Donald Trump organizes the “Freedom 250 Grand Prix” in Washington

After MMA, it’s time for car racing. A sport just as dear to the heart of Donald Trump, who will take a lap of the track on Sunday, before an unprecedented race in Washington. The event will round off this summer of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, of which the president is both the director and the leading role.

The festivities were launched on June 14 with the famous MMA tournament organized at the White House, which coincided with Donald Trump's 80th birthday. This time, the competition, the “Freedom 250 Grand Prix”, will be an opportunity for the Republican leader to wave the green flag to kick off. Above all, he will drive his armored car called “The Beast”… A spectacle in his image.

A race in the heart of the capital

The event is managed by the organizers of the IndyCar championship, the flagship discipline of motorsport in the United States, often compared to F1 but which has its own characteristics and whose most famous race is the Indianapolis 500.

25 cars, with expected speed peaks of 185 miles per hour (more than 295 km/h), will race into the heart of the American capital, something never seen before. The 1.7-mile circuit will feature iconic landmarks such as the obelisk of the Washington Monument and the immaculate dome of the Capitol, the seat of Congress, as a backdrop.

“A wonderful time”

Runners will complete 147 laps, for a total distance of 400 kilometers, over approximately three hours. For Kim Harrison, a retired teacher who came specially from California, “it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event.” She has never attended an Indycar competition. For her part, Neva Hoover, owner of a garage in Ohio, predicts a “simply incredible” moment. The sight, the sound, the smells. It will be wonderful.”

For several days now, security barriers and platforms have been put in place along several arteries in the center of Washington, a temporary project which adds to the numerous renovation or construction work undertaken in the city by Donald Trump. On January 30, he signed a decree allowing the organization of the event, which celebrates an “intrinsically American sport.”

Patriotic extravaganza

To celebrate this anniversary, Donald Trump did not really seek to unite around a unifying patriotic story, despite a divided America. Seeking a demonstration of power more than emotion or idealism, he has multiplied the deafening overflights of combat planes, and boasts of having fired, “the largest fireworks display in the world”, 850,000 rockets for forty minutes, on July 4, a national holiday.

The same day, masked men marched in Washington, some waving Confederate flags and others displaying the emblem of the supremacist Patriot Front movement, chanting “Take back America!” ".