Jul.17 (GMM) Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Joie Chitwood has rejected suggestions that the departure of formula one has anything to do with MotoGP.



Mere days after it was announced that a US grand prix will not be held at the historic venue in 2008, a new three-year race deal with MotoGP's governing body Dorna was unveiled for Indy.



One Indiana newspaper proclaimed: "Who needs F1? Motorcycle racing coming to Indy in 2008".



Chitwood, however, said the door has been left open for F1 to return in the future, as Indianapolis would have had no problem hosting both European based series in 2008.



"We would have been busy, but we would have done it," he said on Monday.



"We've got the staff, we've got the personnel, we've got the experience. We would have done all four, and nobody would have known the difference."



Indy's MotoGP round will require modifications to the formula one road circuit, including a new four-corner section bypassing the banked Speedway turn 1.



In addition, the motorcycles will race anti-clockwise, unlike the F1 single seaters that ran clockwise around the layout since 2000.