''Since they had appeared at the third race of the year in the Netherlands, Colin Chapman's Lotus 49s had been the fastest cars on the track, taking the pole in all seven races they entered. The reliability of the Lotus cars had been another issue entirely, however, and, when the series returned to North America for the final two races, the only remaining contenders for the Driver's Championship were Brabham teammates Sir Jack (the defending Champion) and Denny Hulme.''

''A crowd of 80,000 was greeted with beautiful bright sun on race day. The previous evening, Walter Hayes, public affairs director of Ford of Dagenham, who had contributed £75,000 toward the development of the Cosworth-Ford V8, demonstrated his confidence in a good showing by the two Lotus-Ford drivers when he proposed that they should flip a coin to choose the winner, in case both cars were in contention at the end of the race! The drivers agreed when they decided that the arrangement could be reversed in Mexico, and Hill won the toss.''

''With Hill too far behind to take up the claim on first he had 'won' the night before, Clark seemed home free. Then, halfway through lap 106, a support broke on the top of his right rear suspension, causing the wheel to sag inward. The Scot craned his neck around to assess the damage, and began nursing the car toward the finish, taking particular care on left-handers! Hill was 45 seconds back with two laps to run, 23 seconds as the entered the final lap. With both green and yellow Lotus cars ailing, they limped around the last lap. Finally, Clark crossed the line, six seconds ahead of Hill.''