Clash at the Coliseum

This past weekend, CSM Production checked off many of our typical activities that we’d normally manage during a “normal” NASCAR race, including sponsor activations, live music, driver intros, national anthem, audio, pyro, stage, lights, video, flyby, and a command for drivers to “start their engines.” But, Sunday’s “Clash at the Coliseum” was far from your average NASCAR race. 

23 drivers raced 150 laps around a purpose-built quarter-mile racetrack, the shortest NASCAR had raced on in more than 50 years. (And slightly shorter than the track inside the Coliseum where CSM’s Seb Coe defended successfully defended his 1500m gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.)

The pre-race festivities featured a concert from Grammy Award-winning (and NASCAR team owner) Pitbull, driver introductions through the Coliseum’s historic peristyle archway, and a national anthem performance, complete with pyrotechnics and a flyover by a C17 from Washington’s McChord Air Force Base. 

After just shy of 19 miles completed, the drivers powered down their engines as Ice Cube performed a short “halftime” concert for the thousands in attendance and those watching at home on FOX.

To possibly force a lyric from the native Angeleno…Sunday “was a good day.”