Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
As part of many racing events over the past 26 years we have been covering motorsports, some of the so called “showruns” have produced lackluster 30 to 40 minutes of action, this Red Bull show run was an action packed 2 hours and 50,000 fans of racing fun.
For those who have not seen a Formula 1 car up close or even the sure power the car has on the track, getting this close was the next best thing to a trip to Austin, Miami or Las Vegas in the streets. In fact, with all of the fans lining Pennsylvania Avenue, the almost full race feel was there.
You had people lining the tops of buildings and four to five rows deep on each side of track. We even caught some on light posts and in trees to get that full race look. That’s what gave us the Vegas vibes the people getting on any and everything they could find to get that one look at the cars and motorcycle zooming by.
Many people were wowed by the show put on by freestyle rider Aaron Colton, who up down left back and right on the bike, this guy just knows how to get a crowd pumped. There is no doubt in our minds why this guy is a World Champion on 2 wheels.
If rally cars are your thing, Scott Speed put on a show and left a nice smoke show to show for his time on the track. We are quite sure that Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman will remember her ride for years to come.
Back to the F1 action. The full city road race was something that Champion David Coulthard clearly enjoyed.
“The best part of the Red Bull Showrun is being able to bring Formula One to some fans that have already seen it, but more importantly to fans who have never seen it before,” said Coulthard. “Pennsylvania Avenue from the cockpit looked wonderful and it’s been a great privilege to drive the F1 car down this iconic street.”
Could we possibly see D.C host motorsports again the future? The 2002 race around RFK didn’t take off too well and the Indy Car race held in Baltimore also flopped. We asked the events D.C office along with the Office of the Mayor, neither had any comments regarding any possible negotiations for any kind of street race.
