INDIANAPOLIS AP The Indianapolis Motor Speedway once the exclusive domain of the Indianapolis 500 is expected to add a Formula One race in 2000. Speedway president Tony George has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday morning amid speculation the international race series would return to the United States for the first time since 1991. Spokesman Fred Nation would not confirm a deal had been finalized although two months ago he said George and Formula One president Bernie Ecclestone had met three times this year to discuss the possibility of bringing a race to the United States' most famous track. George first submitted a proposal to Ecclestone in March. At another meeting with Ecclestone in June George proposed a multi-year commitment reportedly calling for the Speedway to put up dlrs 10 million to host the race and spend another dlrs 15 million to build a road course in and around the existing 4-kilometer 2 1-2-mile oval track. Other American cities believed to have made bids were San Francisco Las Vegas and Atlanta. ``The difference with us and the other cities is that we have everything in place to do a deal tomorrow'' George said at that time. ``No one else does.'' The only Formula One race in North America now is the Canadian Grand Prix held in Montreal in June. The Indianapolis 500 was the only race at the speedway until 1994 when the Brickyard 400 was added as part of NASCAR's premier Winston Cup stock car series. This year the International Race of Champions another stock car series sanctioned by NASCAR the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing also made Indy part of its season tour. The last Formula One race in the United States was at Phoenix in 1991. The series competed at Watkins Glen in the 1960s and '70s and was joined by a second U.S. Grand Prix in Long Beach California in the mid-'70s. The Watkins Glen race was moved to the streets of downtown Detroit in the 1980s then because of escalating costs Long Beach and Detroit switched to Indy-car races and Formula One organized less successful events in Las Vegas Dallas and Phoenix. A U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis would require major renovations that probably would begin immediaately after the 1999 Brickyard 400. George earlier proposed using the track's existing first and second turns and most of the front straightaway although a new section of track for a road course would have to be built in the infield. Also installing the necessary 24 pit-side garages would require removing a portion of the grandstand behind the existing pit road. APW19981201.0842.txt.body.html APW19981201.1347.txt.body.html