It took three years after the late, great Jim Nabors stepped away from the role he had occupied since 1972 back in 2014, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar found their new regular singer of "Back Home Again in Indiana" in 2017 after Jim Cornelison made his debut.
It was always going to be an impossible task to "replace" Nabors. Yet it did not take long for Cornelison to endear himself to the Indy crowd, and he has sung the song ahead of every running of the Indy 500 since, with his May 2025 performance marking his ninth straight.
Chicago fans know Cornelison best as the opera singer who leads off Chicago Blackhawks home NHL games by singing both "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "O Canada" at the United Center.
And on Sunday, he made his way to Soldier Field and delivered an all-time rendition of the American national anthem ahead of the NFC Divisional Round matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams.
Jim Cornelison delivers epic national anthem performance
Of course, fans expected nothing less, and that certainly includes the IndyCar contingent who may have tuned in and been pleasantly surprised to see their beloved singer performing ahead of an NFL playoff game.
Just as the crowds have been at Blackhawks games since 2007, and even dating back to 1996 when Cornelison began singing there part-time, the crowd for the Bears' first Divisional Round playoff game since January 2011 was absolutely fired up by Cornelison's legendary performance.
Jim Cornelison fires up the Soldier Field crowd with the anthem. Felt like being at a Blackhawks game. pic.twitter.com/cHjK8qgY8a
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) January 18, 2026
But on the NBC and Peacock broadcast, the crowd noise almost seemed like you'd expect to hear it any other game.
Jim Cornelison sings the National Anthem in Chicago 👏 pic.twitter.com/2KCzLilsFe
— NFL (@NFL) January 18, 2026
Of course, we have to give them credit for capturing what mattered most, and that was Cornelison's voice itself.
But part of what makes his performances electric is the crowd noise and the enthusiasm from listeners, and for those NFL fans unfamiliar with IndyCar who may be wondering, yes, it's absolutely something that holds true at the Indy 500 as well, even for a completely different song.
Given the noticeable contrast between the two clips during those electrifying moments, the broadcast arguably could have done a better job at portraying that audio-wise for the average viewer at home.
Still, we don't want to split hairs too much here or sound like we are complaining for the sake of complaining; watching on TV will never be exactly the same as attending live, and that's something that fans accept.
But the point is that Cornelison's signature top-tier performance definitely generated a much different crowd reaction than what you'd expect from a typical game, and justifiably so.
It was epic either way, and fans obviously still loved it whether they were at the stadium or watching on television. And that's one thing we can all agree on.
All things considered, props to everybody involved for making that happen in such a buzzing environment – and, of course, for giving IndyCar fans yet another reason to ask the famous question, "Is It May Yet?"
The 110th running of the Indy 500 is set to be shown live on Fox, not NBC, for the second consecutive year beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 24.