Covering “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” for the first time has truly been eye-opening. Like the drivers and diehard fans say, there indeed is something magical about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Because I’m covering the 500 for WISH-TV, there are many unique opportunities and observations I’ve had:
1) There is nothing like being at the Speedway early in the morning, or late after qualifying. There is something very peaceful. The place is cleared out and I have the place all to myself. No yellow jackets around. No drivers or teams around. Usually just myself, a reporter and a camera man. I’ve been to the track twice before 6am for Daybreak. Although it is often challenging getting out of bed, finally arriving at the track is well worth it. It is a quiet, unique and a special moment…
2) The access for media is unbelievable. I’ve been fortunate to work college sports, NBA/WNBA games, the Big Ten Tournament, etc. And yet the access IndyCar provides is uncanny. The drivers are very friendly, open for an interview and even a chat. There have been a couple times I have been standing around the pits or gasoline alley and found myself chatting away with a driver or crew member. It’s pretty humbling. The majority of the teams’ public relations personnel are friendly and helpful as well. They are looking to market their driver just as much as I am trying to get an interview. Already in my short time, I have my favorites. I was even running late for the media pit-stop competition on Wednesday, and one of the PR ladies offered to drop me off.
3) The race caters to the media. Most teams are very welcoming whenever our crew peaks inside of their garage to tape them working on the car or to do an interview. Crew members are excited for what is to come and will offer an explanation they can. We are fortunate at WISH-TV to have Derek Daly as our racing analyst for the 22nd year. He hasn’t been racing since 1989, but he provides tremendous knowledge to the show and also knows just about everyone on each team. It has been fun watching Daly interact with each of the teams. He walks around without a credential and that is just fine. Being in the bullpen during qualifications was a very surreal experience. The bullpen is in victory lane where after qualifying each of the drivers is required to do interviews first with the national television broadcast and radio broadcast, and then with the local media. Each station had a camera and reporter asking questions immediately following the drivers qualifying run.
4) The drivers are the most outgoing and open to fans than any other sports at any level. There are plenty of dedicated fans that have admitted to following the series and their favorite drivers to the different races. More specifically, there are two that stand above the rest. There is this one elder man that anytime he sees us and our camera, he will come up and say “I am a dedicated Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno fan. This is my 44th Indy 500 and I am a great interview.” He will then go on two show us his tattoos of each driver on both forearms. Then there is the dedicated Milka supporter who consistently praises our coverage of the race, but begs for more coverage of Milka. Too bad she is so slow she didn’t even qualify. However it is devoted fans like that, as well as drivers willing to take time for autographs that also make this place so different. Each day it seems like drivers have an autograph line and are posing for pictures.
5) Most of the crews working in the garages and the yellow jackets at the track have been at the Indy 500 for years. Many of the crew members have interesting stories about their history at the speedway and the teams they have been with. In fact this month, I met a couple of crew members on A.J. Foyt’s team that were on our own Derek Daly’s crew 40 years ago. One elder member admitted that this was his 55th Indianapolis 500 and he loved every moment. The difference he said was that “50 years ago we had two trailers and a small crew. Now we have semis full of cars, computers, wires, televisions, equipment and dozens of crew members.”