IndyCar drivers amazed at downtown DC course: 'It's stuff that you dream of'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even for well-traveled IndyCar drivers, a track with the U.S. Capitol in the background is a little awe inspiring. “We get to race at a lot of cool cities, but this one is by far the best that we’ve ever had, and I can say that very truthfully,” Kyle Kirkwood said Friday.

“Going by the Capitol building, the views here, all the architecture of all the buildings around here, all the museums, it’s stuff that you dream of. “It’s a serious honor and privilege.” This weekend’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix is the second big sporting event staged by President Donald Trump in Washington as part of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration. The first was a UFC fight card on the White House’s South Lawn in June.

IndyCar racing — an open-wheel counterpart to NASCAR — doesn’t have quite the same association with the right-wing “manosphere” or the MAGA movement, but series owner Roger Penske received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump in 2019 and led the effort to put together this race in the District of Columbia. For the drivers, it’s a welcome moment in the spotlight. “What’s been the coolest part of this week?

Honestly, the media covering us,” Kirkwood said. “It’s cool to see IndyCar in this light. We don’t get these opportunities very often outside of the Indy 500, and to have an event that is sought after as much as the 500 is something that’s special.” Washington has little history with high-level motorsports.

In 2002, the parking lot at RFK Stadium on the city’s east side was transformed into a course for an American Le Mans Series event. The Freedom 250 is downtown in one of D.C.’s prime tourist areas. If you’re not in a race car, it’s not the greatest weekend to be driving around the area given all the road closures, but if the weather holds up, the setting has the potential to be spectacular.

“As a boy from the Netherlands that just got his green card, it is really cool,” said Rinus VeeKay, who has six top-10 finishes this season. history in school … but learning so much about it here, seeing all the monuments and museums and just how every building kind of has a special purpose here around the city, is very cool. Getting to see the White House, this is stuff you see in movies.” The White House is not part of the D.C.