How IndyCar’s Jack Harvey Shifted Gears From Racing To FOX Sports

IndyCar on FOX Pit Reporter Jack Harvey

FOX Sports Photo

Jack Harvey had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in IndyCar in 2025, but it happened with a microphone instead of a race car.

At the end of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season, Harvey was without a full-time ride in the sport he loves but wanted to remain connected. Meantime, FOX Sports was in the early stages of putting together its plans as the new television partner for IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500.

FOX Sports needed to hire a crew for the telecasts including the announcers in the booth and the reporters on pit road.

Harvey thought he could play a role and the job sounded interesting to the 32-year-old journeyman IndyCar driver from Bassingham, United Kingdom. He contacted Jacob Ullman, the Senior Vice President, Production and Talent Development at FOX Sports.

“I sent him an email and just said, ‘I’m not sure what I’m doing next year racing wise. I think we can have a good chance to do the Indy 500. But I’d like to do this, and why I think I would be good at it,’” Harvey told me.

Most of Harvey’s resume included racing achievements on the track, not broadcasting or reporting experience.

Despite that, Harvey emailed Ullman and gave his reasons why he thought he would be a good fit behind the microphone.

How Jack Harvey Made His Pitch For Pit Road Role

After sending the email, Harvey met with FOX Sports IndyCar Producer Pam Miller and FOX Sports Vice President of Production Lindsay Mandia at the last race of the 2024 IndyCar season in Nashville. They remained in contact during the offseason.

Meantime, Harvey was putting a deal together with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to compete in the 109^th Indianapolis 500 in 2025.

“I remember when we finally got the deal signed with Dryer & Reinbold, I called FOX and said, ‘Hey, this is going to be in the news tomorrow or at some point, I just, you know, I’m still open to do it,’” Harvey recalled. “Knowing I had the 500 probably helped me be a little bit more relaxed with how I approached FOX in the same in the sense. They made it clear they had not made a decision yet. I didn’t want to do was go in like a ‘Bull in a China Shop’ and be like, ‘Hey, you got to let me know. I need this and I need that.’

“That wasn’t my approach at all, and I knew I had the 500 locked up. I knew I was going to do something, and I think that actually allowed me the ability to take the pressure off asking, but also off myself.

“Obviously, the season was coming up. I knew they were going to have to make a decision and every time we spoke, it felt like the conversation was going well.”

Harvey had the Indy 500 ride in place but continued to wait on FOX’s decision for its IndyCar lineup. Emails were exchanged and Harvey met with FOX personnel during IndyCar Content Days at Indianapolis in January.

“I just kind of politely kept telling them I wanted to do it,” Harvey said. “I was interested and if the opportunity came up, I would take it.

Harvey’s perseverance ultimately paid off. FOX Sports gave him a deal, but the decision came just days before the network was about to televise its first-ever IndyCar Series race – the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 2.

Jack Harvey Jumped Into The Deep End

Harvey had to become a pit road reporter without any previous experience. It was on-the-job training on live TV.

“It felt like a sink or swim moment for sure,” Harvey admitted. “Oh my God, I’ll never forget how nervous I was at St. Pete, honestly, like trying to do it.

“Actually, when I watch the replay, when I get through the cringe of the moment, I basically see how much better I’ve become now. I feel like there is actually a huge part of me that is proud, I didn’t know this was going to happen.

“It wasn’t really confirmed until literally that week. So, there was no training. There was no formal training. There was no informal training. It was a little bit like getting in and running a race lap without any practice.

“You just do it and see how it goes.”

As a race driver, Harvey perfectly understands the chaos on the race track. What was new to him is the chaotic nature of reporting on pit road for a major television network. Harvey and his crew have to find the story, then report it to the audience in a clear and concise manner.

“People really don’t understand how hard it is,” Harvey said. “When you’ve got the camera there, in general conversation, we all fluff words almost in every conversation at some point. Obviously, it’s pretty unnatural to say everything perfect all the time.

“But when the camera is there and it’s live, there are no do-overs. Obviously, because I’m aware of that then the pressure goes up.”

Harvey handled the pressure through relaxation. Instead of speeding up the process, he slowed it down.

“I just try and have more fun with it and keep it in a bit more of a relaxed environment for me,” he explained. “I also think that other people have started to get relaxed with me.

“They see me on pit lane, and they know I’m either going to be asking a question or looking for a bit of info. In all fairness, people just give it to me now. I know a lot of random things up and down pit lane.

“I don’t share them because either the moment hasn’t called for it or people have told me in confidence.

“When I look back at same, I see someone who looked nervous, but someone I’m proud to say just got on with it and since then, has made good progress.”

Jack Harvey’s Progress Impressed James Hinchcliffe

Up in the booth, former IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe is one of the two color analysts for lead announcer Will Buxton for IndyCar on FOX along with fellow color commentator Townsend Bell.

Hinchcliffe’s transition from driving a race car to talking about race cars came easily. Harvey had to learn the hard way and Hinchcliffe is very impressed with the progress he made as a pit reporter for FOX.

“Jack has done a great job, and my favorite part about it is seeing the progress he has made,” Hinchcliffe told me last month at an IndyCar Series race in Portland, Oregon. “He got the job officially only a few days before we started.

“They don’t give you a lot of prep. They don’t give you a lot of advice. They don’t give you a lot of practice, any practice. They give you a microphone and just enough rope to hang yourself.

“It’s a sink or swim sort of situation, and Jack has done phenomenally. You compare how he was in St. Pete to how he is today in Portland, and it’s night and day difference. It’s great to see the improvement.”

