Indy 500 Immersion experience benefits ESPNers

Vice President, Brand Strategies and Expressions Jeff Gonyo on the pit box of driver Graham Rahal. INDIANAPOLIS - Sundayâ€™s Indianapolis 500 culminated four days for a group of seven ESPN executives and SportsCenter anchors as they were â€œimmersedâ€ in the sport of IndyCar racing at its biggest event. Designed to introduce the members of the group to a sport they might not be totally familiar with, the immersion included activities such as taking 185 m.p.h. laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a two-seater race car driven by legendary racer Mario Andretti as well as driving single-seater IndyCar race cars. Group members also had meetings with IndyCar officials, lunched with some legendary drivers and toured the historic Speedwayâ€™s museum. Each group member also was assigned a race team competing in the race and spent time with the teams and their drivers Friday and Saturday as they prepared for the race. On Saturday, they also sat with their drivers during a one-hour autograph session attended by thousands of race fans. On race day, each worked as part of the teamâ€™s pit crew. Members of the group and the drivers they worked with included Vice President and Managing Editor, News, Craig Bengtson, who was on the team of race winner Juan Pablo Montoya. Others from the ESPN group included Vice President, Brand Strategies and Expressions, Jeff Gonyo who worked with driver Graham Rahal; David Kraft, executive editor, ESPN.com (Ed Carpenter); Missy Motha, SportsCenter coordinating producer (Ryan Hunter-Reay); Jodi Hebert, senior news editor (Scott Dixon); and anchors Kevin Negandhi (Tony Kanaan) and Jaymee Sire (Helio Castroneves). Negandhi, who participated in a similar ESPN immersion at a NASCAR event two years ago, felt the experience was definitely worthwhile. â€œItâ€™s hard to describe but itâ€™s the best possible experience you can get in understanding a sport thatâ€™s trying to increase its public consumption,â€ he said. â€œThe access was fantastic and going one-on-one with all the drivers and crews and understanding what it takes â€“ you canâ€™t replicate that. You canâ€™t watch that. You can only experience it.â€ The immersion group with legendary driver Mario Andretti before each took high-speed laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a two-seater race car. Janet Guthrie, the first woman to race in the Indy 500 in 1977, with SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi, senior news editor Jodi Hebert and anchor Jaymee Sire. Jodi Hebert, ESPN senior news editor, waves from the back seat of the IndyCar two-seater race car driven by Mario Andretti. SportsCenter anchor Jaymee Sire (right) narrates as fellow anchor Kevin Negandhi videos her prior to her driving an IndyCar race car. David Kraft, executive editor, ESPN.com, after his ride in the IndyCar two-seater with Mario Andretti. Former Indy 500 winners Danny Sullivan and Al Unser Jr. have lunch with Missy Motha, SportsCenter coordinating producer, and Vice President and Managing Editor, News, Craig Bengtson.

Jodi Hebert, ESPN senior news editor, waves from the back seat of the IndyCar two-seater race car driven by Mario Andretti.

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