U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order alongside Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Roger Penske, chair of the Penske Corporation, Bud Denker, President of Penske Corporation, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump signed an order aimed at bringing an IndyCar race to the District of Columbia this summer as part of the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The nation’s capital will host an autorace through its streets this summer, President Donald Trump said Friday.

The IndyCar race, which Trump compared to the Indianapolis 500, will take place Aug. 23, with preliminary events such as practice sessions occurring for two days before, Trump said during an Oval Office announcement. 

It will be free for spectators to attend and broadcast by Fox.

The event, dubbed the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, is one of several Trump’s White House has planned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this summer. The celebration is also scheduled to include an Ultimate Fighting Championship match at the White House.

The race track will go around “our iconic national monuments in celebration of America’s 250th birthday,” according to an executive order Trump signed. The exact route will be finalized by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum within the next two weeks, according to the order.

Trump implied that the site of the race had already been chosen, saying that he urged organizers to choose “the best site,” no matter the permitting difficulties. The order directs Duffy and Burgum to ensure all permits are secured.

Duffy, Burgum, and representatives of the Penske Corp., which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana that hosts the sport’s premiere event, flanked Trump during the Oval Office signing.

Trump noted that Penske executives had long sought a race in Washington, D.C., but had not made progress with lawmakers they’d lobbied. Trump approved the plan after “half a meeting,” he said.

“They’ve been coming here for years, and everybody wanted it,” he said. “Every senator wants it, every Congress, everybody wants it, but they don’t get things done. Trump gets things done.”

Officials at the White House Friday lauded the plan.

“To think of 190 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue, this is going to be wild,” said Duffy, a former member of Congress from Wisconsin. “Freedom, America, speed and roadracing. It doesn’t get more American than that, Mr. President.”