00:00This is the first racing event of its kind in Washington, D.C.'s history,
00:04happening as part of our great celebration of the 250th anniversary of American freedom.
00:10The Penske team held more than 80 meetings in 90 days on Capitol Hill to get this event to happen.
00:17This is over a period of years, and nothing happened.
00:20And when they came to see, they said, when they came to see the president,
00:23what are we working at? In about 15 minutes, it was done.
00:26And we picked a better track.
00:28So this is new video of warm-ups this morning showing Corvettes on the track,
00:32and it's all part of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.
00:35And soon, Indy cars will be roaring down the streets of our nation's capital.
00:41The track will have drivers speeding past history along the National Mall.
00:45This is a two-day event. It kicks off tomorrow, and it's all part of America's 250th birthday celebrations.
00:51The race itself is also historic, marking the first auto race ever held on the streets of Washington, D.C.
00:57And our own Brian Todd got access to walk the track and see it up close.
01:03Brian is joining us right now.
01:05Brian, the big question, how are these cars going to maneuver the very tight turns in the streets of Washington,
01:11D.C.?
01:11It's going to be difficult for them, Wolf.
01:13In some of these really tight turns, sometimes three cars at a time are going to be navigating very tight
01:18turns in this race.
01:19It's going to be extraordinary to watch.
01:21It is exciting.
01:22Now, a lot of people are getting jacked up for this race now in the city.
01:25There are a lot of people in the city who are upset by it because of the traffic and the
01:29road closures and all that.
01:30I'll get to that in a moment.
01:31But the more you talk to people along the track yesterday, people who have tickets and even those who don't,
01:35people are getting jacked up for this race.
01:37Here's an AI-generated animation of what some of this could look like.
01:41There are the suites there racing alongside Pennsylvania Avenue in the capital.
01:45Well, this is just going to be a real spectacle for the next couple of days.
01:49Here are some of the dimensions that we can tell you about.
01:51It's a 1.7-mile track, a little less than 1.7 miles, seven turns.
01:56And, again, these turns are very tight along this very tight track, and I'm going to show you the track
02:01in just a second.
02:02They're going to go 147 laps to reach 250 total miles, 250 to commemorate the birthday of the nation here.
02:10And let's go back to some of these figures here.
02:12Top speeds of 175 to 185 miles an hour, and let's show you where that's going to take place.
02:17This is the map of the course here.
02:19This is where it's going to be going.
02:22The cars are going to be going at a top speed of about 185 miles an hour along Pennsylvania Avenue.
02:28That's where they're going to be going the fastest here.
02:30Pennsylvania Avenue was crucial because they had to have it wide enough for a pit lane,
02:34and that's the one place where they can put the pit lane.
02:36But here are the rest of the turns.
02:38Seven turns total, 1.7 miles along this route.
02:41And, again, it's just going to be spectacular views of the monuments, of the museums all along this route.
02:47Now, what we can tell you is also that what's interesting is Thomas Jefferson, according to the race organizer Bud
02:54Danker,
02:54Thomas Jefferson, when he was president, he had a horse race in this area,
02:58and Danker was very proud of the fact that they're back here 225 years later with more horsepower, he says,
03:05along this route.
03:06Now, it has been a hassle in D.C. to get this ready.
03:10The preparation and the road closures actually started in late July.
03:14And, again, road closures all over the place.
03:17The main drags of Constitution Avenue, Independence Avenue in the district closed down now for close to a month.
03:23Again, the construction started in late July, and they're not going to be able to actually open the roads up
03:27normally until early to mid-September.
03:30So it could be almost a two-month-long series of road closures and construction here.
03:35This is just part of so many different events and projects for the 250th anniversary of the country.
03:41President Trump, of course, is heavily involved in all of these.
03:44You've got the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
03:46That's been a mess pretty much from the start.
03:48Court cases and everything tied to that.
03:50The Triumphal Arch, construction of that across the river in Arlington has not started yet.
03:54You've got the Garden of Heroes that the president is proposing in West Potomac Park, Lafayette Square Park with new
04:01sidewalks and fences.
04:02The Kennedy Center, that, again, tied up in court with the president's name being contested there.
04:08You've got public golf courses, the Walk of Fame.
04:10Of course, the White House ballroom down here.
04:13Again, that's been very controversial and tied up in various court cases.
04:17The Rose Garden has already been completed.
04:19The Oval Office with its gilded trimmings there has been completed.
04:22And, of course, they're building a White House helipad.
04:24So all of these projects are just really dominating the landscape here in D.C. this summer.
04:31And this historic race is going to be part of that.
04:34So, guys, it's going to be really interesting to see how this plays out.
04:38The weather is going to be a factor.
04:39They're going to have the time trials tomorrow for pole position.
04:42It's going to be some rain tomorrow.
04:43Sunday it's going to be sunny for the main race at 1 o'clock on Sunday.
