WASHINGTON — Mr. President, start your engines.
President Trump opened IndyCar’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix near the US Capitol on Sunday with a ceremonial first lap around the 1.7-mile street circuit, setting the stage before drivers roared down the National Mall at speeds far beyond the posted limit and electrified hundreds of thousands of spectators.
As Trump circled the course in “the Beast,” Air Force One swept overhead, punctuating a dramatic run of flyovers that also featured a B-2 bomber. Moments later, the president and first lady Melania Trump waved the green flag to officially launch the race.
“They’ve been trying to do it for 20 years,” Trump told Fox Sports. “It turned out to be, I think, bigger and better. And the weather is beautiful. You know, I was hearing about rain all week long. It’s going to rain. It’s going to rain. I said, ‘No it’s not.’ And this is as nice a day as I’ve seen in Washington in a long time.”
The race served as the closing event for Washington’s end-of-summer festivities tied to America’s semiquincentennial celebration.
Trump arrived to cheers from the crowd, greeting drivers and senior IndyCar officials before stepping into the presidential limousine for the ceremonial lap at the first-ever IndyCar race held in Washington, DC.
Medal of Honor recipients Command Sgt. Maj. Matt Williams and Col. Paris Davis delivered the green flag to Trump ahead of the start. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum gave the command for drivers to fire up their engines, and Trump then waved the green flag.
In all, 25 drivers raced 147 laps around a course carved through bumpy DC streets, with the Capitol Building, museums, federal department buildings and monuments serving as a striking backdrop. The IndyCar machines were capable of reaching 185 mph on the tight urban circuit.
On bigger circuits speeds are much faster — including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2022, where Conor Daly went over 240 mph during a practice run.
The 250-mile Freedom 250 Grand Prix came on a course that some drivers acknowledged was “very bumpy,” given the potholes and rough pavement around the Capitol.
“I didn’t know if it was going to be fun or not to drive,” Alex Palou told reporters before the race began, according to Fox Sports. “It’s a blast, super fun. It’s very bumpy. Huge bumps heading into Turn 2 and Turn 6.”
“Massive bumps that are going to spice things up.”
Making the race even more challenging, IndyCar vehicles don’t have power steering, meaning drivers had to muscle through each turn.
During the race, Spanish driver Alex Palou, whom some expected to win, smashed into the wall and broke his front wing.
Ultimately, 27-year-old American Kyle Kirkwood took the checkered flag. At the end of the race, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy waived the checkered flag to hail the winner.
Melania Trump had teamed up with IndyCar on her Fostering the Future initiative, which aims to ensure young people in the foster system to have bright futures ahead of them.
“Fostering the Future provides scholarships at the university level within the foster care community,” she told Fox Sports. “They need to have the same opportunity as other children.”
The first lady called the Freedom 250 Grand Prix “incredible” and revealed that she is a fan of racing.
“When I was growing up, my father introduced me to races and to race cars, and he owns some incredible cars,” she told Fox Sports, noting that the cars included Maseratis, Mustangs, and Mercedes.
“He introduced me to the design of cars and the mechanics and the speed, and I loved every minute of it.”
Her husband, famously a fan of sports, has sat in on numerous sporting events during his second term and helped hand out awards at the World Cup Championship game last month.
Over the past several months, DC was also home to the UFC Freedom 250 fight at the White House in June, the largest fireworks show in American history on Independence Day, and the Great American State Fair to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
The Freedom250 Grand Prix is the first major auto race in DC in about two and a half decades.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) revealed that he would like the IndyCar Grand Prix to become an annual event in DC.
“I want to bring it back next year, I want to make it an annual event,” he told Fox News’ “The Briefing” on Sunday.