Jack Harvey’s FOX Crew On Pit Road

In racing, it takes an entire crew to put together the car and the strategy to win races. A pit reporter for a major television broadcast also has a crew of personnel that help them relay the information throughout a race telecast.

Harvey has Linda Rosenberg as his spotter. She has been involved in IndyCar racing dating all the way back to the CART days of the early 1990s and has plenty of contacts up and down pit lane.

“She has been brilliant,” Harvey said of Rosenberg. “That’s when I can’t be in two places at once and then Linda goes and helps get some information, whether it’s, strategy, or what tires they’ve got left, things like that.

“I trust Linda so much that, if she comes back and gives me some information, I can trust it. I’ve known Linda for a long time, she’s very good at her job. I totally trust her to give me that info and I will say it as if I was doing the report and I got it myself. I really trust and respect Linda.

“That level of trust is something that has definitely developed through the year, because there will be environments where I’ll be on the scanner at the same time, we hear it, and then she’ll give me the note.

“That’s exactly how I interpreted it, because we speak the same language.

“It makes it easy for us to kind of divide and conquer. So, I’m very lucky to have Linda in my corner on pit lane for sure.”

On pit lane, Harvey also has a “jerk cam” who is in charge of the IT and technology needed to transmit the information back to the production truck. Other FOX personnel check in provide water and drinks in the hot, grueling environment.

“Obviously you’ve got the camera guys when you’re on doing a hit,” Harvey continued. “Sometimes it’s on camera. Sometimes it’s not on camera. And that’s then the moment where if you saw everybody at one time and it was a live hit with a camera, you’d probably see five or six people there.

“They are fundamental to what I do on pit lane.”

Dealing With Two Conversations At Once

There is one element of television that might baffle newcomers. Harvey and the other on-air talent, as well as his crew on pit lane wear an earpiece that connects them with the pit producer in the production truck.

As Harvey is asking a question in an interview, the pit producer is often communicating with Harvey through the earpiece with instructions for the length of the interview and other information. For someone who hasn’t experience that, it can be hard to concentrate.

“That’s the hardest thing for me,” Harvey admitted. “It took some time to get used to that with my producer Eric Mandia. We’ve gotten a good rhythm now because early he would be talking to me, and he talked to me towards the end of my question or it’s getting time to like throw whether it’s to Kevin Lee or Georgia Henneberry (FOX’s other pit reporters in IndyCar) or back to the booth and then he starts saying something to me.

“I asked him that if he can give me that info, when I’m getting the reply to the question early so that I can actually then hear the question because maybe they say something that’s really organic and it leads into a second part of a question.

“A good example is if you like going to a restaurant and being able to sit at your table, be completely engaged in the conversation, but then listening to the person across from you and knowing everything that’s happening but still be engaged where you are now.

“Some people are just nosy and therefore they’re good at it. But when you’re trying to do it in very targeted ways like listen, but also receive, it is pretty tough.

“On TV, there are times that you can’t avoid it, and you just do the best you can of being able to listen, pay attention, and then just organically make the throw.

“But that by far has been the hardest thing for me to get used to.”

Jack Harvey’s Trust Factor In The IndyCar Paddock

Another aspect that has helped Harvey develop as a pit reporter is the trust factor he had developed with team members and drivers on pit lane. He has competed in 93 races over eight seasons and has a fresh understanding of the car, race strategy and the participants. Harvey describes a lot of the IndyCar drivers are his “mates.” He enjoys the fact that at the Indianapolis 500, he still gets to race with them.

But he also knows how racers think and how they feel.

“So, when they’ve had a bad day, I get it, but I still have to ask what happened,” Harvey said. “I think having that empathy for what they’re going through or at least understanding has probably made it better. I would say the progress through the year has been very good, but obviously I still got a lot more, a lot more ground to do, especially when I see how good people like Jamie Little are on pit lane.

Little is another FOX Sports pit reporter in NASCAR who took over Harvey’s duties when he was a competitor in the 109^th Indianapolis 500.

“There is still a ways to go, but I feel like I’ve made good progress,” Harvey continued. “I think it does give me some unique insight because ultimately, I’ve really experienced a lot of what IndyCar racing and just being a driver has to offer. Such as when you miss out in qualifying by the tiniest of margins, when you end up in the medical center or medical unit.

“Because I’ve been through that, I think it does allow me that insight. And a lot of the drivers know it too.

“And honestly, I think you see it in the way that I ask a question or don’t sometimes ask a question, and perhaps I give them a chance so they can just say it as politely or minimally as they want to, because I understand it.”

Jack Harvey Makes The Grade

The 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season for Jack Harvey was literally a crash course on how to become a pit road reporter for a major television network on the job, instead of through training.

He was able to successfully complete the course with a solid rookie season on TV. Harvey realizes there remains room for improvement, but how would he grade his first season out of the race car as a FOX Sports pit reporter?

“I’m probably like a B plus, I think realistically,” Harvey said. “There are moments where I wish I had said things differently or contributed something differently.

“I’m still learning so many new things that are fresh. I give myself a B-plus because I see what I think my potential could be and I know I’m not there yet, but I feel like I’m getting closer to it every weekend and that gives me a lot of encouragement and confidence.

“So, I think B-plus would be a fair reflection but also feeling like the potential to do better is also there.”

Just as in racing, Jack Harvey has taken that approach to his role at FOX Sports by trying to turn potential into results.