‘Freedom revs’: Trump administration, DC mayor unveil details of Washington IndyCar race

WASHINGTON (CN) — Race fans and residents of Washington, D.C., on Monday got their first official look at the forthcoming IndyCar race in the nation’s capital from members of the Trump administration and the local government.

Joined on the National Mall by executives from the IndyCar organization and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, White House officials and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser hailed the high-octane event as an exciting bookend to the country’s 250th birthday celebration set for this summer. But they acknowledged plans to put on a motor race in the capital city had initially faced hurdles — particularly from a skeptical Congress.

“Today almost didn’t happen,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who, alongside Bowser and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, posed for a photo in the shadow of the Capitol Monday morning in front of a show car with a “Freedom 250 Grand Prix” paint job. “We’re in D.C., so the sausage-making can sometimes be frustrating.”

President Donald Trump in January signed an executive order giving the go-ahead to the proposed IndyCar race in Washington, now scheduled for the end of August.

But the layout for the race circuit — city streets where drivers will pilot open-wheeled race cars at speeds of more than 190 miles per hour — was uncertain, thanks in large part to a lack of congressional approval for the event.

Race organizers had initially planned for the circuit to start and finish in front of the U.S. Capitol. But IndyCar events, and the cars themselves, are heavily branded. Advertising is generally forbidden on Capitol grounds, meaning IndyCar owner Penske Corp. would have needed an act of Congress to get the race out of the planning stage.

Speaking at Monday’s event, Penske president Bud Denker said that by January of this year, the proposed IndyCar event in Washington was “on life support.”

“On Jan. 21, I called the secretary [Duffy] and said, ‘This race is not happening,’” Denker recalled. “I can’t get the votes across the street to make this race happen on Capitol grounds.”

The transportation secretary had sharper words for members of Congress who were skeptical of the proposed race. “We were going to go around the Capitol, but Congress would have to do some approvals for us — and quite frankly, they didn’t,” said Duffy. “Some people didn’t want to give them to us.”

Speaking to Courthouse News after the unveiling, Denker said he had taken 81 meetings on Capitol Hill ahead of Trump’s January executive order, including with the House and Senate sergeants at arms. At issue for skeptics was the commercial tenor of an IndyCar race, he said, but other people he met with also expressed concerns about height restrictions on Capitol Hill — race events often require large pavilions for sponsors and pedestrian bridges that cross the track.

“There were a number of things that people were just not fully comfortable with,” said Denker, who added that he understood some of lawmakers’ concerns because of the “precedent” set by legislation approving such an event on Capitol grounds.

“What’s the next organization that wants to do it, that may not be as organized as we are?” he said.

Asked whether concerns about the proposed race and circuit came primarily from Democrats or Republicans, Denker told Courthouse News that the idea for an IndyCar event in Washington “began with bipartisan support.”

“Eventually, it was the fact that some folks were more comfortable in setting precedent,” he said. “And from that, I said, we’ve done enough here, I’m not moving it somewhere else, including maybe not even doing it at all.”

After meeting with the White House, Duffy said Penske and the administration settled on a course that would run around the National Mall — federal property — in an effort to skirt the need for congressional authorization.

The official circuit layout, unveiled Monday, will begin and end on a stretch of road that crosses the Mall and features the Capitol as a backdrop. The course will swing around the National Archives, crossing the Mall once again next to the National Gallery of Art and running down Independence Avenue past the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The entire track, organizers said, will cover just under two miles and feature seven turns. At IndyCar race speeds, drivers will likely complete one lap in around 55 seconds.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Newgarden, two-time IndyCar champion and winner of both the 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis 500, said it was an “impressive opportunity” to race around the nation’s capital.

“There’s never been a motor race in this city, in this particular area,” he said. “You think about all the museums, the history, the beautiful buildings … I’m so excited to come here during the month of August.”

Asked by Courthouse News how he was navigating the political implications of participating in a motor race sanctioned by the president, Newgarden demurred, pointing out that his “sole focus” was on racing.

“The fun part for me is that I basically get paid to show up and try to win a race — that’s my job criteria in many respects,” Newgarden said. “I go where the race cars are going.”

But the Team Penske driver added that he hoped bringing motor racing to Washington would be “inspiring” for racing fans and other spectators who travel to the capital city for an event that organizers have said will be free to attend.

“I grew up watching the challenge of racing and wanted to go into a career field that created solutions for something else,” said Newgarden. “I think bringing that to the capital is a big plus. It’s not just a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, but it really is an event to inspire the next generation. That’s always how I see an IndyCar race.”

The Trump administration has previously courted controversy with IndyCar, when it clashed with the racing series last year over its use of an AI-generated image of one of its iconic race cars to advertise a planned migrant detention center in Indiana.

The IndyCar organization asked the Department of Homeland Security to stop using its intellectual property — a request the agency told Courthouse News at the time was “absurd.”

Bowser, meanwhile, held up the forthcoming IndyCar race as a major boon for D.C. businesses during the month of August, which usually sees a slowdown thanks largely to Congress’ annual summer recess.

“When thousands of people are already getting their reservations for our hotel rooms for this Indy weekend … it means that more D.C. residents are working, more hotel workers are working, and more people can make the investments in their families that they deserve,” said the mayor in remarks Monday.

Race organizers said they estimated as many as 1 million people could travel to Washington for the summer’s IndyCar race. The event will also be televised, like other races in the motorsport series, on Fox Sports.

Motorsports last came to Washington in 2002, when the short-lived United States Le Mans championship held a race in the capital city by the now-demolished Robert F. Kennedy stadium in the city’s eastern reaches.

If this IndyCar race goes off as planned at the end of the summer, it will cap off weeks of celebrations scheduled as the country observes its 250th birthday. The Trump administration has been involved in plans to, among other things, hold a major naval demonstration in New York and a massive fireworks display in Washington.

“Last time we did this, in 1801, we had horses race in the capital,” Duffy said Monday. “Next time we do it, we’re going to do 190 miles an hour right behind us. God bless, freedom revs.”

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