President Trump speaks as Bud Denker, president of the Penske Corp., also in a suit and tie, applauds at a Freedom 250 Grand Prix showcase outside the White House in July.
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The Freedom 250 Grand Prix is poised to bring dozens of race cars and tens of thousands of spectators to the heart of Washington, D.C.’s National Mall this weekend.
The two-day motorsports event, which culminates in Sunday’s marquee 250-mile race, is the first IndyCar race to take place in the nation’s capital. And organizers say it might be the last.
“This is a one-time-only event, because we’re celebrating the country’s 250th one time,” event chair Bud Denker, president of Penske Corp., told NPR on Tuesday.
Organizers are promising a patriotic spectacle, with cars zipping through 147 laps of a 1.7-mile route in the shadow of the Capitol building, as well as flyovers and other fanfare. At a preview event in July, President Trump said drivers may reach speeds of 190 miles per hour down Pennsylvania Avenue.
“It wasn’t exactly designed for that, but what [Transportation Secretary] Sean Duffy has done with these incredible, brilliant people is really amazing,” Trump said.
The unprecedented nature of the event — and the condensed planning timeline — raises many logistical questions. Here’s what to know before the green flag kicks things off.
Viewing stands, as seen on the National Mall earlier this week.
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What is the Freedom 250 Grand Prix?
IndyCar is the highest class of open-wheel, single-seater formula car racing in North America, famous for its high speeds (up to 230 mph) and variety of tracks (from paved ovals to temporary street circuits).
The most prestigious event of the IndyCar series is the Indianapolis 500, but other annual fixtures include street races in Detroit, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Long Beach, Calif.
The D.C. race is the 15th of this year’s 18-race championship. Its 25-driver field includes top names like series champion Alex Palou and Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist. The track poses some unique challenges.
“Of all the non-ovals on the calendar this year in IndyCar, this has fewer turns than any other track … there’s far fewer opportunities per lap to try and overtake,” longtime motorsports journalist Marshall Pruett told NPR’s Morning Edition.
Drivers will follow an angular, 1.7-mile course with seven sharp turns, and a main straightaway framed in the distance by the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. Drivers will tackle 147 laps, for a total of just under 250 miles each.
The course goes directly past landmarks like the National Archives Building, the National Gallery of Art and three Smithsonian museums: Air and Space, American Indian and American History. Some art experts have expressed concern that vibrations from the track construction and race itself could damage the artifacts inside.
How can people watch?
There will be several viewing areas for ticket holders. General admission tickets were distributed for free through a random drawing earlier this summer.
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The two-day schedule kicks off with practice runs, a qualifying race and other programming on Saturday, followed by Sunday’s main event beginning just after 1 p.m. ET.
The race itself will be broadcast live on Fox, and is slated to take about 2 1/2 hours. The full Fox broadcast schedule includes post-race ceremonies at 3:40 p.m. ET.
There are two designated viewing areas— one named Stars, the other, Stripes — for D.C. fans with tickets. There’s also the Champion’s Club, where a two-day hospitality package costs $5,000 per person.
General admission tickets were free to the public, given away by lottery, and are no longer available. Denker told NPR that some 288,000 fans applied for tickets. He expects about 140,000 people to attend each day.
How was the event put together?
The IndyCar series is owned by Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Penske Corp. Denker says he and Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks had the idea — over a beer after a board meeting last year — to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday with a race in Washington, D.C.
“We were saying, ‘This is never going to happen, but let’s just check it out,'” Denker said.
They flew to D.C. and spent a few days measuring roads. Denker says there are four main requirements for a street race: The streets need to be at least 40 feet wide, in decent shape, include room for a pit lane and be able to accommodate oversize trucks and trailers.
Some road closures related to the race are expected to extend through mid-September.
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He says the area right near the U.S. Capitol met all those criteria. But there was one big hurdle: Holding a race there would require congressional approval — because federal law prohibits commercial advertising on Capitol grounds — and Denker couldn’t get the votes. It wasn’t for lack of trying: He says he held over 100 meetings on the Hill over a six-month period.
