Sen. Adam Schiff accused President Trump of blowing taxpayer dollars on Washington's inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix, but the race was privately funded by Penske Corporation, and the people who actually drove in it were quick to say so.
Schiff, the California Democrat, posted his complaint on X on Sunday alongside video of Trump waving the green flag to start the race on a 1.7-mile street circuit surrounding the National Mall. He framed the event as a costly distraction from kitchen-table concerns, writing that Trump "offers you the spectacle of an IndyCar race hoping you will not notice" rising costs. He added: "More taxpayer money spent on his self-aggrandizing distractions. And you get higher taxes and higher costs."
One problem: the race wasn't taxpayer-funded. And the correction came not from a political operative but from a driver who had just finished competing in it.
IndyCar veteran Graham Rahal, who finished 13th in the Freedom 250, fired back on X with a direct rebuttal:
"No, no, Adam. He wanted you to notice and bask in the pride of being American, watch great racing and patriotism on display. Not only that, this was privately funded, not government although it drove thousands of folks to the DC area that have never been. That's economic impact for you."
Rahal, the son of well-known motorsports driver and executive Bobby Rahal, added that "hundreds of thousands of Americans, blue & red, as well as fans from all over the world" embraced the event. His response drew wide attention and undercut the central premise of Schiff's attack, that the race drained the public treasury.
Rahal's claim about private funding lines up with what Penske Corporation President Bud Denker told NBC Washington's affiliate at the track. Asked directly who was paying for the Freedom 250, Denker answered simply: "We are."
He elaborated on the scope of Penske's financial commitment, noting that the company was covering the vast majority of costs. The only portion Penske didn't pay, Denker said, was revenue raised through sponsors and hospitality suites built along the course. Security was handled by local and federal law enforcement, funded through the standard federal allocation Washington receives for major events, not through special appropriations tied to the race.
The senator's failure to verify basic facts about the event's financing drew pointed criticism from multiple corners. Former electronics executive Sam Antar summed up the problem bluntly:
"Schiff saw Trump, started typing, and skipped the part where you check the facts first. That's how you end up volunteering for your own Community Note."
Antar added that Schiff "apparently didn't bother checking who actually paid for the race before blaming Trump for 'more taxpayer money spent.'" The criticism stung because it described a pattern familiar to Schiff's critics: leading with the political conclusion and backfilling the facts later, or not at all.
Breitbart editor Joel Pollak kept his response short: "What kind of loser posts this? People had fun." Conservative commentator "Bad Hombre" pointed out the private funding and then pivoted to a comparison, posting an image of then-President Joe Biden posing with attendees at a White House lawn gala featuring transgender and LGBT activists. "Bad Hombre" asked why Schiff had been "cool with forcing taxpayers to spend $1.3 million" on that event while objecting to a privately funded race.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded with a sharper tone, calling it "a complete disgrace" that Schiff was "willing to trash the United States of America during its historic 250th birthday celebrations simply because he hates President Trump." Ingle added: "The great people of California deserve better."
Whatever Schiff's objections, the Freedom 250 drew a massive crowd. An estimated 300,000 to 350,000 people attended the race, with bridges near the course closed because of crowd size. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump took the first lap around the track in the presidential limousine, known as "the Beast", before Trump waved the green flag to start the race. The moment went viral online.
Kyle Kirkwood won the race and described the experience of seeing the president cheering him on at the finish.
"I won the race, I get out of the car, I see President Trump sitting there cheering me on. As a proud American... that's a pretty big deal to have the president cheering you on."
Trump credited his relationship with Roger Penske for making the event happen quickly. He noted that Penske had spent two decades trying to bring an IndyCar race to the nation's capital, visiting Washington 211 times to push the idea forward. "When he came to see Trump, it got done in about 15 minutes," the president said.
Trump had signed an executive order on January 30, 2026, outlining plans for the race as part of America250, the national celebration of the country's 250th birthday. The course ran between Independence Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, from 9th to 3rd Street NW, passing the U.S. Capitol, the National Archives, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Drivers reached speeds up to 185 mph on the seven-turn layout.
The course itself was no exhibition run. Drivers during practice and qualifying flagged significant bumps along Pennsylvania Avenue and near Turn 6 on Independence Avenue, where driver Louis Foster crashed nose-first into a barrier. Series points leader Alex Palou, who earned the pole position with a qualifying lap of 56.6145 seconds, called the track "a blast, super fun" but acknowledged the physical toll.
"Very bumpy, huge bumps heading into Turn 2 and Turn 6. Massive bumps that are going to spice things up."
Driver Pato O'Ward echoed that assessment, describing the course as throwing "every challenge that a street course usually throws at you." Construction crews had laid fresh asphalt and installed safety barriers along the route, with practice sessions beginning Saturday morning and the race itself starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. The 147-lap, 250-mile race was set up for the first, and possibly last, time on that circuit.
Trump's connection to motorsports runs deeper than this single event. He attended the Daytona 500, becoming the first sitting president to do so since Ronald Reagan, and has hosted NASCAR drivers and former NASCAR CEO Brian France at campaign rallies. FOX Sports announcer Will Buxton got the Freedom 250 underway with the race call.
Fox News Digital reached out to both Rahal and Schiff's office for further comment. No response from either was reported. Several open questions remain: the total cost of the event, the precise amount of federal security funding allocated, and whether Penske received any government subsidies or in-kind support beyond standard law enforcement coverage. Denker acknowledged the event was not designed to be a break-even venture for Penske, though the full scope of the company's financial commitment was not disclosed.
None of those unanswered details change the core fact that sank Schiff's argument: Penske Corporation bankrolled the race, said so publicly, and the senator either didn't know or didn't care before posting. The private funding was confirmed by the company's own president at the track, corroborated by a driver who competed in the event, and left unchallenged by Schiff's office.
When the reflex to attack Trump overrides the obligation to check the facts, the result isn't opposition, it's self-inflicted embarrassment. Schiff handed his critics the green flag, and they didn't need a second lap.
