From: Michael Powell 
 
WIBC TO BROADCAST #FANTASY 500# SUNDAY, APRIL 4
 
INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, March 25, 2004 # When listeners tune their radio dial
to WIBC-AM 1070 in Indianapolis on Sunday, April 4, many will do a double-take
on the race broadcast they#re hearing: Ray Harroun just passed Al Unser Jr. for
the lead? Tom Sneva just let Mauri Rose by and is coming into the pits?
 
What#s going on here?
 
It is the inaugural #Fantasy 500,# sponsored by Bill Estes Chevrolet in
Indianapolis and presented by the American Dairy Association.
 
The brainchild of WIBC on-air personality Dave Wilson, the Bill Estes Fantasy
500 pits the greatest drivers from multiple eras of Indianapolis 500 history
against one another in an imaginary 500-mile classic at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, created through a combination of live race calls by current members
of the IMS Radio Network with pieces of prior race broadcasts over the decades.
 
The Bill Estes Fantasy 500 broadcast on WIBC will have the complete #feel# of
Race Day at Indianapolis, with a two-hour pre-race show beginning at 8 a.m.
(EST) with Wilson and fellow WIBC personalities Jeff Pigeon and Terri Stacy,
and Fantasy 500 traffic reports from #Big John# Gillis.
 
A one-hour pre-race show begins at 10 a.m., followed by a three-hour race
broadcast, led by current #Voice of the 500# and IMS Radio Network lead
announcer Mike King. Wilson and IMS historian Donald Davidson will play host to
a two-hour post-race show beginning at 2 p.m.
 
The 33-car Fantasy 500 starting field features notable winners of the
Indianapolis 500 along with skilled and popular drivers who came close to
winning #The Greatest Spectacle in Racing# on several occasions.
 
Winners in the field range from inaugural champion Ray Harroun to Helio
Castroneves, the most recent back-to-back winner in 2001-02. All three
four-time winners # A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears # and the five
three-time Indy 500 champions # Louis Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Johnny
Rutherford and Bobby Unser # are part of the fantasy field.
 
Beloved drivers who never won at Indianapolis but will compete in the Fantasy
500 include Rex Mays, Duke Nalon, Eddie Sachs, Lloyd Ruby and Michael Andretti,
among others.
 
Besides legendary drivers, familiar names from the IMS Radio Network#s past
broadcasts will be heard, such as Sid Collins, Lou Palmer, Bob Jenkins and
others.
 
In addition to WIBC-AM 1070, the broadcast will be available exclusively on
the World Wide Web at www.WIBC.com, with live timing and scoring plus photos of
events taking place during the race.
 
___ Internet Rex 2.29
 


--- GTMail 1.26