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.

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.

...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.

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

What is the difference between Indy and Formula One?

...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!

..... 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!

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!

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

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

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.

Sorry

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.

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.

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

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.

Oval tracks run counterclockwise and feature left turns. This goes back to conducting early auto races on horse tracks, that also run counterclockwise.

…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

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.

...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....

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.

If I wanted to get under your skin I'd have pointed out that F2 is basically equal to Indy and they're just a feeder series

LMH is way slower, they had to go so far as to nerf the LMP2s to make it the "fastest" spec…I do understand cost control, but that was an awful decision on the FIA's part.

..altogether.

The beauty of it is that each series really showcases a different set of engineering and driving styles and skills.

In the modern era, the longest Formula One race is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, covering 192 miles--or two hours; whichever comes first; while the longest Formula 2 race is 105.6 miles--or one hour; whichever comes first. I think that is a big reason to not put F2 above IndyCar or LMH.

There are eight races on the IndyCar calendar this year longer than 192 miles--and not all of them are oval races.

The iconic Indianapolis 500 is a true 500 mile test of both drivers, machines, and teams--with 6 or 7 pit stops versus one or two in the average Formula One race. And that includes refueling which Formula 1 and Formula 2 do not do.

WRC does not get the respect it deserves either. There are real arguments to be made that it is really the most true form of racing out there--running on varied-surface public roads (gravel, tarmac, snow.)

I love motorsport in all of its forms. I think they all deserve respect in their own right.

In my mind and experience, Formula 1 is the most exciting and most demanding series on many levels, but IndyCar has a unique set of demands that put it right up there with Formula 1 from a driver and mechanic standpoint.

Will I watch every IndyCar race on the schedule this year? Absolutely not. Will I get up at 3 am if I have to and call my college-age son on the phone and watch the Formula 1 race with him? Absolutely.

I would not miss it--and that says something about it; or me--and my kid.

He is a mechanical engineering/aerospace minor student, so you can only imagine the level at which he is watching the races now....

We are both looking forward to the changes in the formula this year as it shakes up the field and challenges the engineers, drivers, and teams.

33 days, 23 hours, and 47 minutes--but who's counting....

His track record the last 50 years says otherwise

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.

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".

I'm not understanding your statement about "closed streets" since definition, a street race like this is conducted on a race course using closed streets. Where did you think they were going to run, if it wasn't on closed streets?

Just like Long Beach, which has been run for 40 years, Toronto (38 years), St Petersburg ( 20 years) and Detroit, plus these from previous years; Baltimore, Nashville, San Jose, Houston, Las Vegas, Denver, Cleveland, and San Paulo, Brazil.

Pretty certain after doing races on street courses for 40 years they know how to do them.

And plenty of other good street circuits for a lot more series than just IndyCar; I've got no inherent problem with them and yes of course they're ultimately a race track on closed roads.

But they're thoughtfully designed, and analyzed, and there's usually improvements and modifications to the roads and infrastructure, all things that take a lot longer than a few months. I simply don't see a nice high-level street course being created in the timeframe available…my closed road comment was literal, I'm expecting some "Road Closed" signs and maybe a few Jersey barriers, something more reminiscent of the 1980's Caesar's Palace Circuit (that was literally in the parking lot), rather than a Detroit or Monaco.

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

Even during Democratic administrations there are things that tax dollars are spent on that I don't like--things like military flyovers at sporting events for example. It is part of life in a democracy. I understand it.

Personally, I would much rather my tax dollars go to an auto race than to ICE or rebuilding the Kennedy Center if it is going to go to something anyway.

I am going to guess that many of us love something that is supported by far more tax dollars than we approve of--or even know. Football and Baseball stadiums for a start.

I also try to be respectful to the things other people care about whether I do or not. We all have our things. There really isn't a reason to disparage it.

..... 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.

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.

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

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

We all know what she is.

Chump is P.T. Barnham in this circus.

I demand he shows respect for our Nations Capital.

Just tell him NO!

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?

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?"

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

...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.

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?

..."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."

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".

Wrestling, car races, can roller derby be next?

the Department of Injustice and all other executive branch offices,
and the right-wing two-thirds of the Supreme Court !!!!!!


(Where ELSE in Washington DC is there room for an Indy race track? I don't see it)

Of all the dumb shit hes done, this is pretty low on the list.

One of the few things I'd say could stay when he's gone.

by the end of the month (after removal of the newly installed and gilded dance poles)