A giddy President Donald Trump has brought IndyCar’s best to the White House to promote the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.
The Trump-backed Freedom 250 — known for its Great American State Fair, fraught with low attendance and technical difficulties — isn’t done organizing events in celebration of America’s semiquincentennial. On August 22 and 23, the group will host its own Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., featuring racing legends from NASCAR and IndyCar.
After walking out of the White House to the 1982 hit Eye Of The Tiger, Trump joined four-time IndyCar series champion Alex Palou, this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist and IndyCar series driver David Malukas during the Freedom 250 Grand Prix Showcase Monday afternoon.
“You’re gonna see cars at the level that they’ve never been at before with cars racing at more than 190 miles [an hour], and even higher than that, down Pennsylvania Ave,” Trump said during an announcement at the event.
Trump was all smiles when a Freedom 250 race car pulled up to the White House during the event, and a crew jumped into action to perform a lightning-fast pit stop.
The president is known for using motor vehicles as props for his events.
During his first term in 2017, Trump climbed into the driver’s seat of a Mack 18-wheeler and pumped his fists in the air before meeting with truckers and chief executives from the American Trucking Association.
He also sat in the passenger seat of a Trump 2024-branded garbage truck, wearing a reflective vest during the last presidential election cycle in a clapback to then-President Joe Biden for suggesting Trump supporters were trash.
At the Grand Prix Showcase, Penske Corporation CEO Roger Penske, whose company owns IndyCar, gifted Trump a custom red, white and blue helmet with a graphic of the White House on the back and his name on the front.
“I think we have a special helmet for you,” Penske said as Palou handed Trump the gift. “We hope you will wear that when you’re riding around in the Beast,” the chief executive quipped, using the nickname for the presidential limousine.
The Grand Prix is the latest sporting event Trump has hosted in Washington, after throwing a UFC Freedom 250 fight on the White House lawn.
UFC Freedom 250, which took place on Trump’s 80th birthday on June 14, drew large crowds in D.C., and at least 34 million global viewers tuned in at home, according to the mixed martial arts organization.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned UFC Freedom 250 during the Grand Prix Showcase.
“Mr President, thank you for your leadership. You don’t do anything that’s small. Everything you do is big. It’s huge. It’s the best. It’s the greatest. Whether it’s the UFC fight or IndyCar race in the capital,” Duffy said at the event.
The Grand Prix, the first-ever IndyCar race on the National Mall, will feature a 1.7-mile track where drivers will race by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives. General admission to the event is free.
While organizers promise a “picturesque” route for spectators, the event will likely cause a headache for drivers trying to get around the road closures in D.C.
