LONG BEACH, Calif. -- NBC’s “Today” show will be telecast live from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19 (8:30 a.m. ET and PT).
The show’s correspondent, Kerry Sanders, spent Friday at the track, set up in the streets of Long Beach, Calif. He took a ride in an Indy Racing Experience two-seat race car driven by Mario Andretti and chatted with actor Alfonso Ribeiro, winner of the Grand Prix’s charity celebrity race and a longtime IndyCar fan.
“We have been here experiencing the IndyCar experience probably better than most people could,” said Brian Cohen, NBC’s Sports and Today producer. “What we tried to do is give the viewers a personal view of what it is like at IndyCar because a lot of (them) obviously won’t make it down here.”
Viewers will see footage of Sanders’ ride in the IndyCar with Andretti and another he took around the track in the Corvette pace car with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Helio Castroneves at the wheel. Castroneves earned the Verizon P1 Award for the race with a track-record lap.
They’ll also see a lot of driver Graham Rahal's team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, because the Today show crew plans to broadcast from its area in the paddock.
“Our job is to put them in the seat with the driver and also the outside experience of, not just being in the race car, but what the entire experience is about being here at the Long Beach Grand Prix,” said Cohen.
Watch the 80-lap race at 4 p.m. (ET) on NBCSN.