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INDIANAPOLIS -- The MotoGP could be coming to Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year.
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Track president Joie Chitwood is in negotiations with MotoGP officials. If a deal is reached, it would mark the first time in decades motorcycles have competed at the most famous track in U.S. motor racing.
"I have had some conversations with them this week, and we're working hard to put something on the calendar," Chitwood told the Associated Press on Thursday. "But I have not signed anything."
Speed Channel, a U.S. television racing cable channel, reported earlier in the day a deal already had been completed for a fall race in 2008.
Motorcycles were the first vehicles to race at the Speedway, in 1909, two years before the first Indianapolis 500. Chitwood would like them back for the track's centennial celebration.
But he said the two sides are still trying to work out a date. Chitwood would prefer a summer race; MotoGP, an international circuit, appears to prefer the fall.
The MotoGP circuit returned to the United States at Laguna Seca Raceway in 2005 south of San Jose, California, after an 11-year absence. This year's U.S. Grand Prix is scheduled for July 22. The Indianapolis race would be in addition to the U.S. Grand Prix in Laguna Seca, rather than a replacement.
"In a perfect world, this only helps us," Laguna Seca spokesman Reece White said. "The discussions are as a second event, not a replacement to ours."
A summer race would create an even more compact schedule for IMS officials, who have staged three major races -- the Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500, Formula One's U.S. Grand Prix and NASCAR's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard stock-car race -- over about a two-month span each year since 2004.
The negotiations with MotoGP come amid dealings with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to keep America's only Formula One race in Indy. Last summer, speedway chief executive Tony George and Ecclestone signed a one-year extension to continue racing on Indianapolis' 2.6-mile road course.
Chitwood wants a long-term contract this time.
Last weekend, Ecclestone appeared to be posturing for leverage when he said for the second straight year that it was not essential for Formula One to continue racing in the U.S. He made similar comments throughout the weekend despite multiple meetings with George. Ecclestone has also expressed interest in running on the streets of a bigger city, such as Las Vegas or New York.
In a pre-race interview last weekend with the AP, Chitwood acknowledged he wanted the MotoGP circuit on next year's schedule but was uncertain about the timing. On Thursday, he said time was running out to make it happen in 2008.
