Trump Waves Green Flag To Start IndyCar Race Through Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON —

President Donald Trump waved the green flag Sunday to start the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, sending IndyCars racing past the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall in the first professional road race ever held in the nation's capital, according to Yahoo Sports and the BBC.

Trump, with first lady Melania Trump beside him, first took a ceremonial lap of the course in the presidential limousine known as The Beast, Yahoo Sports and CBS News reported. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum then gave the traditional call, "Gentlemen, start your engines," before 25 drivers took off on 3rd Street in front of the Capitol, Yahoo Sports reported.

A Track Around the Monuments

The course ran 1.66 miles through downtown Washington, with straightaways on Pennsylvania Avenue and Independence Avenue, according to Yahoo Sports. Drivers reached speeds close to 190 mph on streets where the city's normal limit is 25 mph, far below the 55 mph speed limit that already makes Washington the slowest-limit city in the country, the BBC reported. The race covered 147 laps and 250 miles, a nod to the country's 250th anniversary, and took roughly three hours to finish, Yahoo Sports reported. Fox broadcast the event live to a national audience.

The closure of some of the city's most famous streets for a motor race was itself unusual. Yahoo Sports reported that organizers worked with the National Park Service and local authorities for months to secure permission to run cars at racing speed past federal landmarks that normally see nothing faster than tour buses and commuter traffic.

An Order Signed Months Earlier

The race traced back to an executive order Trump signed on January 30, which directed the secretaries of the interior and transportation to designate a route through the capital for the event, according to Yahoo Sports. The order set in motion the closures and safety planning that made Sunday's race possible, though Yahoo Sports did not report a detailed breakdown of the costs involved or which agencies covered them.

The Freedom 250 was billed as part of a wider run of events marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, according to the BBC, with the lap count and distance both set at 250 to match the milestone. Neither outlet reported the final results of the race or named a winning driver.