Get to know FOX Sports Producer Pam Miller and FOX’s plans for its IndyCar Series Coverage

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans and insiders view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy as we begin our fifth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. The biggest story heading into the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season is Fox Sports beginning its first year as the television partner of IndyCar. For the first time in IndyCar history, the entire season will be televised by the same major network as the 17 races on the 2025 schedule will be on Fox Sports. In addition to that, both days of Indianapolis 500 qualifications will be televised live by Fox Sports, bringing the total on live major network television to 19 events. In addition to its race coverage, all IndyCar practice and qualifications will be televised live on either FS1 or FS2 Fox Sports cable channels. Fox Sports will also show all Indynext by Firestone races live with 12 on FS1 and 2 on FS2. It's the first time in Indynext history that all of the races on the IndyCar Developmental Series schedule will be televised live. Fox Sports intends to tell the story of IndyCar, its teams, drivers, and races in a unique and aggressive way. Fox Sports has already been actively promoting IndyCar on its college football, college basketball, and NFL telecast, and plans more promotion during Super Bowl XLIX on Fox Sports on February 9. More people tune into the Super Bowl than any other television event of the year. And that type of exposure is tremendously valuable to help tell the world that Fox Sports is the new television home of IndyCar. Pam Miller is the coordinating producer for IndyCar on Fox and took time out of her busy schedule to join Pit Pass Indy for this exclusive interview. Joining us now on Pit Pass Indy, it's a real honor to have Pam Miller, the coordinating producer of Fox Sports, who's in charge of the IndyCar coverage for this season and for the future seasons that Fox will be involved with IndyCar. Hopefully it's a very long-term commitment, but so far Fox has made quite a splash in the IndyCar. We're at IndyCar content days and everybody's just raving about... All of the things that Fox Sports is already doing well ahead of kicking off the season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. If you could bring our listeners a little bit up to speed about the philosophy that Fox Sports hopes to do with IndyCar.

PAM:

Well, we want to make it so that it connects with the public in a fresh way. And I think what you saw here at Production Days, and Indy kind of sets the tone. We've got multiple sets. We're trying to give everybody a fresh eye. I think we've invigorated the drivers a little bit, too, because they're seeing something exciting and new in all the staging that we have and all the bumps. So we're trying to educate the fans, bring the fans up to speed on what's been happening in IndyCar, show the fresh faces, show their personalities. I think the guys have been doing a great job on all the sets. and all the different things we've been asking them to do. There's seven stations that they've been going through, and they've all shown a great personality and a great willingness to participate in what we're asking them to do.

BRUCE:

It used to be said that the IndyCar series is the greatest story that nobody's heard, and it really seems that Fox wants to tell that story, and how important is that?

PAM:

Oh my gosh, that's the whole goal. I mean, we want to make sure that people know who the Indy 500 champion is, can name it, name that person off the top of their head. We want to make sure that they are excited about the sport, they understand the speed, the daring, the characters, the heroes. We want these guys larger than life heroes. I mean, we all grew up. hearing names like Mario Andretti and AJ Foyd and Bobby Unser and Al Unser. And, you know, we want those names to be household names again. And we want to make sure that people feel the excitement and the energy from the track. I mean, Indy 500 is the greatest sporting event in the world. It's the most iconic sporting event in the world. We want people to be excited about that, but also every race on the calendar that has a different personality, a different location, There's some really cool cities. There's cool landscapes. There's something to lean into at every racetrack in every race. And we want the fans to see that and want to go and see it in person and want to meet the drivers and know who they are and be curious. That's our goal.

BRUCE:

One of the great things that Fox Sports is doing is this series of commercials involving the drivers. The first one debuted with Joseph Newgarden. Everybody raved about how great it was. The philosophy behind that, because these are all names that casual sports fans might hear of during the month of May, but the rest of the year, unless they're diehard IndyCar fans, may not hear so much about them. You want to change that. And how successful do you think that approach is going to be?

