President Trump Participates in a Freedom 250 Grand Prix Showcase

[0:09] Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. [0:13] Thank you very much, everybody. What an honor. [2:04] We have that great music. We love great music. [2:07] We have Roger with me, 120 Indianapolis, 500. That's not bad. [2:12] He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by me when he won 17, [2:17] and he just kept winning. It's not supposed to work that way, right? [2:20] We thought he stopped, but he won, and he's amazing. [2:23] He's been my friend for a long time, but I'm thrilled to be here [2:25] with some of the most extraordinary figures in the history of motorsports. [2:30] And any sport, if you think about it, as we count down to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, [2:36] this will be like no other race ever. [2:38] I don't think anything will ever beat, will ever top what we're going to be having. [2:43] It just happened with UFC. It got the highest ratings of any fight in history. [2:47] This will get the highest ratings of any such race. [2:50] It'll be one of the most unforgettable racing events the world has ever seen, [2:54] and we have the most talented people. [2:57] These people have a lot of courage on my right. [2:58] I don't want to do what they did. [3:00] You could teach me, but it still takes something special, right? [3:04] I know every one of you. What a great job you've done. [3:07] I want to thank Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duff, who's a phenomenal guy. [3:12] He's doing a great job. [3:13] Doing a great job. [3:16] And the very, very legendary Roger Penske, who is, I mean, there's nobody like him I can't imagine [3:24] in the history of racing or maybe any other sport, to be honest with you. [3:30] Roger Penske, the president of Penske Corporation, Bud Denker. [3:35] I want to introduce Bud. [3:37] Thank you very much, Bud. [3:38] What a great job. [3:39] CEO of Fox Sports, Eric Shanks. [3:42] Thank you very much, Eric. [3:45] It's going to get a lot of ratings. [3:46] Are you prepared for this kind of rating? [3:48] I don't know. [3:48] It's going to be a big rating you're going to have. [3:51] The president of General Motors, Mark Royce. [3:54] And say hello to Mary and everybody. [3:56] She's a fantastic person. [3:57] It's a great company. [3:58] It's a hot company. [3:59] We just ordered a lot of Escalades for security purposes. [4:02] And we do a lot of business with General Electric. [4:07] And they're actually going now in the weapons making business. [4:10] And I think you do better with that than you did even in the cars. [4:13] So I want to thank you very much, Mark. [4:16] And incredible IndyCar drivers, Alex Palau, Felix Rosenquist, and David Malukas. [4:25] And I've watched all three of you recently do very well. [4:27] Thank you. [4:28] Very well. [4:29] Better you than me. [4:30] I don't want to go 250 miles an hour with a two-inch in separating my car. [4:36] I don't want to do that. [4:37] But what you've done was incredible the last couple of races. [4:41] Unprecedented events will take place next month right here in our nation's capital. [4:46] On August 22nd and 23rd, it'll be an awesome display of American patriotism and raw horsepower [4:53] and ingenuity. [4:55] You're going to see cars at the level that they've never been at before [4:59] with cars racing more than 190 miles and even higher than that down Pennsylvania Avenue. [5:06] It wasn't exactly designed for that. [5:08] But what Sean Duffy's done with these incredible, brilliant people is really amazing. [5:13] It's going to be a sight for the ages. [5:16] It really will be something special. [5:17] And they're going to go all around the National Mall at speeds that are not quite – if we [5:23] did that during the regular day, I think people would be put in jail perhaps for the rest of [5:27] their lives, right? [5:29] It wasn't supposed to be that way. [5:31] But it's going to be beautiful. [5:32] It's going to be a beautiful thing to watch. [5:34] And this is the first racing event of its kind in Washington, D.C.'s history, happening [5:40] as part of our great celebration of the 250th anniversary of American freedom. [5:46] The American people are invited to come watch this once-in-a-lifetime total event. [5:51] And Roger and General Motors and Fox and everybody else, I will say, it's free. [5:58] We thought – they thought maybe we could – you know, they'd get so much money. [6:01] This is a ticket. [6:02] You're probably having second thoughts. [6:04] You said, well, we could have made a fortune. [6:06] No, it's free, totally free. [6:09] And it's something they're doing for the country. [6:13] The country is doing incredibly well. [6:15] We've never done this well. [6:16] We're respected all over the world now. [6:18] And respected like never before. [6:21] We have – I was telling Roger before – we have $19.2 trillion being invested in the [6:27] United States of America by other people and countries. [6:29] We've – no country in the world has ever had anything like that. [6:33] And plants and factories and everything's being right now built, as we speak, being built [6:38] all over the country. [6:39] There's never been any country that's as hot as we are right now. [6:44] In addition to that, we have the strongest military in the world. [6:47] You saw that with Venezuela. [6:48] You're seeing that right now with Iran for 47 years around – 47 years in a row they were [6:54] pushing