President Trump issues executive order to begin preparations for IndyCar race in Washington

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Yahoo Sports

Could an IndyCar Series race in Washington actually happen?

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday to go forward with preparations for an Aug. 23 race. The “Freedom 250 Grand Prix” would take place near the National Mall. IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske was in attendance at the signing ceremony.

The order directs the Interior Department and Transportation Department to "designate a suitable race route that showcases the majesty of Washington D.C. and its iconic national monuments." It also directs the departments "to issue all necessary permits, approvals and authorizations as expeditiously as possible to plan, prepare for, and conduct the race." The race has been rumored for some time after Trump posted an AI video of an IndyCar race in the city to his social-media channels.

“President Trump has bestowed an incredible distinction upon our sport and we’re grateful for his trust and support as INDYCAR prepares to honor our country with a tremendous racing spectacle,” IndyCar owner Roger Penske said in a statement obtained by NBC. “This will be a truly memorable event that celebrates our country’s independence and the legacy of patriotism, innovation and excellence that powers motorsports across America.”

Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/indycar/breaking-news/article/president-trump-issues-executive-order-to-begin-preparations-for-indycar-race-in-washington-165507521.html

---

What's next, Jello wrestling and a hot dog eating contest?

[Harker]

1. Panem et circensis.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Yep. Just like the wifey's movie. Only maybe actually interesting.

[jls4561]

2. Fat Donnie from Queens must not have gotten all the toys he wanted when he was little.

So now, while the rest of America can only have two dolls for Christmas, he gets to inconvenience as many people as he can in order to make satisfy his unquenchable desires.

[Deuxcents]

3. How much is this gonna cost the taxpayers? How ridiculous

[chicoescuela]

52. Right. Biden couldn't waive a little student debt and his asshat

Spends a shitpot full of money on shit like this and fake wrestling.
I hope John Roberts gets exposed as the pedophile that he appears to be.

[Lovie777]

4. EO full of shit................

[Ol Janx Spirit]

5. IndyCar isn't Jell-O wrestling or a hot dog eating contest.... While I am disappointed that IndyCar will participate..

...in this spectacle, please do not disparage what is a legitimately great racing series.

Sure, CART was a better series before Tony George (grandson of Tony Hulman, who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at the end of World War II) forced a split and eventual remaking of the series in the early 2000s, but IndyCar is the second-best open-wheel racing series in the world--and it has a history that goes back to 1911. Everyone that drives or rides in a car today has been impacted by the engine and chassis development that automobile racing brought to passenger car design.

Hate it as I do, I can understand why a premiere racing series would want to showcase their product through the streets of Washington, D.C., in a high-profile event.

It will actually likely be a great race. The engineering that goes into the cars and the skill of the drivers are second only to Formula One.

I would encourage everyone to watch it regardless of the Administration's involvement. And when you do, you will se that it is NOT Jell-O wrestling or a hot dog eating contest.

[reACTIONary]

12. I was going to ask you what was first...

... I guess Formula One is too Euro for Donnie / DC / 250.

What is the difference between Indy and Formula One?

[Ol Janx Spirit]

16. The logistics for Formula One--being a truly worldwide series--and the track requirements make it...

...far less agile for adding a calendar event at the last minute. It's also not "American" like IndyCar or NASCAR, so it would not make sense for a celebration of the anniversary of America.

That said, there is a huge difference between the two series: the biggest being that a Formula One team is required to design and build two cars from the ground up with only a few systems being allowed to be bought from other vendors--engines and braking systems being the main things. One of the biggest impacts of that is that each team has to design and build their own chassis and aerodynamics packages.

IndyCar teams can run more than two cars, and they all currently run a Dallara IR-12 chassis (2012-present) with Dallara IR-18 aero kit. They can choose between a Honda HI24E hybrid Indy-V-6 and a Chevy INDYCAR V6 engine.

This--and not having to travel all over the world for races--makes IndyCar a much less expensive series to run. But it obviously does not foster the engineering development of Formula One.

Both series run a single tire manufacturer: Firestone Firehawk for IndyCar; Pirelli for Formula One. Both series have multiple compounds of the tires and require that teams run at least two during a dry race.