PAM:

Oh gosh, Robert Gottlieb and our promotions team nailed that. I mean, it's really telling these guys' stories. I mean, these are big personalities, larger-than-life personalities. And if you can, in short, impactful vignettes like that ad, show people what these guys are about, who they're about, give them a flavor of their attitude, give them a flavor of what their personality's like, you know, they're going to want more. They're going to be curious. Who's Joseph Newgarden? Who, you know, what has he done? And that's just going to drive fans and make them connect more. So I think, look, I think telling their stories to a wider audience and bringing people in that might just be curious, hey, you know, it's a, it's a social media, you know, it's kind of like a social media approach, right? Like you, you put that on a game, but then you put it on social media, but the short snippet is so impactful in the way it was done, the way it was edited, the tone of it. I just think it brings people in and wants them to learn more. about each driver.

BRUCE:

The level of planning that goes into a TV partner for the upcoming season is very thorough, detailed, and begins a lot longer than the TV viewer may think. For instance, you've had film crews in Tryon, North Carolina at William Barron's studio. He's the man that sculpts the face of the Indianapolis 500 winner for the Borg Warner Trophy. You've had film crews in other parts of the IndyCar world during the latter half of 2024. And at content day, you're filming stuff that will appear for the Indianapolis 500 broadcast. How do you describe to somebody not in the TV industry, just how much planning goes in to television?

PAM:

You live it while you're planning it. Since July, I have been living IndyCar every day. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not watching a race. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not coming up with an idea with my long list of brainstorms. You basically every minute that you're awake, you're thinking about what could make an impact, what could be better, what could we do creatively. You're looking at what's been done in the past, you're reading data, you're reading books, you're talking to people, you're on the phone for hours just picking the brain of drivers and strategists and team owners. really immersing yourself in it until you go to the first race and educating our crew and the young people that are going to be working on it that maybe haven't seen anything but the Indy 500 and just showing them what the experience will be like. And it's a 24-7 immersive experience up until the green flag falls at St. Pete. And then it's probably a 60-plus hour a week immersive experience.

BRUCE:

So when you do so much pre-production, how do you stay nimble enough to stay current with stuff that may happen during the month of May?

PAM:

During the month of May, I mean, editorially, we'll follow what the stories become. I mean, we know, look, you can only do so much planning. And in my experience over the last, good God. years of covering 25 years of NASCAR and, as you know, many years of Open Wheel on and off before that. I mean, you have to be nimble enough to know, OK, this is kind of what we think might happen. But you have to be able to change direction in a second. And so we'll follow the stories and editorially be sound and move with what the speedway in the month of May brings. And the whole season, quite frankly, I mean, we can go into the season thinking, oh, this might happen or that might happen. Change is a good thing too, right? Like people evolve and teams evolve and what you see in St. Pete won't be what you see in Nashville for the race teams or for the TV production. Everybody evolves and grows during the season. So you have to be nimble enough to react to all of it.

BRUCE:

Fox Sports employees such as yourself, such as Eric Shanks, other people, came to some IndyCar races toward the second half of the season in 2024, met with team owners, met with drivers, got their feedback and input. What were some of the things that they told you they would like to see in regards of telling the IndyCar story?

PAM:

Well, first of all, they were excited because having the races on network television every week will help. When people know where to watch the race, know what time to watch the race, know that it's where to tune in, they're going to follow the stories. And we're going to cover everything that moves all weekend through our other channels, FS1 and FS2. But the bottom line was they were like, get the message out. We have a great story. We have great racing. We want to showcase our great racing. And I don't think there was a person that didn't have that message. They feel like they're on the cusp of something, that they have some momentum, and they just want to make sure that we tell the story, and that's what we plan on doing.

BRUCE:

And one of the things that Fox made sure that they did was it's going to look different than the NASCAR telecast. It's not going to necessarily be the people that do that. You want to have IndyCar people, you want to have your own brand, your own face, your own images on that. You've retained two very popular people from the previous partner at NBC, James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. You're bringing in someone relatively new to the United States, but not new to international motorsports, with Will Buxton being the anchor in the booth. If you could explain the philosophy with James and with Townsend, but now bringing in Will Buxton, who is internationally known through his Formula One work.

