SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Trade talks with Canada collapse, no talks with Iran and a record-setting national debt. We'll hear more about those big stories in just a few minutes. But first, crowds of more than a hundred thousand are expected to gather on the National Mall this weekend for Washington, D.C.'s first IndyCar race. The cars will rocket down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Smithsonian Museums and the National Archives at nearly 200 miles per hour. The race is one of several events D.C. has hosted to mark the country's 250th birthday. Like with other events, President Trump will take part. NPR's Deepa Shivaram joins us. Deepa, thanks so much for being with us.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hi. Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: D.C. is not a car race capital. How did the race come about?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. This has been in the works since last year, and it didn't even involve the White House at first. It was just a passion project idea from Bud Denker, who's the president of the Penske Corporation. That's the organization that's putting on the race and funding most of it. Denker thought about having D.C. host a race to mark the country's 250th, like you were saying, so he came to D.C. for two days last year, just to walk the city and see if it was possible to make a racetrack that was wide enough and with good enough roads.
BUD DENKER: So I thought I would start at the monuments. Jefferson Monument down that way. Washington Monument. The roads were too narrow. They weren't in great shape. I made my way to the Capitol. I mean, literally around the Capitol, up Constitution, down Independence, 1st Street, which is in front of the Supreme Court. And I found this perfect racetrack.
SIMON: But that's not the route. What changed?
SHIVARAM: Well, politics got in the way. The original racetrack that Denker outlined was actually on congressional land and needed approval from Congress, but the votes weren't there. So Denker was about to give up, but then he phoned in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who then looped in President Trump. So then Denker went about finding a new racetrack near the National Mall. And within days, he says Trump signed an executive order approving it.
DENKER: And then my head was blowing up, thinking, oh, my God, I got less than seven months to do this.
SHIVARAM: And that all happened back in January. And since then, Denker has moved to D.C. to help organize the race. Roads along the track had to be set up. Giant walls were installed. The area's been blocked off for weeks, and it's been causing a lot of traffic disruption in the city.
SIMON: President Trump gave the event the green light, if you please. How else will he be involved?
SHIVARAM: Well, he did give it the green light in a way, and he'll also be waving the green flag for the race on Sunday. Before the race begins, he'll also take a lap of the track in his own car. Besides that, the race has been organized and funded primarily from the Penske Corporation, though the actual price tag of the event hasn't been disclosed, Scott.
And the government is paying some costs, like for security through Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police. But broadly, you know, this ties into one of many grand events Trump has touted this year to celebrate America's 250th birthday. For example, the White House hosted, for the first time, a UFC fight on the South Lawn. There was a big fireworks show on July Fourth. Things like that.
SIMON: And while you're here, the Supreme Court weighed in yesterday on President Trump's ballroom construction. What happened?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. So the court ruled that construction of the ballroom could continue for now. Trump knocked down the East Wing of the White House last October to begin building this new ballroom, which he's also been calling a military complex. And this all started - this lawsuit - when the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is a nonprofit, sued the administration and said Trump needed approval from Congress to build the ballroom, which I will point out is pretty unpopular among voters. I was with Trump yesterday when he was in South Carolina for a campaign rally. He thanked the Supreme Court for their decision and said it put him in a good mood.
SIMON: NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Always good to speak with you. Thanks very much.
SHIVARAM: You as well. Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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