people around. [6:55] They're not pushing us around. [6:57] We're pushing them around. [6:58] The Penske team held more than 80 meetings in 90 days on Capitol Hill to get this event [7:04] to happen. [7:05] This is over a period of years and nothing happened. [7:08] And when they came to see – they said, when they came to see the president, what are we [7:12] working at? [7:12] In about 15 minutes, it was done. [7:14] And we picked a better track. [7:16] We actually picked – they went into something that was not as good. [7:19] And – well, they were dealing with Democrats, what can I tell you? [7:24] But it wasn't as good. [7:26] And I said to the group, I said, is this the exact track that you want? [7:31] And they said, you just can't do better than Pennsylvania, haven't you, when you think [7:34] of it? [7:35] And that's going to be the – straightaway, it's going to be fantastic. [7:37] This event is following in the footsteps of that event that I just mentioned, the UFC [7:43] event, which we hosted Dana White, who's a fantastic man, what he's done, the great [7:48] job. [7:49] And this will be equally as breathtaking. [7:51] The air show that we're going to have is going to be – along with the car is going [7:55] to be something. [7:56] We did the greatest air show, I think, ever on July 4th. [7:58] They've never seen planes at that level. [8:01] It was really quite a time. [8:03] And then we had an event, and there was rain, and everybody was told to leave. [8:08] There was lightning, and they didn't leave. [8:10] And I said, we can't not do it. [8:12] So we went back, I said, everybody, let's come back. [8:15] And we ended up – we had 425,000 people when we started. [8:19] And they were – think of that, it was a number much bigger than ever anticipated. [8:24] And then everybody was told to go home, and I heard about that. [8:27] I said, no way. [8:28] So we called them all back. [8:29] We ended up with 152,000 people. [8:32] It was – it was actually made hotter. [8:35] This was made better and hotter by bad weather, believe it or not. [8:39] I said, I don't care if I have to make this speech at 2 o'clock in the morning at [8:42] the morning at the morning at the morning at the morning at the morning at the morning. [8:43] It doesn't matter. [8:44] But on our 250th anniversary, America deserves the greatest celebration in the history of [8:49] our country and the history of the world. [8:51] And I think this is it. [8:52] And this is really a big part of the crescendo. [8:55] So next month, these exceptional sportsmen, drivers, athletes – they're great athletes. [9:01] Nothing – nobody can do. [9:02] They're born with something very special. [9:04] They're born with an ability to press that pedal all the way down to the ground. [9:08] Most people can't do that. [9:10] Very few people can. [9:11] But their beautiful cars are going to make freedom raw. [9:15] This will be a freedom that's roaring like never before. [9:19] So I'd like to now just ask Sean Duffy. [9:21] This guy – Sean is exceptional. [9:23] And, you know, what people don't know, he was the world record in going up logs, going [9:29] up to the top of these stupid trees. [9:32] I never saw anything like – and Sean had – how many years were you the champion of [9:36] that? [9:37] Five? [9:38] Five. [9:39] For five years, he was the world champion. [9:40] He was the lumberjack. [9:41] Who the hell knew that about Sean Duffy? [9:43] And that – because I like champions. [9:44] He was the world champion for five years, going up a tree and coming down. [9:49] He said going up wasn't bad, coming down was very dangerous. [9:52] He broke his back a couple of times, little things like that. [9:56] But he was the world champion at that, climbing the tree for five separate times. [10:03] And, you know, I respect – we respect great champions and athletes, so you wouldn't believe [10:09] it. [10:09] That's my man. [10:11] I've known that for a long time. [10:13] And he's married to Rachel, who's an incredible woman. [10:16] She's a very big success on television, and we love their family. [10:20] We love him. [10:21] So I'd like to ask Sean to say a few words, and then Roger Pence is going to speak. [10:26] And then we're going to be given a display of how to turn – how to put tires on a car [10:32] very quickly. [10:33] So you're going to have a good time. [10:34] Thank you very much, everybody. [10:35] Thank you. [10:39] Well, first – thank you, Mr. President. [10:42] As the Secretary of Transportation, Lumberjack Sports, we used to move logs down rivers, one [10:47] of the first modes of transportation, so it's fitting. [10:51] Thank you for the job. [10:52] But it's great to be here with two legends, one legend in presidential history, but another [10:58] legend, Roger Penske, in motorsports history for this great day. [11:04] And just a little history that the President mentioned. [11:07] The Department of Transportation was working with Fox Sports and the Penskes, and Bud Denker [11:12] was working the Hill, and he did. [11:14] He had over 80 meetings on the Hill trying to make this event happen, because when you [11:19] think about America 250, you also think about cars, and when you think about cars, you do [11:25] think about freedom. [11:26] This all goes together. [11:28] And we had some people who were creating problems for us on the Hill. [11:34] Not your team, Mr. President. [11:35] The other team was creating problems. [11:37] And so you don't go to the