Lift the Indy 500 blackout and see what you share with the community? An epic race in the gloaming

After a long rain delay, the IMS folks chose to lift the absurd blackout. Let's make a habit of this, shall we?

MY COUCH, Ind. – Oh yeah, the dateline.

I’m not in Speedway, not at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But after getting back late Saturday night from the Pacers – I might have made a brief beer stop on the way home; very brief – I decided I didn’t want to wake up in three hours to watch it rain most, if not all, of the day.

Plus, with the idiotic local TV blackout, which was in place with just 5,000 grandstand tickets remaining (for shame, for shame), I thought, “I’m gonna do what most Hoosiers do and listen to the entire thing on the radio.” Seemed like an inspired column idea, right? Get a sense of how great the radio broadcast is (I’ve heard nothing but raves over the years), maybe do like so many around here and barbecue while listening to the radio broadcast. Real Memorial Day tradition. At least in our TV market, the one market that pays rapt attention to the event.

Well, that story concept flew out the window.

Thankfully, I guess.

Early in the afternoon, they lifted the blackout, described by IMS president Doug Boles as a “thank you to the fans” who stuck it out through the rain delay or may have had to leave early – although the place looked pretty packed all the way until the end, and credit to the hardcore. In other words, “You paid for tickets, parking, beer, T-shirts and other accoutrements,” so we’ll deign to lift the blackout.

My heroes.

In theory, I could still listen to the radio, but…are you nuts? It’s on TV. Of course, I’m watching on TV. No, I’m not gonna mute the TV and listen to the radio because, well, maybe for Pacers games (it’s a Mark Boyle thing), but not on the Indianapolis 500. Leigh Diffey can be a bit over-caffeinated at times, but, hell, so is Gus Johnson. The man is excitable.

Anyway, before we get to the actual race, and it was epic with a record 18 lead changes, let’s talk about the blackout. It’s a tradition whose time has passed, like bell bottoms and civil discourse. I asked people on X what their greatest Indy 500 blackout workarounds were, and I heard a lot of stuff about VPN, satellites and weird pirated streaming services out of Costa Rica. I didn’t understand a word of it and sure as hell was incapable of executing any of these workarounds. Look, I can barely operate my TV remote. But in this technological day and age, if you’re savvy and you really want to watch the race locally, there are endless workarounds available.