Although the World Championship was already settled there was a good field for the US GP with Team Lotus running an extra car for F1 debutante Pedro Rodríguez. Chris Amon was still out of action after his crash at Monza and his place in the Reg Parnell Racing Lola was taken by Masten Gregory. Parnell rented out his two Lotuses to Rodger Ward and Hap Sharp.

Qualifying resulted in Graham Hill taking pole position in his BRM with Jim Clark alongside in his Lotus. John Surtees's Ferrari shared the second row with Richie Ginther's BRM and Brabham drivers Jack Brabham and Dan Gurney were together on row three. Before the start of the race Clark ran into trouble with a battery problem and was left behind on the dummy grid. This meant that at the start Hill was able to lead from his BRM team mate Ginther. Surtees was strong, however, and after seven laps he had worked his way through into the lead. Gurney shadowed Surtees past the BRMs and Brabham was able to pass Ginther as well. Hill fought back against Gurney and retook second place and on lap 32 he took the lead. Surtees fought back and retook the lead. Hill would later drop back because of a broken rollbar while other challengers dropped out with mechanical trouble, notably Gurney. On lap 80 however Surtees fell victim to an engine problem and so Hill was back in the lead and there he stayed until the finish, leaving home Ginther in the second BRM with Clark third after a great comeback drive from the back of the field.