PAM:

I mean, Will has a following, but I mean, he's also dabbled in IndyCar before. He's been around the paddock. He grew up in Europe with some of the participants in IndyCar. He has an energy and a likability factor that can't be denied. I mean, just even here this week, he's just full of excitement. And the chemistry between the three of them is great. So I think he has a little racing pedigree, journalism, you know, the Netflix show. He just crosses a lot of a lot of areas and checks a lot of boxes. I mean, he his energy will be undenied and his passion for it for any motorsport is you see it the second he smiles. So I think I think honestly, it's all about You know, he also brings a lot of, like, youth with him because he has, like, a lot of kids that follow the Netflix show or his Instagram. So I think he can help educate the younger generations coming up that might be interested just because he might be doing the show to come take a look.

BRUCE:

When James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell were both working at NBC, they were known for oftentimes getting involved in lively debate, maybe disagreeing with each other, things that may be happening on the track. How much of that lively debate are you encouraging during the Fox telecast?

PAM:

Well, of course, they should have their opinion and be able to say it. And we'll support them with graphics and video. But hey, that's part of the energy and the chemistry of the whole thing. And everybody watching at home has a different opinion of what happened, right? Or what they're seeing on the screen or what they think a call should be. It's like any stick and ball sport. Everybody has an opinion. You want people to be able to talk about it. And I would encourage them to stay true to themselves. And if they see it one way and the other one sees it the other way, go for it. You know, we should have people telling us what they think they saw and in their opinion, what they think matters. So it's all good.

BRUCE:

What was it about the IndyCar series that led Fox to make the commitment that we're going to put every race of the season on Fox Sports?

PAM:

Um, I think it's just that the product is really good in the fact that they know it's a sport that has a huge growth curve ahead of it. And having like, it's like I said earlier, having the consistency of where to find it. I think the data is there. I think people when they know and are tuned into the right channel and they know it's going to be there when there's a race on that day, I think that that's momentum that no one can deny, honestly. So I think that that would be the philosophy.

BRUCE:

How soon do you think it'll be until you announce your pit lineup and the rest of your broadcast package?

PAM:

We're getting close, I think a couple weeks, but it's all in process and we're just making some final decisions.

BRUCE:

To look ahead to a Fox IndyCar Sunday, how much will be devoted to the pre-race show, then leading into the race telecast itself. What are the times of the broadcast windows in terms of how much time you devote to IndyCar? A lot of times people have said the race ends, we might hear from the winner, but that's it. You want to go more detailed and talk to more people after races. So what does a typical Fox Sports IndyCar Sunday look like?

PAM:

Well, it will depend on what time zone we're in, time-wise. But as far as pre-race, St. Pete will have a full half-hour pre-race. And then after that, it'll be more of a 15-minute setup to a green flag, depending on the timing. We want to get to racing fast, but we don't want to not set up the story. So we will take the time to set up the stories. And then Indy 500 will have a longer pre-race. We're still determining exact time, but it'll be a much longer pre-race. And then on the backside, once we get through the race, obviously we're going to stay and editorially tell the stories that matter. We're going to talk to the top three and we're going to pay off the stories that people care about. So we can spin forward to the next race and get the message out there, get people's messaging out there as to what happened and editorially set up where we're headed.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break. Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Here's the rest of my exclusive interview with Pam Miller, coordinating producer for Fox Sports coverage of the IndyCar Series on Pit Pass Indy. The Indianapolis 500 has always been an event where networks bring in their signature voices for whether it be ABC, sometimes you had Al Michaels as the host of the Indianapolis 500 telecast, or later years with NBC, Mike Tirico had that role. Does Fox Sports plan on bringing in some of their signature talent to be part of the Indianapolis 500 package?

PAM:

Those announcements will be coming. I mean, you saw Michael Strahan announcement on the pre-race show at NFL pre-game show. You'll hear those announcements through the spring.

BRUCE:

And how important is that to really connect the signature voice who you see on NFL football or Major League Baseball, the World Series, as part of an event like the Indianapolis 500?