04:46So we're going to see how all this plays out.
04:48It's going to be very exciting.
04:49Very exciting indeed, Brian.
04:50How much is this Indy race going to cost?
04:53And can fans like you and me actually go see it for free?
04:57$35 million is the price tag for this thing, mostly paid for by Penske and by IndyCar.
05:03People can go see it at different places.
05:05There are 100,000 tickets, free tickets for people.
05:08You had to sign up and try to get those.
05:10And those have already been given out, 100,000 each day.
05:13So there are going to be more than 100,000 people with tickets, free tickets, at different venues each day.
05:20So we're going to see just how crowded this is going to make it.
05:23But there are other places along the route where if you don't have a ticket, you could get a glimpse
05:28of it.
05:29And what we can tell you also, the suites are very interesting.
05:32There are a set of suites near the starting and finish line there.
05:35Each of those suites cost $200,000 to $250,000.
05:39So if you're a high roller and you've got a suite, that's going to cost you.
05:43The tickets, 100,000 each day, are free.
05:45They've been given out already.
05:46Again, there are places that you can go, but you're going to have to kind of carefully navigate.
05:50They're telling people, don't try to drive down there over the next two days.
05:54Take the metro or walk if you can.
05:56It's going to be tough to navigate down there.
05:58But once you're down there, you can probably navigate to a place where you can see it.
06:02How do Americans feel about all these building projects that the president talks about a lot with us now?
06:09Chief data analyst, Harry Enten.
06:11It turns out there are some numbers on this.
06:14It turns out there are some numbers on this.
06:16Look, we've got wannabe I.M. pay over here trying to build up all of this stuff going on here
06:21in the federal debt.
06:23Adios, amigos.
06:24Goodbye.
06:24See you later.
06:25North to $40 trillion.
06:26And Americans are pissed off.
06:28They're pissed off.
06:29And it's pretty clear here.
06:30Net satisfaction of Trump's D.C. building projects.
06:33Look at this.
06:3433 points underwater.
06:35You can't really get worse than that.
06:37That is the dissatisfaction is 33 points higher than the satisfaction rating there.
06:42How about among independents?
06:43You think that 33 points is low?
06:45How about this?
06:46Into the Potomac River we go.
06:48Minus 52 points with independents.
06:51Americans want no part of these D.C. renovation building projects that Trump seems to be absolutely an adoration of.
06:59He seems to be perhaps the only one.
07:01And this group, independents, do you think they'll be pretty important in the midterm elections?
07:04Yeah, you know, it turns out we've spoken about this, Johnny.
07:06The independents seem to be pretty gosh darn important because they're in the center of the electorate.
07:10You win independents, you win elections, you're 52 points underwater with independents.
07:14You think those congressional Republicans like Trump talking about these D.C. building projects?
07:19Absolutely not because these are the types of numbers that make election nights go very, very wrong.
07:23So if you ask people where they want to focus, what do they say?
07:26Yeah, okay, so why don't we just ask them, right?
07:28It's one thing not to like something, but it's another thing to say, you know what, wannabe, I am Pei
07:33or Frank Gehry, you're focusing too much on it.
07:35All right, Trump administration's focusing too much on the D.C. building changes.
07:3964 percent, nearly two in three say that the Trump administration is simply put focusing too much on these reconstruction
07:45projects.
07:46You know where they want the focus to be?
07:48They want it to actually be on the reasons that Donald Trump got re-elected to a second term.
07:53That is lowering prices.
07:54But guess what they say?
07:55They say the Trump administration is focusing too little on lowering prices.
07:5978 percent, we're talking four in five, about four in five Americans say that the Trump administration is focusing too
08:07little
08:07on the reason that Donald Trump got re-elected to a second term.
08:10No wonder that Donald Trump has historically high disapproval ratings on inflation,
08:15historically low approval ratings on inflation,
08:18and the only one ever to cross the minus 50 point net approval rating barrier on inflation, Donald Trump,
08:24because they think he's not even focusing on the reason why he got re-elected.
08:28What do they think about where the money is being spent?
08:30Yeah, I think this gets exactly at Johnny B.
08:32You know what, I don't feel like we spoke about this enough yesterday.
08:35They say most government spending is wasteful and inefficient.
08:38You know what, that number is always high, but now it's way, way high, historically high.
08:43Look at the 75 percent earlier this year compared to just 57 percent a little bit over a year ago.
08:49That number is going higher, and no wonder it is when they feel like the Trump administration,
08:53and Donald Trump in particular, is focusing on the wrong things and spending money that,
08:57simply put, is making the debt grow ever higher.
08:59And it's Donald Trump, the president of the United States,
09:01the one out-showing reporters the driveway, and Democrats may very well be saying,
09:04Democrats are saying, thank you, thank you, thank you for this beautiful gift you've given us.
09:08Harriet, and thank you.
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