What is the 'Heidi' game? IndyCar announcer explains why race started on FS1 instead of Fox
The television of Sunday night’s IndyCar Series race near St. Louis began on FS1 rather than on Fox. Why?
A United Football League playoff game on Fox started at 6 p.m., with a scheduled finish by 9 p.m., when coverage of the IndyCar race was set to begin. However, the UFL game ran long, and Fox officials pushed the IndyCar coverage to FS1 for a few minutes.
Complicating matters was that the IndyCar race had been set for a 9:25 p.m. green flag, but with threatening weather in the St. Louis area, engines were fired moments after the broadcast began.
“Last night we brought the start of the race forward because rain was forecast,” Buxton wrote. “We then ran the start on FS1 and simulcast on FS1 and FOX as soon as possible meaning as little of the race was missed from FOX itself as humanly possible, but every lap was shown across FS1 and FOX.”
This sort of channel juggling is common for sports leagues nowadays, but the root of it started in 1968, as Fox’s lead IndyCar announcer, Will Buxton, explains in a long social media post.
What is the ‘Heidi’ game?
In November 1968, the New York Jets led the Oakland Raiders in the closing minutes of an AFL (before merging with the NFL) game as it neared the three-hour mark on NBC. Network officials initially decided to air the movie “Heidi” as scheduled at 7 p.m.
Network switchboards were flooded at the time with questions about what would be shown at 7. (Remember, this is long before cell phones.) While network officials later decided to stick with the game, they couldn’t get the word to technicians running NBC’s master control.
In the confusion, affiliates in the Eastern time zone aired “Heide” at 7 as the Raiders rallied with two touchdowns in the closing minute to beat the Jets 43-32. Many fans fumed over missing the ending.
Not long after that, networks decided — sometimes in writing — that early sports broadcasts would run to their conclusion, pre-empting the start of later shows. At the time, without the FS1’s of the world available, that rankled viewers more interested in a later game or prime-time show that wouldn’t be shown on its original schedule.
“The rule is simple,” Buxton wrote. “We don’t leave a live sporting event before it’s over.”
As Buxton pointed out, the air-to-the-finish benefitted IndyCar because the race ran well beyond its scheduled network window because of rain delays. The race finished after midnight ET.
“So, the same rule that meant the end of the UFL match cut into the start of the Indycar broadcast, also ensured that we stuck with the race until the chequered (sic) flag fell.”
As always I know there was some upset over us starting last night’s Indycar coverage on FS1 as the UFL match overran on FOX. These moments always create debate and discussion, so let me give you some background.
In US broadcasting, and especially on FOX, there’s an unwritten…
— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) June 8, 2026
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: TV Heidi rule: Why IndyCar started on different channel with XFL game
