WATCH: IndyCar hosts Freedom 250 Grand Prix news conference ahead of Washington race

Construction workers are building grandstands and setting up fences along the circuit for the first-ever IndyCar race on the streets of the nation's capital.

Several temporary pedestrian bridges have been built over the racetrack, including on Pennsylvania Avenue, the longest straightaway for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, where the speed limit signs read 25 mph.

READ MORE: D.C. prepares to host IndyCar street race as part of Trump's Freedom 250 celebrations

But the open-wheel race cars roaring during the Washington IndyCar race organized by President Donald Trump could be going more than 180 mph.

"It's just going to be — electrifying as far as the atmosphere goes. It's something you'll never see in your lifetime again," said Doug Frederick, a retiree visiting Washington, D.C., from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

The race, scheduled for Aug. 22 and 23, features vehicles that typically reach street-course speeds approaching 200 mph and have enough torque to tear off manhole covers. It is the latest — and the fastest — of the major events Trump has hosted against the backdrop of America's 250th birthday, a larger celebration he has made as much about himself as possible.

The president staged a UFC fight on the White House's South Lawn for his 80th birthday in June and held a rally to kick off the Great American State Fair on the National Mall after most of the event's scheduled musical acts pulled out. He headlined another rally for July Fourth on the National Mall, ahead of a massive fireworks display marking the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence's signing.

The IndyCar event will be 250 miles (400 kilometers) over 147 laps on a 1.66-mile (2.67-kilometer) track featuring seven turns. Series owner Roger Penske, whom Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, led the effort to make the race happen in the District of Columbia. He gave the president a racing helmet, urging him to wear it "when you're riding around in The Beast, leading the field to the green flag" — a traditional prerace kickoff that may feature the presidential limo.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser suggested that the event was the "first, to be followed by second and third," and Trump says he'd like more Washington races in future years. But Bud Denker, president of Penske Corporation and the race's chair, isn't committing.

Denker said Penske is paying for the "vast majority" of the race, including road construction and improvements, while the city handles some "very limited" repaving. The District of Columbia referred questions about repaving costs to Penske.

About a third of the track needs road improvement, a cost that should come in at under $3 million, Denker said. That's less than is often spent on road fixes ahead of other races, including in Markham, Ontario, where up to $9 million is being doled out on improvements for the IndyCar race being held the week before Washington's event, he said.

One issue, Denker said, is the 220-plus manhole covers on the race circuit that had to be welded to ensure the race cars don't suck them off the road.