It’s been mentioned that the Indianapolis 500 can change an individual’s life.

It actually modified the lifetime of NBC Sports activities Producer Rene Hatlelid.

In final yr’s 105^th Indianapolis 500, Hatlelid grew to become the primary feminine producer of the famed racing occasion.

I had an opportunity to have an unique interview with Hatlelid to listen to her distinctive story of manufacturing the world’s best race to the tens of millions of viewers watching on tv.

It will have been Hatlelid’s grandma’s 105^th birthday on the 105^th operating of the Indianapolis 500 and he or she was about to provide the most important sporting occasion in her profession.

“I do know she was trying down smiling on me,” Hatlelid mentioned. “The household side of IndyCar performs lots in that. I’ve labored actually, actually exhausting to get on this spot. I get the respect I do as a result of I do a very good job.

“It meant lots to me to see the place I began in TV to the place I’m now. I wouldn’t give it up for the world. I really like my job.”

She confused that her job is to provide the most effective sporting telecast she probably can.

Final yr, Hatlelid and NBC had the unbelievable fortune of sharing probably the most emotional storylines in Indianapolis 500 historical past. It’s when Helio Castroneves gained grew to become the fourth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 occasions in his profession.

Hatlelid proved that timing is every thing as a result of after Castroneves gained the race and climbed the fence, NBC was about able to go to industrial earlier than Hatlelid decided that may change her profession.

She noticed on one of many cameras that Castroneves was about to run up the observe and share the massive second with the followers on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as they chanted, “Hel-i-o!!! Hel-i-o!”

“Hastily, I mentioned, ‘We should always wait. We should always wait. We should always wait,’ earlier than breaking for industrial,” she recalled. “When Mario Andretti kissed him on the top, I felt that was most likely an applicable time.”

It was an genuine and natural second of tv historical past that might not be scripted and orchestrated.

“Each single driver you speak to says this race adjustments your life,” Hatlelid mentioned. “Each driver that crosses the yard of bricks, their lives’ change without end in a roundabout way, form or kind.

“Watching Helio final yr was unbelievable. It leaves me speechless once I watch it again.”

Hatlelid appears to focus on “high-speed sports activities” as a producer together with the NHL Playoffs, NASC

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R and group sliding within the Winter Olympics and volleyball within the Summer time Olympics.

In 2021, she obtained the project of her profession and made tv historical past as the primary feminine producer of the Indianapolis 500 telecast for NBC.

“It’s an excessive honor,” Hatlelid mentioned. “I began working the Indy 500 in 2019 as a pit producer and final yr was the primary yr, I truly produced it.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to provide the ‘Best Spectacle in Racing.’ I take that on my shoulders. I understand how essential this race is to each single driver, each single fan, and the racing group typically.

“I take it very critically. I owe it to the drivers. They’re going extraordinarily quick, and I wish to inform their tales.”

Producing a serious sporting occasion such because the Indianapolis 500 has to mix the visible and audio sensations, in addition to telling the tales as they occur.

“Crucial a part of it’s realizing the storylines getting into and the motion on the observe all the time dedicates what we’re doing,” Hatlelid mentioned. “Then, belief the folks you’re working with. Pit reporters are promoting you after which abruptly there’s a nice battle on the observe or a group after which go all the way down to the pit reporter.

“It’s with the ability to present probably the most pertinent storylines which can be occurring and what issues probably the most to the followers at residence.”

Additionally, if there’s a lull within the racing, Hatlelid can present the personalities of the drivers, the storylines, and the households of the drivers.

“They’re going 230-plus miles an hour and their households are watching them,” she mentioned. “It issues. It’s scary. They’re going quicker than airplanes go.

“It’s offering the storyline of the race as it’s taking place after which offering the personalities of those drivers and exhibiting the hazard they’re dealing with each time they exit on the observe.”

Sunday’s 106^th Indianapolis 500 is the primary full-capacity Indy 500 since 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held with out spectators in 2020 and restricted to 137,000 followers in 2021.

On Sunday, crowds in extra of 250,000 followers will fill the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These followers have their favourite vantage factors to see the race. Many followers have had their tickets for over 30 straight years.

Hatlelid’s seat is within the manufacturing truck within the broadcast compound on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She has to look at the motion on 15 screens which can be all cut up into 9 squares.

She has to acknowledge and course of what she is seeing to find out which digital camera to make use of all through the race.

“Our director, Sean Owens, covers the racing and he chooses how we do this, however we’re each watching on the identical time,” Hatlelid defined. “We now have an excellent thoughts meld. I are likely to level, and he’s actually going to the digital camera I’m pointing to by the point I’m pointing to it. We now have labored collectively for fairly some time so it’s good to know I’ve an excellent companion in crime working subsequent to me.”

In addition to the visuals, the pit reporters and their producers are speaking to her feeding data to find out whether or not to change to them on pit street, or relay that data to the sales space that features Leigh Diffey, James Hinchcliffe, and Townsend Bell.

“You must prioritize and compartmentalize the tales which can be happening, on the observe,” she defined. “Then it’s important to take a intestine examine and resolve which one if crucial at the moment.”

The Indianapolis 500 telecast additionally options the NBC “Pit Field” on pit street the place host Mike Tirico might be joined for 2005 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the 12 months Danica Patrick and former NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Tirico has excessive reward for Hatlelid’s capacity to provide an excellent and compelling race for the tv viewer.

“The producer function is all the time about timing and over time and years within the truck, you be taught that timing,” Tirico mentioned. “No matter gender, Rene is an distinctive tv producer.

“The actual fact there was consideration round her being the primary lady, she deserves that, however I consider Rene as a terrific TV producer, interval.

“By being round large occasions, overlaying reside occasions, being in the course of all of it, she knew when to do the best factor. When issues go quickest, it’s important to be at your most attentive, but additionally calm.

“These present up within the largest moments. I knew how nice a professional she was getting right here. I didn’t care what gender she was; you simply know when folks get it, and he or she completely will get it.

“She carried out like a rock star.”

Hatlelid will produce her second Indianapolis 500 telecast Sunday on NBC. The telecast begins at 11 a.m. Japanese Time with the pre-race present main into the 106^th Indianapolis 500.