Well, Chris, I've had the opportunity to interview the president a few times over the years.
That's right.
And Mr. President, it has taken a lot of people to make this happen. Why was it important to you to bring IndyCar to the streets of D.C.?
Well, Roger told me they've been trying to do it for 20 years 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 though possible. Uh, they actually closed the bridges.
It's so, so many people wanna come. And, uh, they, I think 300, 350,000 and they closed the bridges. You have a lot of people that wanna come. So 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.
Well, you've been to a lot of sporting events in person. What are you most looking forward to about your first IndyCar race here at the Freedom 250?
Just that everyone's safe. They have a good time. The track is wonderful. You know, we're going around the Capitol, but this turned out to be a better track. And so now we see the Capitol. You see it right behind you. And, uh, ju- -- I want everyone to be safe, and I want the people to have a good time.
You just had a chance to meet many of the drivers --
Right.
-- the team owners. What was your message to them about this historic day?
Well, again, good luck. Do well, have fun. I don't wanna say sort of be safe because it's sort of a negative though, right?
[Laughs]
They don't wanna be thinking about that because if they do, uh, they're generally speaking, you're not gonna win when you start thinking that way. But, uh, they're great. I know many of them through name. I know some of them by being with you on a couple of occasions.
Yes.
Uh, but it's a great sport. And Roger's an amazing guy. Didn't he win it 20 times, the Indy 500?
Yes.
Nobody wins anything 20 times, anything but the Indianapolis 500. And he almost won last time by half a foot.
Yes.
I watched that. But Roger's been a friend of mine for a long time and there's nobody like him.
Mr. President, thank you for hosting us. Enjoy your day and you're going to wave the green flag.
I think so. I hear that. Yeah. I'm gonna make a little circle in a nice secure car. Slightly slower than the ones we're gonna witness --
[Laughs] Right.
-- but we're gonna have fun.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you very much.
The president and the first lady now will take a lap around the track and then he will wave the flag and then he will find his seats here for the rest of the race.