The race was created in 1976 partly in response to difficulties at the Watkins Glen circuit in New York, which had suffered two fatalities in successive years and a politically troubled 1975 event. Long Beach was the second country after Italy, in 1957, to host two Formula One championship events in the same season, when it joined Watkins Glen on the 1976 calendar. The circuit encompassed the area around the Long Beach Convention Center, which also served as the pit paddock for the Formula One teams.
Chief organiser Chris Pook harboured the ambition of making Long Beach a "Monte Carlo of the United States," and the circuit's combination of sunny weather, a scenic waterfront setting, and competitive racing went a long way toward realising that vision. The 1960 United States Grand Prix had been held at Riverside Raceway, approximately an hour from Long Beach, so the region had a prior connection to championship Formula One.
The inaugural 1976 race was won by Clay Regazzoni in a Ferrari, with teammate Niki Lauda second and Patrick Depailler third.
In 1977 a race-long battle unfolded between Lauda, Jody Scheckter in a Wolf, and Mario Andretti in a Lotus. Andretti outbraked Scheckter into Queen's Hairpin and took the popular victory, with Lauda second and Scheckter third.
The 1978 start/finish line was moved to the long sweeping Shoreline Drive. Carlos Reutemann won that year, with Alan Jones second — Williams's first podium.
In 1979 Gilles Villeneuve won from pole for Ferrari ahead of his teammate Jody Scheckter. The race had a confused start involving a procedural error with Reutemann, who started late but retired with gearbox problems.
The 1980 race brought serious drama. Clay Regazzoni suffered a catastrophic brake failure at 180 mph at the end of Shoreline Drive; he hit multiple obstacles and barriers and, while he survived, sustained spinal injuries that left him paralysed from the waist down and ended his Formula One career. Nelson Piquet dominated the rest of the weekend to claim his first career Formula One victory.
For 1981 the circuit was adjusted with one left-hander at Pine Avenue consolidated from two corners into one. Alan Jones won from the Williams team.
The 1982 race saw more track modifications removing Queen's Hairpin and most of Pine Avenue and introducing a chicane on Shoreline Drive. Niki Lauda won in his McLaren — his third race back after temporary retirement and his first victory since 1978. Gilles Villeneuve finished third but was disqualified because Ferrari had fitted two differently-sized rear wings to exploit a regulatory gap.
The 1983 finale brought the most dramatic result of the Formula One era at Long Beach. John Watson won from twenty-second place on the starting grid — farther back than any modern Grand Prix driver had previously come to win a race — after the frontrunners retired and an incident between Keke Rosberg and Patrick Tambay reshuffled the order. Watson's teammate Lauda finished second from twenty-third on the grid.
After the 1983 event, organiser Pook announced that Long Beach would switch from Formula One to CART IndyCar racing for 1984. The shipping costs of bringing European and Brazilian Formula One equipment to Southern California, combined with rising FOCA sanctioning fees and the absence of any neighbouring American or Mexican race to share logistics costs, had made the event financially unviable. The short-term investment culture of American business made it difficult to justify the expenditure given the modest immediate returns, even with the demonstrable global exposure the race brought to the city and the wider Los Angeles region.
The circuit was modified for almost every year of its Formula One life. In 1978 the start/finish moved to Shoreline Drive. In 1979 Queen's Hairpin was narrowed. In 1981 a Pine Avenue left-hander was simplified. In 1982 Queen's Hairpin and most of Pine Avenue were removed and a chicane added to Shoreline Drive, shortening the race from 79.5 to 75.5 laps. In 1983 the elevated Ocean Boulevard section and the steep approach roads were replaced by Seaside Way and the pits relocated to Shoreline Drive.
The Long Beach Street Circuit's Formula One years produced eight championship races across eight seasons, with a roll call of winners that includes Regazzoni, Andretti, Reutemann, Villeneuve, Piquet, Jones, Lauda, and Watson. The circuit's IndyCar successor has proved considerably more durable financially and continues to be one of the most attended and celebrated events on that calendar, vindicating Pook's commercial calculation even if it marked the end of Formula One on the West Coast.