The Presidents Race

The Presidents Race is a fixture at Washington Nationals home baseball games, and has quickly become a fan favorite.

The Racing Presidents

Participants in the presidents race include the 4 presidents whose images appear on Mount Rushmore:

• George Washington, our 1st president
• Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president
• Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president
• and Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th president.

Rules of the Race

There are few rules to the presidents race. In the middle of the 4th inning of every home game, the racing presidents are introduced individually as they enter the park through the center field fence. They then race along the warning track, turning for the final sprint along the first base foul line toward a makeshift finish line near the Washington Nationals’ home dugout.

Presidents Race Records

For presidents race standings and results from previous seasons, please visit the Presidents Race Standings page.

More Fun Facts

The presidents race started on video. The race was first introduced in the 2005 season as computer-generated animation shown on the RFK Stadium video scoreboard. Rooting interests were predetermined by seating location as each section of the stadium was assigned to root for a certain historical figure. In the first season, the featured racers were George Washington (orange seats), Abraham Lincoln (red seats), and Alexander Hamilton (yellow seats), who raced in go-karts around Washington, DC. One of them usually crashed before the end of the race. They were later replaced by the four Mt. Rushmore presidents.

The first live presidents race was held on July 21, 2006, when the Washington Nationals hosted a “Grand Reopening” of RFK Stadium after the Lerner family had been named as the team’s new owners by major league baseball. In a demonstration of commitment to the Washington Nationals fans, the game kicked off a “Paint the Town Red” weekend, during which fans received giveaways, and investments were unveiled which included a food court at RFK stadium, and the introduction of the costumed racing presidents. The Nationals defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-6.

Specific president costumes are not “operated” by the same person for each game. Special guests are occasionally invited to partake in the race, and the “regulars” often switch costumes.

The presidents race winner is not always predetermined. While some theatrics are occasionally planned in advance, the race, for the most part, has been real. Once the presidents break for the finish line, there historically been only one rule: Teddy is not allowed to win.

Teddy Roosevelt has been disqualified four times. In 2007, as the fan frenzy over Teddy Roosevelt began to build, Nationals fans were teased on 4 separate occasions when Teddy used illegal tactics to win the presidents race (descending a zip line, riding a golf cart or rickshaw…); however on each such occasion he was immediately disqualified, and his winless streak continued. In 2008, Roosevelt’s antics picked up again beginning with the season’s opening game, in which Teddy attempted to take a shortcut across the Nationals Park outfield.

There were three extra presidents races at RFK stadium that did not count in the 2006/2007 standings. On the rare occasion that a baseball game extended to 13 innings or more, the racing presidents returned to the RFK Stadium field in the middle of the 13th inning to run another presidents race. The results of this extra race were not counted in the presidents race standings. The last such race at RFK Stadium occurred September 14, 2007 in a game against the Atlanta Braves.

Presidents race bobblehead nights were featured during the 2007 season, and were an instant hit with Washington Nationals fans at RFK Stadium. Attendance on the racing presidents bobblehead nights averaged 33,459 — a 42% increase over that season’s average attendance on non-bobblehead nights.

The racing presidents have a 3-1 record on their bobblehead nights. In the 2007 season, George Washington (July 4), Thomas Jefferson (August 4) , and Abe Lincoln (August 18), each won the presidents race on their bobblehead nights, leading many to speculate that Teddy Roosevelt’s first victory would finally arrive on his bobblehead night. On September 1, 2007, Teddy was carried in on a throne as the other presidents were held back by secret service agents, but the throne was dropped and George ran by him to keep Teddy’s winless streak alive.

GEICO became the official sponsor of the racing presidents in 2006. In 2006, GEICO became the official sponsor of the racing presidents. To kick off the race, a costumed gecko enters the field along with Washington Nationals mascot Screech, and the two characters wait at the temporary finish line for the costumed presidents.

The presidents race route and distance were changed and lengthened with the move to Nationals Park in 2008. In 2006 and 2007 at RFK Stadium, the racing presidents were not announced individually, and simply entered the park with a running start from a tunnel in the right field corner. The straight-line race route followed the first base foul line from right field toward a finish line near home plate.

The presidents race was named “Best On-Field Promotion” in all of professional sports for 2007. GameOps.com, a web site focused on sports entertainment and promotions, recognized the Washington Nationals racing presidents as the best contest or on-field promotion of 2007.

George Washington won the final presidents race at RFK Stadium. At the Washington Nationals’ final home game at RFK Stadium on September 23, 2007, many fans expected to see Teddy Roosevelt finally win the presidents race. However, Teddy appeared on the stadium video screen at the new Nationals Park — apparently having arrived for the race at the wrong location. George Washington won easily to complete the 2007 presidents race season and extend Teddy’s losing streak into another year.

George Washington won the first presidents race at Nationals Park. On Saturday, March 22, 2008, the Washington Nationals hosted a limited-attendance baseball game for a few thousand fans at Nationals Park between the George Washington University and Saint Josephs University baseball teams. Since this was a “dry run” designed to test all the concessions and in-game entertainment, fans in attendance were treated to the first “unofficial” presidents race at Nationals Park. To the chants of “Let Teddy Win!”, Teddy came up short as George Washington was first to cross the tape. Eight days later, at the Washington Nationals’ inaugural regular season game at Nationals Park, George also captured the first official presidents race, beating Teddy at the wire.