PAM:

I mean, you wanna bring in everybody that you can to cross over to all the different sports, all the different people that are following those people. I mean, it's the biggest motor sports, the biggest event in the world. So you need to give it the treatment it deserves and bringing in all those voices. And look, all of those people are excited about it. It's not like they're just have a contract and have to come. They want to come, they wanna be part of it. heck, let's take all the energy that we can and all of the horsepower that we can from all these personalities and get the word out there. I mean, you cannot tell the world louder how important this event is. So bring it on. The more personalities, the better. I think it's going to make it fun. It's going to make it accessible to people that may not even know the race is happening. But the bottom line is it is the biggest sporting event in the world. Let's give it what it deserves.

BRUCE:

And when you think that only two networks prior to Fox have covered the Indianapolis 500, ABC covered them for well over 50 years. And back then it was the A-list talent that did the Indianapolis 500, whether it be Chris Schenkel, Jim McKay, Jackie Stewart, Bill Fleming, just an unbelievable list of Hall of Fame broadcasters from that era They did it for well over 50 years. NBC had a pretty good run with it. Now the baton gets passed to Fox. So the prestige and the honor of being able to cover an Indianapolis 500 for a network has to be like covering the Super Bowl.

PAM:

You just gave me goosebumps. It's an honor to even be asked to be involved with it. And yes, it is. It's as big as the Super Bowl, if not bigger. You know, it's like, I don't even know what to say to that. You just made me speechless, but it's a true honor. It's a privilege. It's not anything that we take lightly. We wanna make it as prestigious and give it the love and attention that it deserves, but it's, yeah, it's a pinch me moment and it is a true, I mean, I've said this many times, it's a true honor.

BRUCE:

We've known each other for many, many years. You've been involved in TV for a very long time. If you could recap your career to tell our listeners, all of the events that you've been able to do, you were with ESPN for a while. You've did a lot of great work in auto racing. If you could just maybe recap your career for the listeners.

PAM:

Well, I started as a very young kid. We all did. But, yeah, I actually, you know, I never thought I would end up in motorsports. I started working in New York City right out of college. I went to Ithaca College and I was doing football, producing football, producing hockey. Ended up in New York City for about a year and a half on a startup show with a group of people that worked for a man you might have heard of, Howard Cosell, and worked on a pretty cool startup nightly show covering the New York Giants, New York Jets, the Rangers, all that. And then I got recruited by a couple of Ithaca grads to go to ESPN, Bob Scanlon and Bruce Connell, and ended up first doing hockey and football. And then when the ESPN lost the property of NHL, Terry Lingner was my boss. And Terry is a very well-known, iconic motorsports person. He advised me, he said that, look, you know, I know you're very interested in producing live events at ESPN. We only have, you know, so many opportunities. They're most likely not going to a woman anytime soon. He was just very blunt with me and said, would you like to? But he goes, there's one lane I think you might have a chance. He's like, would you like to? be introduced to auto racing. And I kind of jokingly, I remember saying to him, I don't know where the oil goes in my own car. I'm going to have to learn this. But he did. To his credit, he gave me a chance. He sent me to Watkins Glen with Benny Parsons. Benny introduced me to the sport of auto racing, became like a lifelong dear mentor and, you know, second dad. And from there, about a year and a half later, I was, I had been working on Formula One. I ended up being, going around the world, producing Formula One, being the first female Formula One producer and working at ESPN with Bob. Bob Varsha, yep, Bob Varsha and David Hobbs and that whole group. And then from there I took off. I started working across all different types of motor sports and working NASCAR. And then, like you said, ended up at Indianapolis for about six years straight, bouncing a couple of times between where I had to go for F1 or where I had to go for NASCAR. But the bottom line was I was here covering the race, features, pit reporting, running around, working for ABC and ESPN. And then through the years went to CBS. And then ended up at Fox in 2001 as part of their NASCAR package. And also bounced between Open Wheel. I worked for CART a bit and all that. So I've had the privilege to basically work all different types of motorsports events and invent some. I worked on the Prelude to the Dream with Tony Stewart. SRX, helped develop SRX for CBS.

