NBC poised to bring unprecedented Indy 500 to huge audience

Everything was new to Mike Tirico when he walked past the famed pagoda that dominates the front stretch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, assumed his broadcast perch high above pit lane and proceeded to host his first Indy 500.

Now, all that was new has given way to unprecedented.

One year after NBC assumed the rights from longtime broadcaster ABC, the network is preparing to bring one of the iconic events in sports to a potentially recordsetting television audience Sunday. The reasons are many, but the biggest are these: There remain far fewer live events than normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the 300,000 fans that turn out each year will be there in person, and the event itself still stirs a certain sense of Americana among race fans.

“We’re all taking different stock of the things we do professionally and personally,” Tirico said Wednesday, “and the chance to sit right there on the track with Danica Patrick and have the 33 cars behind us and the 300,00 people behind us is one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. We’ll miss those fans incredibly.

“But the Indy 500 is the Indy 500,” Tirico continued, “and there’s never been one like this year. So I’m looking forward to documenting that history and sharing it with the fans at home.”

How exactly do you share an event that is as much about the pomp and circumstance as the actual race, though, when most of that pomp and circumstance has been scaled back or eliminated altogether?

That is the challenge facing executive producer Sam Flood and the rest of the NBC broadcast crew.

NBC has promised to meld the traditions that have made the Indy 500 with the new normal that has enveloped the world. At the same time, the network is hoping to deliver a broadcast that educates what could be one of the largest audiences in race history while also turning some casual fans into avid ones.

“This is the race event that even the pandemic isn’t going to stop,” said Leigh Diffey, who will handle the race call once the green flag drops. “

Michael Conroy / Associated Press Marco Andretti, right, with Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato during the front row photo session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race.