A camera on the Washington Monument?!? FOX going all-out for IndyCar Freedom 250

FOX is putting a camera on top of the Washington Monument.

Yes.

That's how innovative the team was thinking for the IndyCar Freedom 250.

It’s a first for a sporting event in Washington, D.C., and will be one of 90 cameras the network is utilizing to give viewers a sense of the time and place of this historic race.

“I would never have even dreamt we could put a camera on the Washington Monument,” FOX Sports’ lead IndyCar producer, Pam Miller, said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports.

FOX’s IndyCar director, Mitch Riggin, did three site surveys to plan the visuals of the race, which is set for Sunday, Aug. 23 and will be part of the festivities celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States . In a separate interview, he explained how he visualized the production setup. He analyzed Google Maps to scout the location and then wore a 360-degree camera while riding a scooter around the projected race track, which includes a stretch down Pennsylvania Avenue.

“It was like ‘Pinch me’ because we both looked at each other and we were like, ‘Oh my God, this is so great!” Miller said of formulating the idea of a camera on top of the Washington Monument with Riggin. “It's going to be the most amazing shot!”

Another camera will be on a 70-foot crane overlooking a segment of the track where FOX is looking forward to capturing the crowd's energy.

“It's just a goosebumpy city to know all the famous people and people who've made history who walked through those streets," Miller said.

Perhaps the most fascinating camera of the bunch is the Owl Cam, brand new for this race. It will be secured onto a 4D gimbal mount on an arch across Pennsylvania Avenue and have the ability to follow the cars as they speed by. It will capture a car as it approaches with the U.S. Capitol in the background and pivot with a "whoosh" effect as the car speeds underneath, and follow it as it zooms away toward the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives.

“I think all the hardcore race fans are going to love it,” Riggin said. “And hopefully, all the new viewers that can tune in to see will be like, ‘This is awesome! Cars going 180 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol in the background, how cool is that?’”

Riggin said FOX will also have two drones covering the race. The network will be working with Beverly Hills Aerials for that component of the coverage. The company was part of NBC's coverage of the Sail4th 250 Independence Day celebration in New York City this year, so has familiarity working with high security that is needed for this race.

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FOX’s lead IndyCar play-by-play announcer, Will Buxton, explained what the various camera angles mean for the audience at home.

“I'm a race fan first and foremost,” he said. “... It's always wonderful when you can have a backdrop to a motor race, particularly on a street circuit, something that is interesting and intriguing and a bit different.”

He pointed out Formula E’s race in Rome, which ran from 2018 to 2023, as a similar landmark race. But he said that racing around Washington, D.C., for the 250th anniversary of the United States is on a different level.

“To be racing where we are, around the monuments, the museums, down streets that we are, and to know that every shot that the folks are going to see at home of cars racing on track will have behind them, you know, the Capitol, the Smithsonian, it just blows your mind,” he said, “because this kind of thing just doesn't happen.”

FOX takes pride in capitalizing on these significant moments, including the annual Indianapolis 500. Riggin pointed to how FOX set viewership records broadcasting this summer’s World Cup , which was held in the United States, as evidence of that success.

“One of our hallmarks is being able to make things look like an event,” he said. “It's not just a race. I think you saw the perfect example at the World Cup. That became a cultural event, right? Not just a sporting event.”

Something unique for FOX's coverage of the Freedom 250 is heightened security. FOX is working with the CIA, FBI, Park Service and Secret Service to ensure everything runs smoothly. Riggin said his team is "constantly" in communication with authorities and "every day, it's an adjustment."

“We've literally found like, this curb, so step off the curb, it's Park Service. Step on the curb, it's the city. Step on the curb, it's some other thing,” Riggin said. “... We've never dealt with this level of bureaucracy before. So it hasn't been a challenge, but I mean, it has been a challenge. Everything we've gotten done, but we've just had to adapt on the fly.”

Any time there is a new race and new technology, there is uncertainty. Adaptability is something that was emphasized to the FOX team at another one-off IndyCar event this season — the Grand Prix of Arlington in March.

Riggin said he hit the ground in the Dallas area on Wednesday with practice starting on Friday, which felt too late. So for the D.C. race, he was planning on arriving on Monday.

The team also had a camera not work at Arlington and it was placed too far out to retrieve and fix. Keeping the cameras accessible was a note moving forward.

At the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham in Toronto earlier in August, the track was still under construction on the Friday of race weekend , forcing the first practice to be pushed back.

“There are things that are going to happen on these new courses,” Miller said. “There's nothing predictable. The drivers are figuring it out. We're figuring it out.”

Buxton said the uncertainty helps create drama in the actual race. The rectangular-shaped track for the Freedom 250 competition isn’t exactly difficult. But the fact that nobody has ever raced on it creates a free-for-all where championship leader Alex Palou, six-time ...