Denker said that at the encouragement of Duffy, the transportation secretary, he returned to D.C. in January to measure more roads farther from the Capitol. They worked, so he proposed what is now the current route.
“Within 24 hours of this idea changing under the city streets, we had an executive order in my inbox to review,” Denker told reporters earlier this summer.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 30, titled “Celebrating American Greatness with American Motor Racing.” It authorized the heads of the Transportation and Interior departments to designate a suitable route through D.C., and take steps to grant all necessary permits and approvals “as expeditiously as possible.”
“Instead of having 2 1/2 years to plan this thing, I’ve had seven months,” Denker told NPR.
What will the race cost — and who is paying?
Denker says Penske is covering the majority of the cost, though he declined to say how much that will be.
“All I’ll say is the Detroit Grand Prix has cost us about $21 million a year, and we’re greater than that,” he said. “When you do something in D.C., it’s a higher price. We found that exponentially so.”
Denker says the government is only paying security costs associated with entities like the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Park Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. Those are expected to be covered by D.C.’s Emergency Planning and Security Fund, for which Congress provided $90 million at the start of this anniversary year.
A large banner depicting Trump hangs over the Labor Department building, visible along the racetrack.
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Denker says Penske is working with the city — but footing the bill — for things like temporarily welding shut more than 200 manhole covers (“because they’ll be sucked off our racetrack, by the suction our cars create”). He said that’s one of the smaller budget items, in the scheme of things.
While the race doesn’t appear to be a direct moneymaker for Penske, Denker says it could be a “huge growth factor” for the IndyCar series.
D.C. officials hope the city will benefit too — especially at a historically slow time of summer, with Congress out on August recess and many residents on vacation.
At a press conference last month, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed the “tremendous economic impact that this has for our city.” She said she hoped it would entice “people to spend time in our hotels, go to our restaurants, and enjoy their nation’s capital, and I want to encourage D.C. residents, of course, to do the same.”
Is the race connected to other 250th celebrations?
The IndyCar race is one of a series of D.C.-based events celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday this summer.
They started with a mostly Christian prayer event on the National Mall in May, ramped up with a UFC fight outside the White House in June, and hit full swing in July with the two-week Great American State Fair and other July Fourth festivities on the Mall. The Patriot Games, a national high school athletic competition, took place in Ohio earlier this month.
Some of those events — including the state fair and fireworks rally — were organized by the controversial group Freedom 250. Trump created it by executive order last year, bypassing a bipartisan task force that Congress had established a decade earlier for the same purpose.
The event has “Freedom 250” in the name, but organizers say it is unaffiliated with the group that planned several other semiquincentennial events in D.C. this summer.
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Critics have accused Freedom 250 of politicizing and profiting off the milestone, with congressional Democrats accusing it of wire fraud and other deceptive fundraising practices in a report published last month. Freedom 250 and the White House deny the allegations.
But Democrats continue to call for accountability, especially after revelations that Freedom 250 has asked Congress for an additional $10 million in reimbursements for security-related costs at the prayer event, state fair and fireworks display.
Despite “Freedom 250” appearing in the name, Denker says the event is not affiliated with the organization itself. When asked for confirmation, Freedom 250 told NPR over email that it is not funding or organizing the Grand Prix.
“We’re using the name Freedom 250 Grand Prix, but there’s no affiliation in terms of we’re getting money from the committee or providing them money,” Denker said.
What happens after the race?
Parking restrictions and road closures associated with the race are expected to continue, in some areas, as late as Sept. 15.
Denker said much of the racetrack and other structures will be gone by Labor Day, but the viewing suites will take three to four weeks to dismantle because of their size.
“They’re like an aircraft carrier,” he said. “We’ll be out of there by mid-September.”
The White House says the 250th task force will deliver a “full year of festivities” through the end of 2026. There are no upcoming events listed on Freedom 250’s website.
