Blackout lifted for 1st time since 1950

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced Wednesday morning that this year’s running of the Indianapolis 500 will be telecast live in the central Indiana market for the first time since 1950 because the race is a sellout.

ABC typically broadcasts the race live nationwide, but WRTV — per ABC’s contract with IMS — doesn’t show it locally until the night of the race. This year, WRTV will show the race live in the afternoon (the green flag is scheduled for 12:19 p.m.) and rebroadcast it at 7 p.m.

IMS sold out about 240,000 reserved tickets earlier this month and said it has sold all of its general admission tickets.