ABC Coverage of the 1993 Indy 500

[Chris Paff]

The camera angles were so weird.. No turn 2 & turn 4 cameras.. They were replaced with cameras in the short chutes.. Not the best angles

[Doctorindy]

Here's basically what happened.

Over the summer of 1992 (after the June NASCAR 'tire test'), IMS replaced the outside retaining wall and catch fencing. Of course, it was all in preparation for the Brickyard 400 (which had not been announced yet, but everyone knew it was coming).

I guess when ABC showed up in the spring, they realized that the new catch fencing was quite a bit higher and more dense than the old one. The existing camera platforms on the outside grandstands were not high enough, and they felt the fence was obstructing the camera shots. They decided to construct two scaffolding "towers"...one in the south chute, one in the north chute...to achieve unobstructed views of the turns. I have picture of one tower somewhere. That was their workaround for 1993. Hence the "weird" inside shots.

The following year, I believe they had constructed new camera platforms on the outside grandstands. Platforms that were both higher and slightly shifted, to provide unobstructed views of the track (high enough to see over the catchfences). This is evident in the 1994 broadcasts of both the 500 and 400...whereby they had a brand new camera location in turn three. They now had a shot looking straight down up backstretch (just like the shot they have looking straight up the mainstretch). Prior to 1993, backstretch shot were always at slight angle because of the location of the camera platform.


Note there were other years where they utilized an infield "tower" in turn three. 1989 comes to mind.

[Roadrage]

The camera angles were so weird.. No turn 2 & turn 4 cameras.. They were replaced with cameras in the short chutes.. Not the best angles

I remember this well. I thought it was okay in addition to the existing cameras and angles, but I'm glad they were short lived. I remember the crane from past years that hoisted a camera platform way up in the air outside the south chute in the parking lot across 16th that not only captured the south end but an occasional long zoom to the north end. One thing that remains today, the NW Vista camera captures from turn 3 all the way down the main straightaway.

[Doctorindy]

I remember this well. I thought it was okay in addition to the existing cameras and angles, but I'm glad they were short lived. I remember the crane from past years that hoisted a camera platform way up in the air outside the south chute in the parking lot across 16th that not only captured the south end but an occasional long zoom to the north end. One thing that remains today, the NW Vista camera captures from turn 3 all the way down the main straightaway.

I always thought whoever that cameraman was, was nuts. It's on the left of this image from 1987. I'm not sure which year they stopped using it, but I'll pin it down.

image.png

They used that crane camera for a variety of uses. It's the camera that caught Tom Sneva's 1975 crash too.

Sometimes they'd employ it as an "Isolated Camera". For instance, in 1986, it was to be trained on Mario Andretti all day (who had to start in a back-up car from the back of the pack). They expected him to be charging from the start of the race, and wanted to follow his progress. Of course he dropped out early.

Especially in the tape delay era, it seems that they would train it on A.J. and follow him around from time to time....an indication of their 1970s mentality of covering the race....i.e., they focus so heavily on A.J., Mario, Bobby & Al Unser, a couple others, and whoever ended up winning the race (since they already knew). All the while completely ignoring almost everybody else.