IndyCar rebukes White House after ‘Speedway Slammer’ post

WASHINGTON (CN) — One of the country’s premier motor racing series has asked the Trump administration to keep its imagery out of promotional material for a planned immigration detention facility in Indiana, the organization’s corporate arm said Wednesday.

The move comes just hours after the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had signed a deal with Indiana Governor Mike Braun to expand the state’s Miami Correctional Facility with additional bed space to detain migrants. The extension was dubbed the “Speedway Slammer” in reference to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located around 70 miles south of the existing prison.

But the federal government’s promotion of the new project chafed IndyCar, the racing championship best known for the Indy 500 event which takes place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In a post on its official X account Tuesday evening, the Homeland Security Department shared an AI-generated image of a race car in the style of IndyCar’s Dallara racing chassis bearing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-inspired paintjob. The car was depicted racing along a speedway in front of a prison complex, with the acronym “ICE” painted on the racetrack’s wall.

The car itself featured the racing number “5.” In the IndyCar championship, that number belongs to driver Patricio O’Ward, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico.

The government’s use of the IndyCar series’ intellectual property was apparently unsanctioned by the racing organization. In a statement provided to Courthouse News, the series said that it was “unaware” of the Homeland Security Department’s plans to incorporate IndyCar imagery into the “Speedway Slammer” announcement.

“Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter,” IndyCar said.

The Homeland Security Department, though, has doubled down, rejecting the idea that its promotion of the “Speedway Slammer” ran afoul of IndyCar’s intellectual property rights.

“An AI generated image of a car with ‘ICE’ on the side does not violate anyone’s intellectual property rights,” an agency spokesperson told Courthouse News. “Any suggestion to the contrary is absurd. DHS will continue promoting the ‘Speedway Slammer’ as a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combatting illegal immigration.”

IndyCar did not immediately return a request for comment on the Homeland Security Department’s reply.

A spokesperson for Indiana Senator Todd Young, a self-described fan of IndyCar who attended the Indy 500 earlier this year, declined to comment.

The proposed “Speedway Slammer” facility would add roughly 1,000 beds to the Miami Correctional Facility, a state prison in Bunker Hill, Indiana, which houses high, medium and low-security inmates. The facility can currently house more than 3,000 people.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem thanked Braun for the agreement, which she said would help “remove the worst of the worst of our country.”

“If you are here in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer,” Noem added.

It’s not the first time that IndyCar and the Trump administration have made headlines together. In recent months. Graham Rahal, a driver for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing team, drew criticism for a post on X apparently approving of June comments made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in which the Trump official told reporters that it was “in your DNA and in your blood” to criticize the president.

Rahal, who replied to a clip of Hegseth with an American flag emoji, later defended his post, writing that he wasn’t making a political statement. “When did being a proud American mean you’re one way or another?” he asked.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing did not return a request for comment at the time.

Meanwhile, the announcement of a new migrant detention facility in Indiana comes just months after the Trump administration partnered with Florida on a similar project — a prison camp located in the swamps of the Everglades and known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” The makeshift Florida facility, which is composed primarily of tents and chain-link pens that house detainees, began operating in July.

The “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility has come under scrutiny amid reports that detainees have been subjected to inhumane conditions, such as limited access to food and water, as well as flooding and extreme heat thanks to the prison camp’s swampy locale.

Immigration advocates have sued the Trump administration over the Florida facility, pointing to the brutal conditions and arguing that the government has refused to acknowledge whether state or federal officials have jurisdiction over its inmates.

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