President Donald Trump joined the crowds in the nation’s capital on Sunday for the Freedom 250 race — but he didn’t tell the drivers to “be safe.”
The president told reporters his advice to Sunday’s drivers boiled down to two words: have fun. Dwelling on safety, he argued, was more likely to make a driver hold back — and less likely to help them win.
“Have fun,” he said, adding, “I don’t wanna say sort of ‘be safe’ because it’s sort of a negative thought. Right? They don’t wanna think about that, because if they do, generally speaking, you’re not gonna win when you start thinking that way.”
“But they’re great,” he said of the drivers slated to race on Sunday. “I know many of them through name … but it’s a great sport.”
Trump also said on Sunday that Indianapolis Motor Speedway and INDYCAR owner Roger Penske had been trying to pull off a race in Washington, D.C., for some time — but that until the Trump administration came along, it had looked like an impossibility.
🚨 PRESIDENT TRUMP JUST NOW: “They’ve been trying to do this for 20 years…when he came to see Trump, it got done in about 15 MINUTES!”
“So many people wanna come! 300,000+, they closed the bridges. Bigger and better!”
“I was hearing it’s gonna rain. I said, no it’s not!” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/dnTWNWykek
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 23, 2026
“Well, Roger [Penske] told me they’ve been trying to do it for 20 years,” Trump explained. “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 and it’s turned out to be much bigger than we ever even thought possible.”
“They actually closed the bridges,” Trump continued, estimating the crowd to be between 300,000 and 350,000. “It’s turned out to be I think bigger and better, and the weather is beautiful. You know, I was hearing about rain all week long, it’s gonna rain, it’s gonna rain. I said, ‘No, it’s not.’ And this is as nice a day as I’ve seen in Washington in a long time.”
Pre-event estimates from organizers and local outlets had put expected attendance closer to 140,000, though Trump’s Sunday estimate ran considerably higher.
The festivities also included a number of flyovers featuring U.S. Air Force bombers and fighter jets — some of which were so low and loud that they reportedly set off car alarms in the area.
🔥 LMAO! Multiple USAF bombers and fighter jets with FULL afterburner just RIPPED over DC, and it was so loud that CAR ALARMS are going off
If the leftists weren’t ALREADY mad about the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, they’re PIPING mad now 😂🤣
The sound of FREEDOM, BABY! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mkVo97SEtL
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 23, 2026
Prior to race time, the president took a lap around the track in his own armored vehicle, best known as The Beast.
.png)
.png)
