IndyCar takes over the National Mall for the historic Freedom 250 Grand Prix

For the first time in its history, the NTT IndyCar Series is racing on the streets of Washington. The inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. turns the area around the National Mall into a temporary road course this weekend, sending open-wheel cars past the Capitol, the Smithsonian, and some of the most photographed monuments in the country.

The circuit is a tight one. It runs 1.7 miles with seven turns, and it starts on 3rd Street near the National Mall, across from the Washington Monument. From there it heads onto Pennsylvania Avenue and down 9th Street, past the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives, before turning onto Constitution Avenue, cutting across 7th Street, and swinging onto Independence Avenue past the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The layout begins and ends near the West Front of the Capitol. Drivers will run 147 laps, just under 250 miles in all.

The race anchors a two-day event on August 22 and 23, timed to the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations. President Trump is hosting it as part of the America 250 commemorations, and Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has promoted the weekend as a showcase for the capital, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A street race in the middle of federal Washington is not a small undertaking. Closing streets around the Mall, building temporary barriers and grandstands, and running race cars past national landmarks required cooperation among the city, federal agencies, and race organizers. The result is a backdrop unlike anything else on the IndyCar calendar: a main straight framed in the distance by the Capitol dome and the Washington Monument.

The event has drawn both excitement and scrutiny. National outlets including NPR, The Washington Post, and CNN have covered the politics around staging a presidential-hosted race on the National Mall, alongside the spectacle of the racing itself.

For a city used to protests, parades, and inaugurations on these same streets, the sound of IndyCar engines echoing off the museums is something new. Whatever the debate around it, the Freedom 250 puts Washington on the motorsport map for the first time.

Sources

• Washington.org — Freedom 250 Grand Prix
• IndyCar — Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
• NPR — D.C.'s IndyCar race, explained
• The Washington Post — Grand Prix on D.C. streets