ANATOMY OF . . . An ESPN Broadcast
W
ith its gargantuan 2.5-mile size and built-up infield, including the sightline- disrupting pagoda, Indianapolis Motor Speedway doesn’t allow broadcasters to
cover it like the other ovals on the schedule. “We shoot it like it’s a road course,” says Terry
Cook, technical manager for ESPN. So, ESPN blanketed the track with 76 high-
def cameras for the Brickyard 400. That marked the most cameras the network will use during its 18 broadcasts — but not by much. ESPN uses between 65 and 75 cameras for the other races. The aerial photo above has been overlaid
with approximate camera placements to show just how many lenses were trained on the track. And, that does not even include the 24 in-car cameras on the track. We took a close look at four of the more novel
cameras ESPN employed to bring the Brickyard 400 to viewers around the world.
—JAY PFEIFER 40 NASCAR ILLUSTRATED
BAT CAM Deployed solely for the Brickyard, this
camera can swoop over the track’s long straight frontstretch, offering a one-of-a- kind look at pit road and Indy’s famous yard of bricks.
Suspended on a cable between two
temporary steel towers — one anchored near the pagoda, the other across the track near Turn 1 — the camera trolley is pulled back and forth by winches on either end. A two-man team drives the Bat Cam.
One controls the movement of the trolley back and forth while the other trains the camera on the action below. At top speed, the Bat Cam can reach
80 mph, fast enough to beat a Cup car off pit road.
Photos: Jim Fluharty; Aerial photo: Courtesy IMS
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