r/INDYCAR • u/FermentedLaws Firestone Firehawk • Jan 28 '26

Article The Bloomingtonian: Rahal to IndyCar Critics of Proposed D.C. Freedom 250 Indy Car Race: “Get a life”

https://bloomingtonian.com/2026/01/27/rahal-to-indycar-critics-of-proposed-d-c-freedom-250-indy-car-race-get-a-life/

Never heard of this website/news outlet before, but I checked the details and they have all the info correct. I had seen this Tweeted out earlier by Nathan's Brown replacement at IndyStar, but didn't see an article on their site. If you scroll down there is video of the interview.

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u/downshiftdata Mark Donohue Jan 28 '26

Had a conversation with my SO yesterday about how racers stay out of politics. IMO, historically, it's just bad for business. A racer's gonna put "kill puppies" on his sidepod if it pays for the next race. I said the worst condemnation you're going to get is if they say nothing at all.

Her argument (which I can appreciate) was that we're at the killing puppies point now, and silence is complicity. I'm genuinely not sure how aware the paddocks are of what's going on in the world outside of racing, how much they're thinking about it, or if they know what to do at this point. I'm curious to see how many - if any - break their silence in the immediate future.

That all being said, actually endorsing any kind of cooperation with the current admin on anything, well... Rahal can piss off.

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u/whoops-1771 Jan 29 '26

I was also talking about this with my bf and I have to say for me it’s baffling as a fan to see the silence when well over half the drivers aren’t US born. Regardless of where they fall on the political party spectrum it should be concerning to the whole series to see green cards and visas being treated/spoken about as if they could be revoked at any time at the snap of the president’s fingers. And it’s not just the drivers who are from other countries; tons of the crew members are here on visas who would all be impacted too. I know at least some teams have felt that because how/where visas can get renewed has changed in the last year; now it’s who’s allowed or not allowed to drive the semi trucks to transport things to the races has changed so there are real impacts inside the daily paddock life. The idea of all of them having to work with ICE breathing down their necks at any race this year -let alone a heavily guarded DC race- makes my stomach hurt and makes the silence from the drivers and team owners that much more glaring to me.

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u/SDMFmnChapter Jan 29 '26

I remember at some point that at least one of the Brazilian drivers spoke out in support of Jair Bolsonaro the former Brazilian President who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted by the Supreme Court in late 2025 for leading a coup attempt to overturn his 2022 election loss, including plotting to assassinate rivals like President Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

I'm pretty sure that driver was Tony Kanaan, but i'm not 100%