Formula One runs exclusively on "road courses"--meaning you have to turn right and left--while IndyCar runs on numerous "oval" tracks like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where drivers only make left-hand turns.

Both series make pit stops, but Formula One teams do not currently refuel during a pit stop--only change tires and wing settings--while IndyCars refuel with a rapid, gravity-fed and pressurized refueling system, allowing teams to fill the 22-gallon tank with Shell's 100% renewable racing fuel in less than 10 seconds. That's fast, but a Formula One pit stop takes about 2 seconds.

The other huge difference is that Formula One does a "standing start," while IndyCar does a "rolling start." The standing start is one of the most exciting things in all of sport IMO: 20+ of the fastest and best engineered machines in all of motorsport waiting on the lights to go out for an all-out zero-to-whatever sprint to the first turn.

HTH!

[reACTIONary]

18. Very informative! I can't help but make comparisons to regeta sailing...

..... Formula One seems like America's Cup match racing, where the boats conform to a box rule and the competition is as much about design and engineering as it is about skill on the course. The IndyCar seems to be more of a one design, where the boats are almost identical and it comes down almost entirely to skill and execution.

Of course the boats are not anywhere near to being fast and furious!

[Ol Janx Spirit]

23. I'm into sailboat racing as well, and have done some of it myself. And yes, that's a great comparison!

The thing I absolutely love about sailing is that you are working with what nature gives you. And the modern America's Cup high-performance, foiling monohull yachts are absolutely insane. I bet if you were on one it would be plenty fast and furious!

[reACTIONary]

24. Always up wind! The world record boats....

... Are always sailing upwind... because they sail faster than the wind. That is fast and furious!

[reACTIONary]

19. Re Formula One pit stop takes about 2 seconds....

.... I was a bit skeptical about this, so I googled it and watched a few Utubes. Wow! Unbelievable, but true!

[MichMan]

29. The pit stop times for F1 are faster for a couple reasons

1) They don't refuel the car in Formula 1. That process in IndyCar takes longer than changing tires.

2) Formula 1 is allowed 12 people to change tires while IndyCar only allows 5.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. Auto racing has never interested me

Sorry

[Ol Janx Spirit]

15. I get that. I'm sure there are things that interest you that don't interest me....

I won't demean them. We all have our things.

I've always been fascinated as an auto racing fan that so many people that have both benefitted from the engineering that has been developed by it--better, more efficient engines; braking systems; aerodynamics; safety systems--and actually put their lives in the hands of other drivers on the road every day are not more interested in it.

What has the development of a football or a baseball brought us? How many people throw one at the risk of their very life every day?

Yet, we strap ourselves into 5000-pound automobiles every day without thinking of it as a skill that can be honed.

That's why we have 40,000 needless automobile deaths every year, but we don't have a lot of baseball or football deaths.

I truly wish everyone on the road was an auto racing fan and took driving seriously.

[MichMan]

30. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes

I love Motorsports more than any other sport, but would rather see paint dry than watching Soccer or Tennis. The only stick and ball sport I really like is Hockey. I'm at some type of racetrack every single weekend from April to September. Attended the Indy 500 28 times and a couple hundred NASCAR races.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

31. I don't watch soccer or tennis either

I'm a Seahawks season ticket holder. My other favorite sport from a spectator perspective is basketball.

[MichMan]

33. Can't stand basketball

Rules drive me insane.

Players can take three steps with the ball, and traveling is never called, offensive player can go charging in at full speed, clobber a defender, and the foul gets called on the defender for being in the way, yet let a defender barely brush someone when they are shooting, and another foul is called. Then even though the rules say intentional fouls aren't allowed, a team down 10 points with a couple minutes to go can keep fouling instantly on every possession, making the last couple minutes last at least ten minutes or more.

[Pucks mom]

26. Maybe Pato O'Ward will win!!

[Ol Janx Spirit]

39. With over 60% of the grid being foreign-born, it is fairly likely a non-American will win.

We just don't have much of a development series for road-course racers here in the U.S. of A.

I'd love to see a Mexican or Canadian driver win it.

