"The emphasis on road course racing is going to return," said MMP's Alan Wilson. "Because we are a road course, we view it as a very positive thing for us."

Indy Racing League founder Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven, owner of the Champ Car series, which is now mostly defunct, outlined on Wednesday some details of the unification agreement that was solidified last Friday.

Most notably, the April 20 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.) will be run by Champ Car teams with their own equipment while the IndyCar Series will go forward that same weekend with its scheduled race in Japan, and points earned in Long Beach will count toward the IndyCar Series championship.

Neither Long Beach nor the IRL race at Motegi, Japan, would agree to change their dates, and at one point in the negotiations the former owner of Champ Car said there could be no deal without the Japan date being moved. However, both sides agreed to have the IRL regulars race in Japan and to bring back the Champ Car series for a final race

Wilson said other tracks around the country and in Canada that have hosted open-wheel events in the past weren't as fortunate.

Tracks in Montreal, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago (Road America) and Monterey, Calif. (Laguna Seca) will lose races, along with several tracks on other continents.

"Those tracks would be first in line if new events open up," Wilson said. "Realistically, we haven't planned to run [an open-wheel] race. We haven't lost anything because we never had it, and we never really had any serious intentions of getting it."

Although MMP's facility is capable of handling an open-wheel race, Wilson said those races draw more than 80,000 spectators and the Salt Lake City market has not shown that it would support that kind of an event.

"They've never been part of our business plan," he said. "But you never say never."

The general manager said the FIM World Superbike Championships, which MMP will host in late May, is more important on a worldwide scale that any one single open-wheel race.

"We're not hurting for quality events," he said.

As for the open-wheel merger, the IRL's George said there many details still to be worked out before the unified series begins its season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 29.

drew@sltrib.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Among those details are finding enough Dallara chassis to accommodate the Champ Car teams that plan to make the move to the IRL, and firming up the dates for the former Champ Car races at Edmonton, Alberta, and Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia. Those will be the only additions to the 16-race IndyCar schedule for 2008, with other Champ Car events under consideration for 2009 and beyond.