In its heyday, ABC had Jim McKay's authoritative presence calling the play-by-play and reacting to Jackie Stewart's observations. Then we had the Bobby & Sam Show, where Unser would argue with Posey every 25 laps as Paul Page played traffic cop and referee. Keith Jackson, Brent Musberger and Al Michaels also added some star power to the Indianapolis 500 telecasts through the years. In the mid-1970s, the Indy 500 was second only to the Olympics in terms of rights fees as ABC paid dearly for a property that cranked out 16 ratings with a 30 share and was tape delayed. When legendary announcer Chris Schenkel talked best pal Tony Hulman into taking a flyer on televising the Indy 500 in 1971,...
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