Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington D.C–
As the final preps take place for the Freedom 250 GP in D.C, you are about to see Indy Car like you have never seen it before. Well, we have seen IndyCar before in our 29 years of covering motorsports, but this 250 around the famous streets of D.C have never happened before and those coming Saturday and Sunday are likely to witness some of the history for just one time.
President Trump’s motorcade will make its way around the circuit as part of the festivities leading up to the Grand Prix itself, which is being held to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The start and finish line of the course is directly west of the U.S. Capitol Building, and the seven-turn lap takes drivers past the National Archives, the Washington Monument, the National Gallery of Art and these three Smithsonian museums:
- The National Museum of Natural History
- The National Air & Space Museum
- The National Museum of the American Indian
While some of these museums we be limited access, pack your patience if you are planning on being around these areas both Saturday and Sunday. All of the entrances have been marked close to the entrances to get into the track. Expect quite a bit of security on Sunday as extra security measures are in place each day.
A pit lane area of the track will run adjacent to Pennsylvania Avenue between turns 1 and 2.
We will be bringing full coverage and photos each day of the race and hope this temporary track works out as they hope it does. We don’t want to repeat the first Vegas F1 race and the manhole issue that stopped the qualifying on the first night on what then was also a temporary track that no one had seen the actual cars run on.
