Television
The race was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in the United States on ABC Sports. Changes were made at ABC/ESPN for 1999, as the networks created separate crews for their IRL and CART broadcasts. Paul Page, who had broadcast the 500 with either radio or television since 1974, was removed and shifted to the CART series. Bob Jenkins, formerly the radio network announcer for the 500, moved into the ABC-TV booth.
Tom Sneva returned as analyst, and for 1999 the "host" position was revived, with longtime ABC personality Al Michaels joining the crew. Jack Arute had left ABC for a short time to cover IRL races on Speedvision and Fox Sports Net, and thus was absent from this telecast. Jon Beekhuis was brought in to take his place in the pit area. Meanwhile, Gary Gerould conducted the winner's interview in victory lane, which was normally Arute's duty.
With Paul Page not part of the broadcast, this was the first Indy 500 in over a decade without the familiar "Delta Force intro." In addition, a new camera angle debuted, mounted at the top of the famous scoring pylon.
At the track, several of the electronic dot matrix scoreboards were removed and replaced with four Daktronics ProStarä Video Plus screens and three Daktronics ProStarä large screens (one each inside the four turns, one each inside the two shortchutes, and one along the north end of the mainstretch. A year later, the project was completed, and an additional six Daktronics ProStarä video screens were installed along the inside and outside of the frontstretch.
| ABC Television | |
|---|---|
| Booth Announcers | Pit/garage reporters |
|
Host: Al Michaels |
Jon Beekhuis Gary Gerould Dr. Jerry Punch |
Read more about this topic: 1999 Indianapolis 500, Broadcasting
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