The Freedom 250 roars onto the National Mall; how Penske pulled it off
- Last updated: August 23, 2026 | 09:09
For America’s 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence, Washington, D.C.’s National Mall has featured a massive fireworks display July 4 and the Great American State Fair from June 25-July 10. Now it’s the auto industry’s moment to make noise. A lot of noise.
The NTT IndyCar Series’ Freedom 250 Grand Prix comes to the Mall this weekend, August 22-23, showcasing some of the fastest race cars in the world. Powered by screaming Chevrolet and Honda engines, 25 open-wheel rockets will reach speeds of over 180 mph on a 1.7-mile, seven-turn track around the capital’s iconic landmarks. It will also feature President Donald Trump taking a lap of the course in The Beast, the presidential limo made by General Motors Co., plus a 1,250-horsepower Corvette pace car and military flyovers.
“The American auto industry has been key to defining our culture, mobility and even defining what freedom means,” said Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach, who oversees this year’s anniversary celebrations, in an interview. “We’re going from the from the Brickyard (Indy 500) to the National Mall — right by the Capitol building. This has never been done, with the exception of Thomas Jefferson, who had a race, but that was with horses. Now we’ve got real horsepower, and it’s going to be free for everybody.”
Practice and qualifying will be held Saturday, followed by the 147-lap race at 1 p.m. Sunday, August 23 on Fox Sports. The event is a feather in the cap of Bloomfield Hills-based IndyCar owner Penske Corp., which confirmed a sellout for the 100,000 free general admission tickets.
“Over 250,000 people signed up to come to this event, and we will be able to accommodate 100,000 each of the two days. And it’s free,” Chairman Roger Penske said at the White House ahead of the event. “It’s an opportunity to showcase the technology, the speed, the partnerships and the athletes that make such a difference. We think about the Indy 500 as an iconic race, but this is going to move right up there next to it, as far as we’re concerned, (as) the best in the world.”
The event might not have happened were it not for the close bond between Penske and Trump. Conceived by a team led by Penske President Bud Denker, the GP was originally to be run around Capitol Hill. On brand for DC, partisan politics intervened. Despite some 80 trips to Congress, the team was stymied until Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had an idea.
“We hit a roadblock, and I called Roger,” Duffy said at the White House ceremony. “I said: ‘Roger, you gotta call the president and tell him about this great idea, and can he move this forward.’ It was one phone call, and the president said, ‘Done.’”
IndyCar drew up a plan to move the race to the National Mall with the Start/Finish line in front of the Capitol’s west portico, pit lane along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the National Gallery of Art, and a back straight past the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.
“I was on Capitol Hill for several months trying to get the race around that racetrack,” Denker said at the White House. “It didn’t happen, (but) things happen for the best, don’t they? Within 24 hours of this idea changing onto the city streets, we had an executive order in my inbox to review, and then four days later, I was in (the president’s) office here to sign it.”
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix (“Let Freedom Rev!” exults the www.freedom250gp.com website) is the 15th of 19 races of the IndyCar season and the third (of five) straight weekends of racing as the season rushes towards its culmination at Laguna Seca, California, on September 6.
IndyCar says that interest in the event has been off the charts given the location and historical celebration. “We have more calls from partners about this race, and more interest shown, that it is right up there with the Indianapolis 500,” said team owner Chip Ganassi. His top driver, defending series champion Alex Palou, has a commanding points lead over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood and Team Penske’s David Malukas, but the series is also a duel between manufacturers as Chevrolet and Honda produce the race cars’ hybrid V-6 engines.
Honda is bullish about the Washington street course. Honda-powered teams’ drivers have won all five street circuit races this season — including Chevrolet’s home Detroit Grand Prix. Along with four other wins, the strong street results have catapulted Honda to a 169-point advantage in the manufacturers’ championship.
IndyCar races the most diverse track schedule in all of motorsports, with races in city streets like D.C., on ovals like the Indy 500, and on road courses like Laguna Seca. A dozen of the events are in Chevy country — Midwest and southern states where the brand is particularly strong — while six of the events (including DC) are in coastal states or Canada (Markham last weekend) where Honda market share thrives. Expect stars and stripes liveries on multiple teams to commemorate the event, including the three Chevy-powered Team Penske cars.
“This is a big weekend,” said Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden who rang the NASDAQ bell in New York City Tuesday as part of lead-up race promotions. “I don’t know if we’ll ever drive IndyCars around the nation’s capital again, so the fact we’re doing it is a spectacle. I hope we get a lot of eyeballs and people tuning in that maybe know nothing about the sport.”
Patriotic wraps also adorn AJ Foyt Racing’s Chevy, Indy 500-winner Felix Rosenqvist’s Meyer Shank Racing Honda and Graham Rahal’s Honda. Honda’s Acura luxury brand is taking the opportunity to wrap Marcus Ericsson’s No. 28 Andretti Global IndyCar in a special livery to mark the 40th anniversary of Acura sales in the United States. “As we count down to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, this will be like no other race ever,” Trump said at the White House ceremony. “This will get the highest ratings of any such race. It’ll be one of the most unforgettable racing events the world has ever seen.”
Tribune News Service