President with a half-baked idea, but we hit a roadblock, [11:44] and I called Roger. [11:46] I said, Roger, you've got to call the President and tell him about this great idea, and can [11:50] he move this forward? [11:52] And the President's right. [11:53] It was one phone call, and the President said, done. [11:56] We're going to celebrate America 250 with an IndyCar race for the first time in the U.S. [12:01] Capitol. [12:02] And so I appreciate that, Mr. President, for all you have done to make this event happen. [12:07] It would not be going on unless we had presidential engagement. [12:12] And I agree, the UFC fight was remarkable. [12:16] But America's birthday doesn't end on the Fourth of July. [12:20] Our birthday continues for the coming year, and so to continue to celebrate America 250, [12:26] it would only make sense that we would do that with this road race. [12:29] It's going to be August 23rd. [12:32] The tickets are free. [12:34] The weather's not going to be 100 degrees in D.C., I'm thinking like 75 maybe in August. [12:40] My mouth to God's ears. [12:43] But we hope everyone comes and checks out this race, and it's going to be epic. [12:49] And to the racers, I've got to go around the IndyTrack at 175 miles an hour, and that felt [12:55] like it was really fast. [12:56] These guys are going 200, 250, 100 track, true athletes. [13:00] So to have you all here and to have the cars here is fantastic. [13:05] And again, just finally, Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. [13:08] You don't do anything that's small. [13:11] Everything you do is big. [13:12] It's huge. [13:13] It's the best. [13:14] It's the greatest. [13:15] Whether it's the UFC fight or an IndyCar race in the Capitol, we appreciate your leadership. [13:20] America loves you, and thank you for making this happen. [13:23] Thank you very much. [13:29] Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and welcome everybody here today. [13:33] It's an honor for me, Mr. President, to be here and be part of this celebration. [13:37] When you think about 250 years of this country, it's an amazing time. [13:43] It's a great place to live. [13:44] It's a great place to work. [13:47] And I think we're fortunate to have the most important office in the world give us the [13:53] green light and then the checkered flag to have this event in August. [13:58] Think about it. [14:00] Over 250,000 people signed up to come to this event. [14:04] And we will be able to accommodate 100,000 each of the two days. [14:09] And it's for free, as the President said. [14:12] But we're honored, I think it's an opportunity to showcase the technology, the speed, the [14:20] partnerships, and the athletes that make such a difference. [14:25] We think about the Indy 500 as an iconic race. [14:29] But this is going to move right up there next to it, as far as we're concerned, from the [14:32] standpoint of the best in the world. [14:35] So Mr. President, thank you again for this opportunity. [14:38] And I think we have a special helmet for you, am I right, Alex? [14:50] We hope you will wear that when you're riding around in the beast, leading the field. [14:56] Come to the green flag. [14:58] Again thank you, sir. [14:59] Bud Denker. [15:03] Thank you, Roger. [15:05] Thank you, Secretary Duffy. [15:06] I also want to thank and recognize Ambassador Crowley over here as well. [15:09] Monica Crowley, our ambassador of protocol, has been a partner of mine in this whole journey. [15:14] Mayor Bowser, but importantly, the President of the United States. [15:17] As he mentioned, I was on Capitol Hill for several months and trying to get the race around [15:22] that racetrack. [15:24] But you know what? [15:25] It didn't happen. [15:26] And things happen for the best, don't they? [15:28] God chose us to have a different path here. [15:30] And that path was to bring this race down around the National Mall, Secretary Burgum's support, [15:35] the Mayor's support. [15:36] And of course, as the President said, within 24 hours of this idea changing onto the city's [15:42] race, we had an executive order in my inbox to review. [15:46] And then four days later, I was in his office here to sign it. [15:49] I want to thank Eric Shanks, CEO of Spock Sports. [15:52] It was Eric Shanks and my idea to bring this vision to our Capitol. [15:57] And in 41 short days, you're going to see the remarkable athletes competing for the one [16:04] and only trophy that they're ever going to possibly see here, and that's the trophy to celebrate [16:08] our country. [16:09] Mark Royce from General Motors, these are his beauties out here. [16:12] This car over here, by the way, has 1,250 horsepower. [16:17] And this will pace our field to the green flag 41 days from now. [16:22] So Mr. President, thank you again for your support. [16:26] Thank you again for your leadership. [16:28] Thank you again for your vision. [16:29] And with that, I'm going to have our driver, David Maloukas, start that car. [16:33] You're going to see this amazing pit crew here from Team Penske change four tires fuel [16:39] in about 6.5 seconds. [16:42] Let's see it, guys. [16:43] What do you think 41 days from now? [18:02] Mr. President? [18:05] So just I want to thank everybody for being here. [18:09] Our country is great. [18:10] Our country is strong, powerful, respected again like never before. [18:14] And I'll see you in 41 days or sooner. [18:17] Thank you very much, everybody. [18:18] Thank you. [18:19] Thank you very much.