WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and much of the cabinet took in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix on the National Mall on Sunday, and the president played a key role in the festivities.
Trump was front and center for the first-of-its-kind event in Washington, DC, where Indy cars blazed through the streets. Before the race got underway, the president and First Lady Melania Trump took the first lap around the track in the presidential limousine, known as the Beast.
Moments later, Trump, flanked by the First Lady, waved the green flag to get the race underway, and the video has gone viral as a meme and GIF.
Before he participated in the opening festivities, Trump joined Fox Sports for an interview, where he answered why it was important to him to host an IndyCar race in the nation’s capital. He said he was finally able to deliver on Roger Penske’s vision after Penske had tried to make a race happen in D.C. for years.
“Well, Roger told me they’ve been trying to do it for 20 years and he’d come down—I think he said he was down 211 times—to try and get it done. And when he came to see Trump, it got done in about 15 minutes,” the president said.
“And it’s turned out to be much bigger than we ever even thought possible. They actually closed the bridges… so many people wanna come,” he said, estimating 300,000 to 350,000 descended on the nation’s capital for the Grand Prix.
During the race, the president was seen speaking with cabinet officials, and at one point, he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum realized they were on television and began waving to the camera.
Kyle Kirkwood won the race and shared that it was “a pretty big deal” to see the president cheering him on after he crossed the finish line.
“I won the race, I get out of the car, I see President Trump sitting there cheering me on. As a proud American… that’s a pretty big deal to have the president cheering you on. Nothing else like it,” he said.