SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. (Feb. 4, 2013) – Being just 50 miles from the entertainment capital of the world has its advantages. Movies, commercials and television shoots seem to be the norm at Auto Club Speedway.
Case in point, yesterday’s Mercedes’ Super Bowl Sunday commercial spot.
For those of you who watch the Super Bowl for commercials, in the spot, set to the Rolling Stones song ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ Willem Dafoe plays the devil who appears when a young man in a coffee shop sees a billboard for the new Mercedes CLA. “Nice car,” says the devil. Then he offers the man the car and “everything that goes along with” for a ‘price’. That “everything that goes along with it” includes adoring fans, a photo-op with swimsuit model Kate Upton, magazine covers, screaming groupies, a dance off with Usher and, of course, race car fame.
But before he puts his name on the dotted line, the billboard reveals an unbelievable Mercedes price – a mere $29,990. With a response to the price of “Thanks, I think I got this,” the devil disappears in a puff of smoke. (Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/mbusa/featured?v=oPNr0_6MnDo to see the commercial.)
The “race car fame” was part of a two-day shoot in November 2012 at Southern California’s premier motorsports facility. The shoot involved two Mercedes vehicles and a Formula One race car.
Auto Club Speedway continues to serve as a popular backdrop for many of today’s television programs and commercial spots. Recently, the NBC hit show “The Biggest Loser” taped a segment for its show at ACS, with a little help from NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer, the cast from the HBO Comedy hit “Entourage” made an appearance, Jimmie Johnson taped a segment for “Breaking In” and commercials shoots for Honda, AAA and Hamburger Helper have also featured the backdrop of Auto Club Speedway.
Oh, by the way. The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31.
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About Auto Club Speedway: Located 50 miles east of Los Angeles in Fontana, California, Auto Club Speedway is California’s premier motorsports facility, hosting over 320 days of track activity each year including the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 weekend in March and the MAVTV 500 INDYCAR World Championships Finale weekend in October. The two-mile D-shaped oval is one of the fastest tracks on the INDYCAR and NASCAR circuits. The Speedway is also home to numerous movies, television and commercial productions, photo shoots, new car testing, club racing and a variety of racing schools. For more information on events at Auto Club Speedway call 1-800-944-RACE (7223) or visit www.autoclubspeedway.com . For more information on event lodging, visit the Hilton Garden Inn, Fontana, the official hotel partner of Auto Club Speedway and Auto Club Dragway.
