A week after the South African GP there was the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch with victory going to James Hunt with the Durex-sponsored Surtees of Alan Jones second. The cars were then sent off to California for a new race on the streets of Long Beach. The only changes to the entry were Jones joining Surtees alongside Brett Lunger, March running a fourth car for Arturo Merzario (in Ovoro colors) and Ingo Hoffmann reappearing in the second Fittipaldi. The factory Marches of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Ronnie Peterson appeared with backing from Teddy Yip and Ensign had new sponsorship from Norris Industries. Parnelli also added sponsorship from American Racing Wheels while the Shadow cars were back in black after running with Lucky Strike sponsorship in South Africa.

Qualifying resulted in a number of crashes into the concrete walls and a few mechanical failures because of the bumpy nature of the circuit. Clay Regazzoni emerged on pole in his Ferrari with Patrick Depailler (Tyrrell) second, James Hunt (McLaren) third and Niki Lauda (Ferrari) fourth. The top 10 was completed by Tom Pryce (Shadow), Ronnie Peterson (March), Jean-Pierre Jarier (Shadow), Vittorio Brambilla (March), John Watson (Penske) and Carlos Reutemann in the Brabham-Alfa Romeo. With only 20 cars allowed to start there were seven disappointed drivers, including both Williams entries (Michel Leclère and Jacky Ickx), Merzario, Hoffmann, Harald Ertl (Hesketh), Lunger and Bob Evans (Lotus).

Regazzoni took the lead at the start ahead of Depailler and Hunt. Further back Reutemann collided with Brambilla at the first corner while later in the lap Gunnar Nilsson's Lotus suffered a suspension failure and crashed.

On the third lap Hunt and Depailler collided at the hairpin, leaving an unhappy Hunt waving his fist at the Frenchman as he walked back to the paddock. As a result Lauda moved to second place and Depailler then had a spin and dropped behind Scheckter, Pryce, Peterson and Jarier. Depailler recovered well and climbed back up to third, aided by the retirements of Pryce and Scheckter, both with mechanical problems. Peterson dropped back with a brake problem but it was Laffite who was strongest at the end of the race, grabbing fourth place from Jarier and Mass. Emerson Fittipaldi finished sixth to score his first point in a Fittipaldi chassis.