Nascar’s Exhibition Race In L.A. Is A Million-Dollar Gamble

Just a few days before Christmas NASCAR held a groundbreaking ceremony in Los Angeles. Specifically at a venue located on Figueroa Street in the heart of downtown. The L.A. Memorial Coliseum opened in 1923 to honor the area’s WWI veterans. NASCAR will hold an exhibition race at the fabled location in February, a race that has no championship implications only glory for whoever wins it.

It’s a bold move to be sure. The “Clash” has opened the NASCAR season every year since 1979. It gives fans, and competitors their first look at what the upcoming season might have in store with selected drivers competing in formats that have changed throughout the years. The Clash has been staged every season at Daytona International Speedway since its inception and normally happens a week prior to the first championship points paying race, the season opening Daytona 500.

There has been nothing “normal’ for NASCAR in recent years, however.

From trying to reinvigorate a sport losing popularity, to navigating the Covid-19 pandemic, NASCAR has moved races around, thrown traditional schedules away, gone back to dirt and shown it isn’t afraid to try something new. Even the Clash itself underwent changes as the race was moved from Daytona’s oval to the road course for the first time last season.

Still, the announcement in September that the Clash would be moving to L.A. and be held in the aging Coliseum took many by surprise. It’s a bold move that’s not without risk. NASCAR VP of Marketing Services Patrick Rogers confirmed to Sports Business Daily that NASCAR will spend $1 million to transform the Coliseum field into a paved quarter mile oval. This, to hold a race that has never been run anywhere outside the confines of Daytona International Superspeedway, and in a market already filled with plenty of professional sports; in a month (February) in Los Angeles that averages the coolest temperatures of the year, and the most days of rain. The race will also mark the competitive debut of NASCAR’s much talked about Next Gen car which has been delayed a year due to the pandemic.

All those factors make the $1 million investment somewhat of a gamble. However, it’s a gamble that NASCAR is willing to make and one that seems a pretty safe bet.  

Sure, February typically brings the coolest temps of the year to the area, but the highs still average a very comfortable 70 degrees; and though the month has the highest average days of rain, that number of average days is five, out of 28 days in the month. And the L.A. area already has a built in NASCAR fanbase. The sport holds a race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana only 50 miles away which in L.A. is akin to being across the street. While that race will be held three weeks after the Clash and a week removed from the Daytona 500, the Clash will be unlike any of those races and should give Southern California fans a motivation to attend. It will also give those fans a taste of what the future will hold; there are plans being developed to reconfigure Auto Club Speedway from a 2-mile superspeedway to a half-mile short track, and the Clash could give fans a in-person preview of how short track racing looks.

In NASCAR money, $1 million is not a great deal of an expenditure. To add dirt to the Bristol Motor Speedway surface for the race at that half mile track last season for example, Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith said it cost them $2 million. Very few would argue that the investment there didn’t pay off handsomely for the industry.

The Coliseum has a capacity of over 93,000 fans, and if NASCAR sells out the race, they will easily recoup that investment. Not to mention the TV coverage that will be gained from the first of its kind event. With the L.A. skyline and the famous Hollywood sign in the background the visuals alone should be stunning; add in an experience new to the sport and no doubt the highlights will be shown for years to come; it’s a television event that should also have advertisers more than willing to pay big money to be part of those visuals, and that new experience.

Covid-19 could still be a factor as the omicron variant is still sweeping across the world. But some scientists are speculating that the mild variant will soon peak and quickly fall off. And with the venue outdoors there should be less concern about transmission.

This isn’t the first time a paved track has been built at the Coliseum. The Stadium Super Trucks series used asphalt on part of the infield for an event in 2013. NASCAR’s planning included iRacing simulations that seem to prove the racing will be intense. And the Next Gen car has been extensively tested and will be further tested before February. In another first, eligibility for the Clash will be open to all drivers and teams instead of a field that is normally about half of a normal race. And those drivers seem ready to take to the track in the new cars in anger and the Clash, with no season championship implications, should be a perfect time to do just that. In fact, drivers are looking forward to it.

“I’m super excited,” NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year Chase Briscoe said.” I think the atmosphere is going to be pretty unbelievable.

“It’s going to be great for all of our partners, whether it’s on the race car or even on the personal side, just being able to go to that market…it’s a market that we’re not necessarily in a lot, so to be able to go to downtown L.A. and race in that area it’s going to be great for everybody involved.”

At the end of the day $1 million is a great deal of money, and while there are no sure bets (that’s why they call it gambling after all), NASCAR’s investment for the Clash seems a safe wager, and one that should pay dividends for quite some time.