Indy 500 Friday tidbit – 1
All 33 cars will carry GPS boxes for the Sportvision RaceFX system to provide telemetry and pointers to help identify the cars for viewers. And ESPN will use a radio replay system that can record, playback and edit radios from any of the 33 drivers.
The one-hour pre-race show will include interviews with many of the 33 starting drivers as well as four special features, including a look at the roller-coaster year of polesitter Helio Castroneves; the special relationship between Danica Patrick and her father; the "Super Team" of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti; and the Allure of Indy – why drivers will risk everything just to be able to compete in the Indy 500.
ESPN International's networks and syndication of Indy 500 will reach 213 countries and territories and more than 292 million households. In addition, U.S. troops serving overseas and on Navy vessels around the world will watch via a broadcast agreement between ESPN and the American Forces Network.
ABC Indianapolis 500 anchor Marty Reid and analysts Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. met with the media Thursday in the Economaki Press Conference Room.
SCOTT GOODYEAR: "Indianapolis is a little bit like Wimbledon or something of that nature, maybe like the Daytona 500, where the viewer is sort of a fan but not really understanding the terminology of what is going on. When something happens on the track, either visually or something said over the air, it's our job to be there and help to explain so that they know what is happening."
EDDIE CHEEVER JR.: "It's very difficult when you're watching a race to give the exact technical reason why something is happening. I think among all of us in the booth there is enough respect for this place, enough reverence for what happens here, that we are able to add hopefully a little bit of salt or spice to it."
ABC Indianapolis 500 anchor Marty Reid paid tribute to 1978 Indianapolis 500 co-Rookie of the Year Larry Rice, who died Wednesday at age 63. Rice was the color analyst along with anchor Gary Lee for many years during ESPN International's telecast of the Indianapolis 500.
Reid also worked with Rice on telecasts of off-road racing and ESPN's popular "Thunder" series of short-track racing.
MARTY REID: "We lost a friend of ours at ESPN, and a friend of the Speedway Wednesday. We would be remiss in not remembering Larry Rice, the 1978 co-rookie of the year. In my days of working with him in off-road racing, the great 'Thunder' days of sprint car racing. What a gentleman, what a class act. He was a great part of the ESPN family."