three laps, Mansell, whose front tires were quickly fading, had dropped three more places before pitting on lap 38. Piquet became the ninth car to retire because of contact with the wall, and Arnoux moved into the top five.

Prost took the lead from Rosberg on lap 49, and quickly opened a 7.5-second lead, but eight laps later struck a wall and damaged a wheel rim. Rosberg inherited a lead of 10 seconds over Arnoux, and, thanks in part to a special skull cap driver cooling system, held on to score his only victory of the year for Williams, as the two-hour limit was reached one lap short of the scheduled 68.

De Angelis came home third, comfortably ahead of Laffite in the second Williams. De Angelis' teammate Mansell made contact with the wall on his last lap. Mansell coasted around the last corner, visor up and seat belts hanging over the side of the car. As his car slowed on the home straight, he leaped from his black Lotus and tried to push it to the end, but collapsed from exhaustion and the oppressive heat before reaching the finish line. He was classified sixth, three laps behind.

The oppressive heat was a factor of the Dallas Grand Prix becoming a one-off, and the event was replaced by following year's Australian Grand Prix. Formula One has since returned to the state of Texas, hosting the United States Grand Prix in 2012 at the newly constructed Circuit of the Americas, located in the state capital of Austin.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Qual Gap
1 12 25px Great Britain Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 1:37.041  —
2 11 25px Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:37.635 +0.594
3 16 25px Great Britain Derek Warwick Renault 1:37.708 +0.667
4 28 25px France René Arnoux Ferrari 1:37.785 +0.744
5 8 25px Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:37.987 +0.946
6 19 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 1:38.256 +1.215
7 7 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:38.544 +1.503
8 6 25px Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:38.767 +1.726
9 27 25px Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:38.793 +1.752
10 15 25px France Patrick Tambay Renault 1:38.907 +1.866
11 2 25px Italy Corrado Fabi Brabham-BMW 1:38.960 +1.919
12 1 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:39.439 +2.398
13 14 25px West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 1:39.860 +2.189
14 23 25px USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:39.911 +2.870
15 20 25px The flag of Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 1:40.027 +2.986
16 26 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:40.095 +3.054
17 4 25px West Germany Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:40.336 +3.295
18 24 25px Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:41.176 +4.135
19 25 25px France François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 1:41.303 +4.262
20 18 25px Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:41.318 +4.277
21 22 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:41.328 +4.287
22 17 25px Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:42.592 +5.551
23 21 25px Netherlands Huub Rothengatter Spirit-Hart 1:43.084 +6.043
24 9 25px France Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:43.222 +6.181
25 5 25px France Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 1:43.304 +6.263
26 10 25px Great Britain Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 1:44.676 +7.635
DNQ 3 25px Great Britain Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 2:31.960 +54.919

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6 25px Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 67 2:01:22.617 8 9
2 28 25px France René Arnoux Ferrari 67 + 22.464 4 6
3 11 25px Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 66 + 1 Lap 2 4
4 5 25px France Jacques Laffite Williams-Honda 65 + 2 Laps 24 3
5 24 25px Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 65 + 2 Laps 18 2
6 12 25px Great Britain Nigel Mansell Lotus-Renault 64 Gearbox 1 1
7 2 25px Italy Corrado Fabi Brabham-BMW 64 + 3 Laps 11  
8 14 25px West Germany Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 64 + 3 Laps 13  
Ret 8 25px Austria Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 60 Spun Off 5  
Ret 7 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 56 Puncture 7  
Ret 18 25px Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 55 Spun Off 20  
Ret 27 25px Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 54 Spun Off 9  
Ret 17 25px Switzerland Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 54 Spun Off 22  
Ret 19 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Toleman-Hart 47 Clutch 6  
Ret 10 25px Great Britain Jonathan Palmer RAM-Hart 46 Electrical 25  
Ret 1 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 45 Spun off 12  
Ret 15 25px France Patrick Tambay Renault 25 Spun off 10  
Ret 20 25px The flag of Venezuela Johnny Cecotto Toleman-Hart 25 Spun Off 15  
Ret 26 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 15 Spun off 16  
Ret 21 25px Netherlands Huub Rothengatter Spirit-Hart 15 Fuel Leak 23  
Ret 22 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 12 Spun Off 21  
Ret 16 25px Great Britain Derek Warwick Renault 10 Spun Off 3  
DSQ 4 25px West Germany Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 9 Disqualified 17  
Ret 23 25px USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 8 Spun Off 14  
Ret 25 25px France François Hesnault Ligier-Renault 0 Accident 19  
DNQ 3 25px Great Britain Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford        

Notes[]

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px France Alain Prost 34.5
2 25px Austria Niki Lauda 24
3 25px Italy Elio de Angelis 23.5
4 25px France René Arnoux 22.5
5 25px Finland Keke Rosberg 20
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px UK McLaren-TAG 58.5
2 25px Italy Ferrari 31.5
3 25px UK Lotus-Renault 29.5
4 25px UK Williams-Honda 24
5 25px UK Brabham-BMW 21
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. Tyrrell and its drivers were subsequently disqualified from 1984 results and their points reallocated.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lang, Mike (1992). Grand Prix!: Race-by-race account of Formula 1 World Championship motor racing. Volume 4: 1981 to 1984. Haynes Publishing Group. pp. 259–264. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Walker, Rob (October 1984). "1st Dallas Grand Prix: Cool Keke.". Road & Track: 178–182. 
  3. Schot, Marcel. "A Race to Remember". Atlas F1 (Kaizar.Com, Incorporated) 6 (38). http://www.atlasf1.com/2000/usa/preview/schot.html. Retrieved 5 December 2009. 


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1984 Detroit Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1984 season
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1984 British Grand Prix
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1988 Dallas Grand Prix
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