BRUCE:

And here I am today. So I'm going to get you speechless again. Now, after that tremendous list of accomplishments in your career, now you get to add Indianapolis 500 producer to that. So in a lot of ways, this is almost like getting an Academy Award or an Emmy. I should say an Emmy.

PAM:

Look, like I said, it was, I was not lost on me and it's still, I'm still like pinching myself and I am so excited. I'm excited to even be part of the event, to think that I'm actually, you know, if you had told me years ago when I used to come here running around the pits and doing all that stuff, that I would be sitting in the chair producing the Indy 500, I would have said, yeah, right, Bruce. But no, I'm thrilled, I'm honored. I just want it to be a great day for everybody on the crew, for my bosses, for the talent and how everything goes smoothly. And just be grateful for the opportunity and not forget to enjoy it because it's a dream moment, you know.

BRUCE:

Are you going to have the same intensity in the production chair, in the production trailer, in the TV compound when that green flag drops for the Indianapolis 500 as those drivers?

PAM:

Oh yeah, but I also think, you know, my hope is that we also all We'll have the intensity, but I hope we show the humanity and the bravery and the true moments and the emotion of it. I mean, everybody has an emotional moment through the month of May, especially the day of the race, but there are so many human moments of the race and that just the pure bravery of the whole thing. I also hope that all of us enjoy it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And you only get to do your first Indy 500 one time. So I would tell our whole group to not only be intense and pay attention to the storylines and be nimble, but also breathe and enjoy it.

BRUCE:

One of the things I think anybody that's involved with auto racing as a career, we all started out thinking we might cover the NFL or we might cover the NBA. We might cover a major college basketball program that wins the national championships. Then we get to cover auto racing and we discover these are some great stories. These are people who have better stories to tell than some of the more famous baseball, football, basketball players out there. Do you think that was one of the things that really gets people such as ourselves hooked on this as a career?

PAM:

Yeah, no, I learned that a long time ago as a kid, like when Terry said, hey, you want to try and go to Watkins Glen? I mean, as you dove into the stories, I mean, I always used to say, well, hockey players are a lot like race car drivers. They kind of have the same trajectory and how they do things and, you know. The personalities change a little and the times change a little, but the stories remain the same. There's a human element. There's a different DNA of a race car driver. There's a different way of looking things. And they all have their prism. They look at it through whether it's humor, intensity, preparedness, fitness, they all have their way. But in the end, they're probably the most daredevil, put-it-on-the-line guys. I don't even know how they do it. We were talking about even how they see things in slow motion and all the things. But the human part, right, Bruce? The human part is really what you want to tell. Because if people don't have a human or a person to connect with or relate to on some level, The car is the car. The car is cool. The car is high tech. There's all kinds of gizmos. The steering wheels are awesome. But in the end, it's the guy's number that they're wearing on their T-shirt and the name that they're rooting for. They have to have someone to cheer for. So it's great to be able to tell those stories and be part of that.

BRUCE:

Do you also think that IndyCar is at a tipping point in terms of popularity? There's a lot of young drivers, a lot of attractive young drivers. They have tremendous personalities. They've got great stories. They do a cool sport. Everybody wants to attract a younger audience in television. Do you think that IndyCar is now at that tipping point where, done correctly, IndyCar can become a tremendously popular sport?

PAM:

A hundred percent. I mean, when I was in the paddock this, the end of the summer, it was really obvious to me looking at the demographic. Even Portland, I mean, I'd been to the Portland race several times. I had worked on that race. Just seeing the change in the paddock, the younger people, they were probably in their twenties, what they were wearing, who they were gravitating to, a hundred percent. I think they are on the cusp of something that could be enormous.

BRUCE:

Well, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has always been where the greatest race drivers in the world participate. It's also been where the greatest broadcasters, television people have shown those drivers and given their stories to the world. You're going to get your chance coming up here in 2025. You've had an outstanding career. We've known each other quite a while, but good luck with Fox Sports coverage of the IndyCar Series. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you. And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. We want to thank our guest, Pam Miller, coordinating producer for IndyCar on Fox Sports, for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests helped make Pit Pass Indy your path to victory lane in IndyCar. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. And look for a special bonus edition of Pit Pass ending later this week. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.