Since it’s inception in 1959, the Daytona 500 has become one of NASCAR’s most important annual car racing events. Held at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL, 40 drivers circle around the speedway 200 times. Each lap is 2.5 miles long, adding up to 500 miles. Traveling at speeds of over 200 mph, it takes drivers less than a minute to complete each lap, earning the winner upwards of $23 million. Over 100,000 spectators cheer their favorite drivers from inside the stadium, with millions of more viewers watching on TV. For the last 20 years broadcasting giant Fox has been airing the Daytona 500 to viewers on jumbo screens within the Daytona International Speedway and on televisions across the nation.

As viewer expectations have risen, Fox has had to find new ways to film the high speed action on the racetrack. In the race’s early years of being broadcast, stationary cameras were set up around the course to capture the action. Soon aerial footage was added to the ground cameras. Cameras on a blimp or a helicopter would get a birds eye view of the race below. Between the ground cameras and the high flying ones, Fox was able to catch a fairly decent amount of footage to stream live to their audiences. But, once drone technology began to emerge, Fox added drone footage to their repertoire.

To be able to use drones to film the Daytona 500 Fox turned to HeliVideo Productions. Based out of Austin, TX HeliVideo Productions specializes in drone filming for scripted TV, live and prerecorded sports, and feature films. Having been in the field since 2015, they are considered leaders in providing drone photography and film. Leading up to this year’s race, Mike Davies, Fox Sports senior vice president of Field & Tech Operations in charge of coordinating filming of the race said, “This will be the third or fourth year in a row that we’ve used a drone of some kind.” Previously, HeliVideo Productions and Fox set up a tethered drone to get a close aerial view of the speedway.

Getting to the point that Fox was able to use a drone for filming was not an easy task. There is a lot of risk involved with having a camera flying near a high speed race and a stadium packed with people. To make matters even more complex, the Daytona International Speedway sits directly next to the Daytona Beach International Airport, a no fly zone. Working with the FAA, Fox was granted permission to use a drone with a tether, a method that bypassed these safety obstacles.

Fox was very pleased with the results, as were the viewers. They were able to capture even more of the high speed race than ever before. However, as technology continued to improve Fox wanted to also improve their drone filming operation. To do this they contacted Beverly Hills Aerials, a Los Angeles, CA based drone company. What makes Beverly Hills Aerials unique in the drone world is that they have been approved by the FAA to operate their drones for night time flights, and over people or cars on closed sets. They also work with custom racing drones that can reach speeds of 100mph while still providing high quality photography.

With these credentials already in place, Fox and Beverly Hills Aerials began the process of working out the logistics to use a free flying rather than a tethered drone to film the 2020 Daytona 500. To accomplish this Fox had to clear logistic not only with the FAA, but the FBI, Daytona Airport Flight Operations, Daytona Beach Police, Daytona Beach Fire and Rescue, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department, the Daytona International Speedway, and NASCAR. After the temporary flight exemption was granted, Fox set up to use the drone to film the race. “We believe it is the first time an untethered drone was flown legally in a ‘temporary flight restriction’ zone,” said Davies. “The FAA took a very hands-on and helpful approach to shepherding our team through the rules.”

The drone was able to fly along the course at 85 mph giving spectators in the stadium and television viewers the most up close images of a NASCAR race ever captured. Beverly Hills Aerial’s Michael Izquierdo piloted the drone with a hand help controller and headset that allowed him to see in real time what the drone was seeing. The small racing drone provided this same first person point of view to Fox’s viewers, allowing the audience to really feel like they were a part of the race. Davies went on to say, “Every year, I think, we’ve moved the bar a little bit higher, but we never really got what we wanted to get. In fact, what we found with drones was that, even though there’s a fair amount of effort and expense, the camera itself looks like any other camera. We started looking for a drone that matched a sport that’s all about speed and action.” It was only a logical step to combine the sport of high speed car racing with high speed drone racing.