I had the good fortune to be hired by Warner Brothers to manage and to construct all of the exterior sets in Colorado. Some of the sets were purpose-built, and some were adaptations of Coors Classic start lines.
Shooting on the purpose-built sets was pretty relaxed, unless four or five hundred extras were involved, in which case everything needed to be kept hopping. The sets that were adaptations of the Coors sets were standing by as the Coors events started. Once the Coors race had left the area, the banners, etc. for the film were quickly put in place, and the Coors start was essentially duplicated for the film. Helicopter footage from the Coors was, of course, used in the film.
I had been accustomed to setting up the staging for the Coors in the wee hours of the morning, tearing it all down minutes after the start, and then hustling to leapfrog the race to build it all again in time for the finish. Then tear it down and move to the next town for another early morning set-up. Setting up the day before, for three or four days of movie shooting, was liesurely in comparison.
As an unrelated side note, and without being too indiscrete, I'll mention that the Coors medical staff used volunteers from the race construction crew members (who were working 18 and 20 hours a day, and who occasionally turned to some, ah ...... enhancement) as controls for the random urine sampling of the racers, to make sure that the folks in the testing lab were payin g attention. They were.
As Brooks and others mentioned Bill Woodul, I'll also give him a tip of the cap. I miss you, Buckwheat.
Peter Bridge
san diego ca usa