With a record 100 cameras in use, ABC will televise the historic 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 29 at 11 a.m. ET. Annually one of ESPN's largest and most complex television productions, the Indianapolis 500 telecast is even larger this year with the milestone of the 100th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Airing on
ABC for the 52nd consecutive year, and streaming live on WatchESPN for the first time, the telecast begins with a pre-race show at 11 a.m. and then polesitter James Hinchcliffe will lead the field of 33 to the green flag at 12:17 p.m. The race telecast of the premier event of the Verizon
INDYCAR SERIES is presented by Firestone.
"We've been pointing to the 100th Indianapolis 500 for a long time and now that it's here, we're more proud than ever to be associated with the Greatest Spectacle in Racing," said Julie Sobieski,
ESPN vice president, League Sports Programming. "Producing this telecast is a labor of love for our team and this will be our biggest year ever. We're all really looking forward to Sunday."
"100 cameras for the 100th" will include three onboard cameras per car in 12 of the 33 cars competing in the race. Also in use will be four Ultra Hi Motion cameras to enhance views and replays, with the cameras capable of shots around the entire 2.5-mile track as well as all of pit road. The cameras are capable of producing images up to 20 times slower than live action, allowing viewers to see detail not visible at regular speed.
The camera count also will include the use of aerial cameras located in a blimp and a helicopter and four robotic cameras with overhead views of the pits. Sound will be captured for viewers by 287 microphones, including 235 positioned around the racetrack and 26 mounted in race cars. Four uplinks and 16 transmission paths will be utilized and 170,000 feet of fiber cable will connect the equipment. Some 200 people will be part of the production.
Viewers of the
ABC telecast will have the option of a second screen experience through a choice of live streaming video from the onboard cameras on ESPN3, which will carry the feeds exclusively through WatchESPN.
Drivers carrying onboard cameras during the race will be Hinchcliffe, defending 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya and 2015 Verizon
INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon as well as Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves. Castroneves will be trying to become only the fourth driver to win the race four times.
For the telecast, lead announcer Allen Bestwick will be joined in the booth for analysis by former series drivers Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever, with Goodyear in his 15th season as an analyst and Cheever his ninth. The announcer team also will include pit reporters Jon Beekhuis, Rick DeBruhl and Dr. Jerry Punch and
ESPN SPORTSCENTER anchor Lindsay Czarniak will host the pre-race show from the Speedway's iconic Pagoda. Reporter Marty Smith will join the pre-race show and take viewers inside some of the activities going on around the track.
ESPN's production of the race telecast will be led by senior coordinating producer Amy Rosenfeld and coordinating producer Kate Jackson, with Jim Gaiero producing and Bruce Watson directing. Jackson will produce the pre-race show with Chip Dean directing.
ESPN senior coordinating producer Shawn Murphy, who produced the Indy 500 telecast the past three years, has been a special consultant for the production team.
