NBC’s John Barnes is “Back Home Again” At The Indianapolis 500

When the rendition of “Back Home Again in Indiana” is sung before the start of the Indianapolis 500 every Memorial Day Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it creates varying degrees of emotion for the more than 300,000 fans in attendance.

Fans from all over the world travel to the “Crossroads of America” – Indianapolis, Indiana – to attend one of the most famous sporting events in the world.

They all become “Hoosiers” at that moment.

Once again, Jim Cornelison, an Opera singer who attended the famed Indiana University School of Music and is most famous for his National Anthems before Chicago Blackhawks games, will give his stirring rendition.

It’s an emotional moment, but it has special meaning to native Hoosiers from the State of Indiana.

It’s when the world comes to their state and it’s a moment of “Hoosier Pride.”

One of those native Hoosiers is 42-year-old John Barnes, a Senior Producer at NBC Sports who will produce the Indianapolis 500 Pre-Race Show that comes on at 9 a.m. on Peacock before switching over to NBC at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.

He has been at NBC since October 2014 and has previously worked on NBC’s Olympics coverage as well as Peacock’s Sunday Morning Major League Baseball package, the NHL, NASCAR, and the Thursday Night Football pre-game show.

Barnes will take over as Senior Producer of IndyCar on NBC telecasts beginning with the race weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 16-18.

Barnes is from South Bend, Indiana, attended Mishawaka, Marian High School and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

As a college student, Barnes used to attend the Indianapolis 500 as a fan. His first Indy 500 was the thrilling finish when Sam Hornish, Jr. passed race leader Marco Andretti just a few hundred feet from the checkered flag.

“It was surreal at first, the first time I worked on the Indianapolis 500 telecast,” Barnes told me in the NBC Production Office at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Being back here and telling people that I grew up with and my parents all got a huge kick out of it. Now that it is my fifth year, it never gets old.

“I came to the race for a long time as a spectator and came down with college friends after we graduated to show them what the biggest thing in Indiana is.

“It still weirdly feels like the first time, doing it every time because it’s so big and so special and means so much to so many people, you don’t take it for granted.

“It’s cool being an Indiana person coming back every year to do it, but it also feels new every time I do it.”

It takes a huge staff of people to put on the Indianapolis 500 telecast for NBC Sports. This year, the TV compound was moved from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield to the outside of Turn 4 at the massive facility.

Barnes is in the production truck filled with banks of screens and monitors with the director as they help capture the tremendous excitement and emotion that is the Indianapolis 500.

Some of the most emotional moments are the traditional pre-race ceremonies.

“The team is so good, and our directors are so good at capturing those spots that from a producer’s standpoint when we were in the ceremony stuff, I get a chance to take a couple seconds and soak it in,” Barnes explained. “Our directors are the ones doing the cuts and directing the images. It’s 10-15 minutes of ceremony that we bring the pictures to life.

“I still get to take a couple seconds. This is unique. There is nothing like it in the world. Every year it is fun to hear stories from people that come from different departments at NBC to make sure they are outside and get a good view of it.

“We allow ourselves a few seconds to soak it up.”

Barnes Race Day begins with a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call at the hotel before a police escort takes them to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway well before the gates open at 6 a.m.

NBC rehearses the pre-race show on Saturday and on Sunday morning, there are individual meetings with key staff.

Rene Hatlelid is the producer of the Indianapolis 500 telecast on NBC. Barnes produces all of the pre-race content and then joins Hatlelid in the production truck.

Sam Flood is Executive Producer and President, Production, NBC Sports.

Barnes will take over the production of IndyCar telecasts when Hatlelid moves over to produce NASCAR on NBC in June.

Two of the greatest institutions in all of sports is the Indianapolis 500 and Notre Dame football in South Bend. Both are in Indiana and Barnes plays a key role in televising both events

He is the producer of the pre-game show for Notre Dame football on NBC.

“Last year was my first year doing Notre Dame football, but it was pretty similar to working at the Indianapolis 500 because I had been to so many races and games as a spectator,” Barnes said. “We would get a break during Saturdays at Notre Dame football; I would pop by and see friends at their tailgate and then go back into the production truck.

“You are in a familiar place but doing something you had never done at that place.

“It’s awesome to be from Indiana, working on the Indianapolis 500. The director I work with on the pre-race is Mike Sheehan, and he is also a Notre Dame grad.

“We take pride in people that have connections to Indiana, South Bend and being part of the event that defines Indiana.”

What is most important about both the Indianapolis 500 and Notre Dame football is to capture the history, the electricity and the tradition and have that come through on the telecast.

“For the Indy 500, the No. 1 goal is to capture the spectacle,” Barnes said. “The 33 driver stories all have a great story to tell and are amazing, but it’s also what makes this event unlike anything else in the world. It’s the largest sporting event in the world.

“We have to plan where to be, when to be, moving people around. Capturing the spectacle before the race starts is priority No. 1.

“The pre-race ceremonies are their favorite part of the race.”

Barnes sees similarities between ‘Back Home Again in Indiana’ the “Notre Dame Alma Mater” that is played after every Notre Dame football game.

“Those are both very emotional moments,” Barnes said.

The pre-race telecast will begin at 9 a.m. ET and will show the Purdue University Band playing “On the Banks of the Wabash” as the cars are rolled onto the starting grid. Also, focus on the fans pouring into the facility as well as Tony Kanaan’s final Indianapolis 500.

“We want to make sure people understand before this race starts how much TK means to the fans and how much the fans mean to TK,” he said. “We’ll also focus in on Graham Rahal, how he was out of the race and a few days later, was able to get back into the race.

“We will also focus on Scott Dixon, how he has had the car the last three years, only to have it slip away at the end. His near misses resonate more to him than his win in 2008. That is a storyline that has happened over the years.”

Barnes is hopeful the “100 Days to Indy” docuseries on The CW will help draw the ratings for the NBC Indy 500 telecast to move upward.

Barnes and NBC believe IndyCar is a great product and believe it is important to drive ratings to an increase.

“You want more people to watch, but we focus on if we can showcase how good the racing is and give people more reason to care about the drivers, that is what we focus on,” he said. “We want the broadcast to be the best broadcast possible.”

On Sunday, Barnes is proud to be a key part in showing the world the event that defines the State of Indiana – the Indianapolis 500.

He is proud to be a “Hoosier.”