How did NASCAR convert LA's football field into a racetrack? All you need to know

For the last three years, NASCAR has started off its season with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum. The races at the start of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons took place at a purpose-made, quarter-mile track at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium situated in Los Angeles, California. The stadium has hosted numerous events of multiple sports over the years, from NASCAR, NFL, Olympics, and soccer to football, boxing, and music concerts.

However, it wasn't easy transforming the stadium to feed the individual sport's needs. Despite this, NASCAR did it and did it well. In today's article, we'll delve deeper into how NASCAR converted a football stadium into a racetrack.

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Ideation

The bold idea was announced on September 14, 2021, and the stadium needed to be restructured for stock car racing. However, the work behind it started a year earlier. The work was started with the collaboration between NASCAR, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and New Valley Construction.

The engineers and crews broke ground on December 21, installed the SAFER barrier on January 15, and then the track lines were painted nine days later, on January 15. These were the easiest steps, and the hardest ones followed.

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Main construction

Firstly, a thick plastic barrier of Visqueen sheeting was put on the grass, red dirt, and turf. Then plywood was placed atop. Together, they formed a whopping 130,000 square feet of protection. Then a sheet of geo-textile woven fabric was laid down between the protective measure and track rumble to prevent slipping and sliding.

The next step involved a crushed miscellaneous base of 9200 cubic yards, which was added to give the majority of the depth. Asphalt was then added to cover everything. 6900 square yards for apron and paving the track, and 6800 square yards for infield, and it was nearly complete.

NASCAR Cup Series cars of Kyle Busch (18) and Tyler Reddick (8) sit lined up on Bill Robertson Blvd in front of the Los Angeles Swimming Stadium prior to entering Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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What did experts have to say about the construction?

Martin Flugger, NASCAR’s vice president of design and development, shared his thoughts on how challenging the reconstruction was. Here's what he said:

“It was definitely a challenge. Because in most cases, we would get rid of every bit of topsoil, every bit of grass, everything that could be compressible.

"Things that you wouldn’t want underneath the track all had to stay. So, you start having to think about how do you protect what they have here and build up a track within the middle of a football field.”

After three back-to-back years of races at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, NASCAR has moved the venue of the first race of the season to Bowman Gray Stadium. The aforementioned stadium situated in North Carolina will host the 2025 NASCAR Clash on February 2, 2025.