Both Frederick Koehler (Lists) and Robin Shou (14k) appear in all three films. Koehler is also rumored to reprise his role in the upcoming fourth film, Death Race 4: Beyond Anarchy (2018).
The guard "dogs" at the South African prison are hyenas.
The two tank trucks in this film are left over from the train heist scene from the film Fast Five (2011).
Eugene Khumbanyiwa plays a character named Nero. This might be an homage to a character In the original film, Death Race 2000 (1975), named Nero the Hero, played by Martin Kove.
The film's character of "Carl Lucas" shares the same name with the Marvel Comics superhero "Luke Cage", as Cage's birth name is also Carl Lucas (he changed it after he escaped from prison).