Both IndyCar and NASCAR are receiving broadcasting revamps for May, the biggest month for auto racing.
With IndyCar, Fox has taken over televising the Indianapolis 500, the most important event on the IndyCar calendar.
Fox is utilizing all its assets for the occasion.
Fox’s FS1 and FS2 cable channels have been deployed at various times. FS1 last week showed two hours a day of Indianapolis 500 practice. Qualifications for the Indy 500 this past weekend were shown at various times on FS1, FS2 and the Fox broadcast channel.
What’s more, one of FS1’s daily sports talk shows, First Thing First, is scheduled to broadcast on Thursday and Friday from Indianapolis. Friday is the last practice day before the 109th running of the Indy 500 on May 25.
As for the Indianapolis 500 itself? For decades, it was shown on ABC (although not broadcast live until the 1980s). Eventually, NBC got the rights.
Fox last year made a play for IndyCar, in which Roger Penske, the 88-year-old owner of IndyCar, joined forces with Rupert Murdoch, the 94-year-old ruler of the Fox empire.
Under the deal, all IndyCar races will be shown live on Fox’s broadcast network starting this year. That’s coming to a climax with this month’s Indianapolis 500.
IndyCar is still trying to heal from a split that ran for years. Management of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway started its own racing series, originally called the Indy Racing League. That put it in competition with Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), which supplied most of the teams for the Indy 500.
CART eventually fell by the wayside. But IndyCar generally had been damaged. NASCAR had zoomed by in the U.S. market. The Hulman-George family, which acquired the Indianapolis speedway in 1945, sold out to Penske, a deal announced in 2019 and completed in January 2020.
Over at NASCAR, Amazon’s Prime streaming service will make it debut televising the first of five races.
First up: The Coca-Cola 600, the longest NASCAR event, which also takes place on May 25.
This is the first race of a seven-year agreement between NASCAR and Amazon Prime.
Until now, the Coca-Cola 600, held has Charlotte Motor Speedway, has been shown on Fox. The event isn’t the biggest NASCAR event. That status belongs to the Daytona 500 in February, which is broadcast by Fox.
Still, the Charlotte race is important for NASCAR. It’s 100 miles longer than the Indianapolis 500. NASCAR teams are based in the Charlotte area, meaning for a couple of weeks they don’t have to travel very far, unlike most race weekends.
Amazon’s NASCAR contract is the latest example of the tech giant moving into sports telecasts.
Amazon recently has been showing Thursday night National Football League games. The company reached an 11-year pact to show NBA and WNBA games starting later this year.
In the lead up to Amazon’s NASCAR debut, the streaming service has run commercials with retired driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The Amazon NASCAR schedule runs through June 22.
Also in May, the European-based Formula One series will hold the Monaco Grand Prix on May 25.