[travelingthrulife]

27. left hand turns

[Ol Janx Spirit]

40. Radical left turns.

[sir pball]

38. Unless there's been a LOT more going on behind the scenes than we're aware of...

…as an avid motorsport fan myself, I highly doubt this race is happening–not because of any business reasons, but because there has been zero work done on the track itself (as a DC resident I would absolutely know if they were scouting/building a road course on my regular running routes).

Road courses in Indy are usually built to (though not necessarily actually certified) FIA Grade 2 standards. While they aren't as demanding as Grade 1 standards that Formula 1 needs, it's still a massive task to design/lay out the track, improve the road surface itself, make any needed safety modifications to the roads, figure out what barriers/crash structures need to be where, and any one of a million other logistical details. It's simply not something I see being done in a half year; the Baku Street Circuit took two years, albeit being Grade 1.

And just to get a friendly jab in (all racing is good racing)…Indy's a solid third behind LMP1, per COTA lap times

[Ol Janx Spirit]

41. I think it's going to happen. They've already put it on their calendar as a points-scoring race....

https://www.indycar.com/Schedule/2026/Washington-DC

It says it will be free to attend. I'm sure they can pull together a circuit. Whether it will be a good circuit--who knows? They were willing to roll tanks down the street last year, so I guess they aren't too worried about how much it will cost taxpayers....

Given Penske's involvement in the signing ceremony I figured it was a given that they were farther down the road than the announcement indicated.

I get your point about LMP1--now Le Mans Hypercars. That's likely true--especially given the more varied technology and engineering.

[sir pball]

44. As someone living in DC...

I'm really not sure they can put together a G2 track that fast.

Sure, it's not G1 where they need 200-mph runouts and immediate Level 1 trauma response, but even for what they do need it would be superhuman to get it all together in 6 months. The time is the problem.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

45. I guess we will find out pretty soon what the plan is. I absolutely hear what you're saying...

...about putting together a real track meant for real racing in that period of time, but I'm going to speculate that this course will be put together with imagery more than racing in mind.

I would guess it will be more like the Roman Colosseum where they staged mock battles compared to the real battles in the field where actual glory and treasure was earned for aspiring Roman soldiers.

We have one hint in the official release from IndyCar about the route: "INDYCAR To Deliver First Motor Race in History on the National Mall."

We can anticipate what some of the images that we will be served up by the regime will be: racing down Constitution Ave. NW; racing across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and through the stupid Arc that will be there by that time; racing up 15th Street around the Washington Monument; racing up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. 14th Street SW or one side of Independence Avenue could be the pit lane.

Many of these roads are already fairly large and open enough to create a street course easily enough.

Will it be a great race? Probably not. Is that the point of the whole thing? Definitely not.

As empty of meaning as the man that envisioned it, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., will inevitably be far more of an embarrassing propaganda event than real race. But with the value of propaganda being so incredibly important to this regime, you can bet that it will actually happen in some form. Whatever the reality, it will certainly be touted as the biggest, the best, and something nobody ever thought was possible....

[sir pball]

56. Okay, I can buy that argument.

A "race" of Needy Amin's apparently beloved IndyCars driving around closed streets at 6/10, purely to stroke his tiny mushroom ego and earn MAGA boy Penske, is something I can entirely imagine. The images of the cars looping around the Capitol Pool…he'd hang a banner in the Rotunda.

Living here, I cannot imagine pushing 200 down Constitution or Independence; they actually aren't the worst streets in town but they are NOT as glass-smooth as open-wheelers need for those speeds. The only place I can think of that could actually work for a true race would be around Hains Point, but that's just an oval with a slightly different layout.

[MichMan]

42. Does Roger Penske have a habit of failing to deliver once he agrees to do something?

His track record the last 50 years says otherwise

[sir pball]

43. No, he doesn't.

As to whether or not this "circuit" will be safe and up to grade…I'm not sure about that.

Roger Penske is a MAGA through and through, he will allow an unsafe circuit to make his money.

Me, I already have two tickets to a proper and safe course…COTA MotoGP and F1.

[sir pball]

55. True, but his agreement this time is with The Devil.

We shall see.

As has been pointed out, this could easily be a not-a-race-race, with the drivers slow-rolling laps around what amounts to closed streets rather than a proper course…I can totally see that, it would fluff Needy Amin's ego and give MAGA boy Penske a "win".

