IMS lifts local live Indy 500 blackout after Sunday storms, weather delays

INDIANAPOLIS -- There's typically no cheering allowed in the press box, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles' afternoon update regarding the delayed Indianapolis 500 elicited a round of applause.

Not that jet dryers and air titans would begin clearing the 2.5-mile oval of the puddles gather during two hours of rain, or that the 500 would eventually begin by 4:45 p.m. or so.

The clapping came after Boles said Penske Entertainment officials had opted to lift the local live blackout of Sunday's 500, after saying Friday the track would again block local live coverage of Sunday's 108th running of the 500, with the grandstands and infield not nearly sold out of all those sections' tickets.

Latest Indy 500 updates: Race start time, TV blackout lifted, pre-race activities

"Sort of as an extra gift to our community ... as we know, a lot of people come here and expect to be able to leave (IMS) sometime around 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. when the Indy 500 is over to go home and relieve babysitters or get ready for what they're doing on Monday or to get ready to watch the delayed broadcast on Sunday night at home, we've talked to our friends at NBC and WTHR," Boles said. "Sometime prior to the last elements of the pre-race ceremony, (local NBC affiliate) WTHR will broadcast this year's Indianapolis 500 live for fans who could not stay or felt too wet and decided to go home.

"We're excited to do that. Thank you to our friends at WTHR and NBC for working with us to make that happen."

As IndyStar reported earlier Sunday, NBC will carry any and all 500 on-track action Sunday afternoon and evening, despite previous programming plans ahead of the decision to delay the start of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing Sunday morning.

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Moments after Boles finished his brief address in the IMS media center, the sounds of the track drying process -- which Boles said would take approximately two hours -- began, putting a tentative target start time at somewhere around 5 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IMS lifts local Indy 500 blackout after weather delays, race to still air on NBC