IndyCar president: ‘Could be a little bit of carnage’ in DC race this weekend

IndyCar President Doug Boles said Thursday morning that tight corners on the Freedom 250 Grand Prix racecourse around the National Mall this weekend could result in a “little bit of carnage” in the nation’s capital.

The nearly 1.7-mile course , which loops around the National Archives, National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, includes five “actual 90-degree corners” and two corners that “will be very fast,” Boles told Newsmax.

“It’s going to be hard to pass here — could be a little carnage at this place,” he said.

Drivers will do 147 laps around the loop, totaling 250 miles to honor America’s semiquincentennial anniversary.

The two-day event will mark the first sanctioned street race on the National Mall. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are expected to take a ceremonial “lap of honor” around the course in “The Beast.”

Boles told Newsmax the preparation for the race has “been a lot of work,” saying 200 manhole covers have been welded down and streetlights have been taken out around the course.

The auto racing president added that the incentives to perform well on this course are high because the “trophy is outstanding.”

“The only trophy better on the face of the earth is the Borg-Warner that you get when you win the Indy 500,” he said. “This trophy is going to be one for the recordbooks.”

Bud Denker, the president of Penske Corporation and the chair of this Freedom 250 event, unveiled the trophy, which features a laser-etched image of the Capitol building, during a Thursday event on Capitol Hill.

Denker said that “many, many people” told him the race “couldn’t be done,” citing more than 80 meetings he had with lawmakers. The Freedom 250 organizer said several drivers competing in the race already toured the course.

“We tried to make it a bit more challenging than you saw on the map a few months ago,” he said. “The turns are a little tighter.”

Graham Rahal, an American driver competing in the race, said during Thursday’s event that this was an “iconic moment” in his career.

“To be able to come race in the U.S. capital, right in front of Capitol Hill, to drive down Pennsylvania Avenue, these are all things that as a young kid you grow up in this country, it’s some of the first things you learn are the value of those names,” Rahal said. “And so to be here, to have the red, white and blue on the car this weekend … means a lot, so we’re excited.”