Long Beach to be going away race for Champ Car

It appears that Champ Car will still be the main event for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which runs the weekend of April 18-20.

"We have been led to believe that we will in fact host the final race in Champ Car history," said Jim Michaelian, CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach LLC. "We'll call it the celebration of the Champ Car era.

"And, we have been told, we're expecting a full field. We will be putting the event on as sort of a going away event for Champ Car."

Since so few elements of the agreement were provided Friday, Michaelian was asked where this information came from.

"It came from very authoritative sources that we will be hosting the one and only, and in fact, the final Champ Car race for 2008," Michaelian said, "which we are prepared to do.

"And we are delighted that the series are now united and we are now looking forward to being part of the unified (IRL) schedule going forward from 2009 and beyond."