NASCAR latest addition to Coliseum’s storied history

Known as “The Greatest Stadium in the World,” the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, home the NASCAR Clash in February, is a living memorial to all who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I and has been a civic treasure for generations of Angelenos.

The legacy of events and individuals hosted in nine-plus-decades reads like no other. It’s the only venue to host two Summer Olympics (Xth Olympiad in 1932, XXIIIrd Olympiad in 1984) and soon a third (XXXIVth Olympiad in 2028); home to college football’s USC Trojans since 1923 and the UCLA Bruins (1928-1981); professional football’s Los Angeles Rams (1946-1979 and 20162019), Raiders (1982-1994) and Chargers (1960); hosting three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls; home to the Los Angeles Dodgers (19581960) and the 1959 World Series; appearances by U.S. Presidents Franklin D Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan; and international dignitaries such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela. From Mick Jagger to the Harlem Globetrotters, the Grateful Dead to Billy Graham, Evel Knievel to Pele, the Memorial Coliseum, named a National and California Historic Landmark in 1984, has been the stage for the unbelievable, the unforgettable, the iconic and the best in human endeavor and achievement.

On March 29, 2008, the LA Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox set a Guinness World Record for the largest attendance ever at a baseball game with a crowd of 115,300. Other historic events include Billy Graham’s appearance in 1963 in front of 134,254 (still an all-time Coliseum record), Nelson Mandela’s 1990 triumphant return to the United States, the first ever Papal Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and the 1976 Bicentennial Spectacular.