President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump rode the presidential limousine around a 1.7-mile IndyCar street circuit past the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, then waved the green flag to start the first race of its kind in the nation's capital.
Hundreds of thousands of fans packed the streets of Washington, D.C., on Aug. 23 as the Freedom 250 Grand Prix brought open-wheel racing to the National Mall for the first time in the city's history. Trump, who had championed the event for months as part of America's 250th birthday celebrations, climbed into "the Beast" with the First Lady and led a slow ceremonial lap around the course before stepping out to greet drivers and officially start the 147-lap race.
Air Force One, flanked by four F-35 fighter jets, roared overhead during the lap. A B-2 stealth bomber also flew the course. A live bald eagle was released as part of the patriotic spectacle, the kind of unapologetically American pageantry that drew the massive crowd in the first place.
IndyCar cars hit speeds up to 185 mph on the D.C. streets. The race marked the culmination of a two-day NTT IndyCar Series event that also featured the International Race of Champions (IROC) series.
The race nearly didn't happen in Washington at all. IndyCar series owner Roger Penske, a longtime Trump friend and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, had spent two decades trying to bring an open-wheel race to the capital. AP News reported that Trump himself said the deal came together fast once Penske brought it to him directly.
"When he came to see Trump it got done in about 15 minutes and it's turned out to be much bigger than we ever even thought possible," the president said, referring to himself in the third person.
Trump promoted the event in characteristically bold terms. "Their beautiful cars are going to make freedom roar," he said. "This will be a freedom that's roaring like never before."
The president has made large-scale public celebrations a hallmark of his administration's approach to the nation's 250th anniversary. The Freedom 250 followed a UFC fight hosted on the White House lawn, military flyovers across the country, and a massive July Fourth fireworks display, all part of a yearlong schedule that has drawn enthusiastic public reception to Trump-branded events.
Álex Palou, the IndyCar points leader with six wins during the 2026 season, started from the pole. About a month before race day, Palou and other drivers had visited the White House for the unveiling of the track course, where they toured the Oval Office and met the president.
Palou, who has built his racing career in the United States, told Fox News the experience left a lasting impression.
"I remember the visit we did a month ago when I got invited to the White House. I was like, 'Really? For real?' I was going to be able to go inside and just see how the Oval Office is, and just knowing the history that it has. I know I'm not from this country, but this country has given me so much. Just the opportunity to be here as an IndyCar driver, a winner, a champion, and to create a family and build a family here in the U.S. It's been incredible."
Palou also described a lighter moment from the visit, drivers got sprayed with presidential cologne. "Just being able to be with the President and his team, being at the Oval Office," he said. "We got sprayed with Presidential cologne, which was pretty funny. Just an incredible experience. An experience I'll be able to tell not only my kids, but hopefully one day my grandkids and stuff."
The championship picture heading into the race heavily favored Palou. Kyle Kirkwood sat second in the standings, 133 points back. David Malukas trailed by 137 points in third.
The sheer size of the crowd caught even organizers off guard. The New York Post reported that hundreds of thousands of fans turned out near the Capitol, a turnout that prompted House Speaker Mike Johnson to push for making the race a permanent fixture on the calendar.
"I want to bring it back next year, I want to make it an annual event," Johnson said.
Trump, asked by FOX Sports reporter Jamie Little what he was looking forward to most, kept his answer simple: "Just that everyone's safe and they have a good time. I want everyone to be safe. I want everyone to have a good time." He told reporters he had said two words to the drivers before they climbed into their cars: "Good luck, have fun."
The event fits a broader pattern for this White House. Trump has leaned into large-scale public spectacles that double as celebrations of American identity, events designed to draw ordinary people into the orbit of the presidency rather than keeping them at arm's length. The approach has produced massive crowds at rallies and public events across the country, and the Freedom 250 was no exception.
Just The News noted the race was the first IndyCar event ever held in the nation's capital, a fact that underlines how long the bureaucratic obstacles stood in the way before the White House stepped in.
Trump has racked up a string of wins beyond the spectacle circuit. His administration recently announced billions in mining investments aimed at breaking China's grip on critical minerals, and a federal judge granted him leave to amend his $10 billion defamation case against the BBC, developments that, taken together, show a president operating on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Twenty years of red tape couldn't get IndyCar to Washington. One president with a phone and 15 minutes did, and hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up to prove the demand was always there.