Published By: Sports Desk
Last Updated: February 03, 2024, 00:00 IST
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NASCAR’s debut on a short lived observe contained in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum two years in the past was a daring experiment that featured a pre-race present by Pitbull, a halftime efficiency by Ice Cube, a rowdy USC scholar part and a few fairly first rate racing.
NASCAR’s debut on a short lived observe contained in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum two years in the past was a daring experiment that featured a pre-race present by Pitbull, a halftime efficiency by Ice Cube, a rowdy USC scholar part and a few fairly first rate racing.
The made-for-TV occasion was a transparent success in 2022, the primary time a season-opening exhibition had not been held at Daytona International Speedway since its 1979 inception. NASCAR tried for an additional hit final yr with a second Clash on the Coliseum and it wasn’t the identical.
The racing was unwatchable, enthusiasm for the occasion had slipped after just one yr and the Clash got here off as merely an excuse for NASCAR to keep up a presence in Southern California.
The third Clash is ready for this weekend with NASCAR’s quick future within the coveted Los Angeles market in jeopardy. If the novelty has really worn off, the Clash may very properly be on the transfer in 2025.
The race isn’t till Sunday and the highway has already been bumpy. NASCAR stated it wouldn’t open the grandstands to spectators for Saturday’s warmth races however reversed its determination after fan outrage. Drivers for weeks have been selling low cost codes for tickets on their social media accounts, and a advertising and marketing workforce has been handing out leaflets concerning the Clash throughout LA.
Ben Kennedy, the nice-grandson of NASCAR’s founder and architect of the Clash on the Coliseum, stated the motive force low cost codes and avenue-degree advertising and marketing will not be motive for alarm however merely new gross sales techniques in an aggressive market. NASCAR’s senior vice chairman of racing improvement and technique stated he believes the urge for food for racing on the Coliseum is there.
“The interest is still strong. The first year, it was new and novel and we’d never done anything like that before, and frankly I don’t think anyone has ever built a temporary racetrack inside a stadium that is a century old,” Kennedy stated. “The second year, obviously a lot of return customers and some new customers as well. In this third year, we are seeing similar trends to what we saw last year.”
He stated the brand new advertising and marketing and promotion efforts is “an opportunity to test out new methods and exercises that we might want to apply to some other tracks.”
The stakes are excessive for NASCAR within the Southern California market as a result of the Coliseum race is the one cease in Los Angeles this yr. California Speedway, which hosted the highest Cup Series from 1997 till final yr, is dormant. Plans had been to transform the speedway into a brief observe, however Kennedy acknowledged there isn’t a present development.
NASCAR has checked out “a dozen different concepts” out there however hasn’t discovered something attractive. Kennedy stated the way forward for the Clash on the Coliseum isn’t tied to the progress of California Speedway and that the market can maintain two races annually.
He didn’t rule out the chance NASCAR may discover itself locked out of Los Angeles.
“If we had our druthers, we would have a race in Southern California every year,” Kennedy stated. “But a lot of that will depend on what the future of both of those tracks and both of those concepts look like.”
As Kennedy explores taking NASCAR worldwide, the Clash may very well be a candidate for racing in a foreign country. This yr’s occasion has added NASCAR’s Mexico Series as a companion race and Cup star Daniel Suarez is within the area, together with reigning collection champion Salvador de Alba, who this season will juggle a schedule that features inventory vehicles and IndyCar’s ladder system.
The Mexico Series will likely be on the observe earlier than the Cup vehicles each Saturday and Sunday.
“It is a huge opportunity to get into the Southern California market and be paired with the Cup Series, not just the same weekend, but literally minutes before (a Cup heat race),” Kennedy stated. “It’s a huge opportunity for them to get their name in front of a lot of new fans, a lot of core fans, and these are drivers who are eventually going to be competing in the Clash at some point.”
The leisure lineup for the occasion Sunday has DJ Dillon Francis performing earlier than the race, boxer Canelo Alvarez scheduled to offer the command to begin engines and Machine Gun Kelly is the mid-race break efficiency.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