[choie]

53. Oh for crying out loud

I'll be damned if I want my tax money going to fucking "Indy race" bullshit.

[IcyPeas]

6. Working on all the urgent matters facing the country.

[Marie Marie]

7. Yawn. Call me when he lines up The Street Outlaws from the 405.

[reACTIONary]

13. I looked into Street Outlaws 405...

..... and watched a video. It looks like drag racing to me. They even have drag chutes to slow the cars down. I guess in real illegal street racing they do a sprint like a drag race.

[Marie Marie]

20. They started out as a real bunch of illegal street racers but once they became a TV show,

most of them gained the fame and income to cross over into real drag racing - with sponsors and 1/4-1/2 million dollar cars. I just like watching them and cheering on my fav drivers.

[chicoescuela]

8. Roger Penske can now F off

[reACTIONary]

9. Well, it beats a forced march birthday militarily parade...

... and maybe it will take his mind off of the Arc d'Trump.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. Since ETTD, I imagine that the wrecks will be spectacular.

[eppur_se_muova]

17. The Jello wrestling is being saved for "Melania II".

Maybe also the hot dog eating, but with a twist.

We all know what she is.

[BidenRocks]

21. Our seat of government is reduced to a carny.

Chump is P.T. Barnham in this circus.

I demand he shows respect for our Nations Capital.

Just tell him NO!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

37. Bingo

You've identified the biggest issue. Whatever one feels about auto racing setting up events is not his job.

In addition, he wants to host a UFC event and build an ugly ass arch.

He's already turned the Rose Garden into a patio and torn down the east wing of the Whitehouse. Who knows if he's ballroom will ever be completed?

[NBachers]

22. Next: Chariot races and everyone has to wear togas

[QueerDuck]

25. Chariot races... exactly! Togas and no more "age of consent" at White House orgies.

[travelingthrulife]

28. Will he have a stand selling young girls? He'll measure their vagina length and tightness for you.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. Was anyone in DC government thinking about this before Trump saw the shiny AI object and grabbed it?

Is this anything more than "I, King Trump, want to show my power over Washington DC by forcing them to schedule a sports event at short notice that makes me feel good about fossil fuels?"

[MichMan]

34. IndyCars don't use fossil fuels, and the race isn't until the end of August.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. 7 months is short notice to screw around with a city's streets,

set up all the support needed for teams, spectators and so on.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

46. This is actually something they are very good at. Actually planning the circuit...

...will be the hardest part. Once that is done the setup for a street course usually only takes about two weeks since the series does this for fully a third of their races. It takes about another week to take it all down.

Seven months is a very short time to actually plan the circuit though. Because of this I really expect it to be a simple circuit geared more towards dramatic shots of cars running around iconic monuments than a true racing circuit. You can bet they will want to race under the vanity Arc if they can.

With 60% of the drivers in INDYCAR being foreign-born--and only approximately 35% of races being won by American-born racers over the last decade--there's a good chance one of them will win the race--which would be fitting IMO.

[muriel_volestrangler]

47. Isn't that assuming an area of the city that actually wants their streets shut down, in return for the economic activity

rather than one that is having it forced on them, and the city has to work out which of their citizens to inconvenience for 3 weeks, when no one in the city wanted it?

[Ol Janx Spirit]

48. Well, yes, that would be a consideration...but you'll have to take that up the mayor who is...

..."revved" up for the event.

"The race weekend will rev up the economic engine of D.C.," Bowser tells Axios in a statement, saying it will fill hotels and restaurants and prove "there's no better city, people and backdrop for major sports events."
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2026/01/30/donald-trump-indycar-street-race-downtown-dc

That doesn't exactly make me think that "no one in the city wanted it."

[muriel_volestrangler]

49. OK, thanks for finding that - I had asked, since I found nothing about this

until Trump stuck his oar in. It seems truly bizarre for this to start with an "executive order" rather than the city and the IndyCar organization announcing it. Because, as pointed out above, it comes across as the "circuses" part of "bread and circuses".

[leftyladyfrommo]

50. It's the Gumball Rally all over again.

[Scrivener7]

51. The Chief of Staff is running all over the WH asking who in the hell let him watch Ben Hur.

[Swede]

54. FFS

Wrestling, car races, can roller derby be next?