NEWTON, Iowa (AP) _ Indy racing is coming to Iowa.

The Indy Racing League announced Wednesday that the Iowa Speedway, which was co-designed by former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace, will host its first Indy races in June 2007.

The IndyCAR Series will run a 250-mile race on June 24, one day after the IndyPro Series holds a 100-mile event.

Iowa joins Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Brooklyn, Mich., and Kansas City, Kan., as Indy racing sites in the Midwest, a fact IRL president Brian Barnhart said is no accident.

``It's important to us to get back to our grassroots racing,'' Barnhart said. ``It is important to the IndyCar Series. Nearly half of our fan base is based out of the Midwest, we have great television numbers in the Midwest.''

The race will be the marquee event at the 40,000-seat speedway, which is being built 30 miles east of Des Moines. It is scheduled to open next month with a Hooters Pro Cup Series race.

The track is ~ of a mile long, making it smaller than every track on the current tour except for the Richmond International Speedway in Virginia.

The size should make for some of the fastest post times on the tour, with speeds up to 185 mph, Wallace said.

``Let me tell you what, you better tune your eyeballs up, because they are mighty fast around here,'' said Wallace, a commentator for ABC and ESPN. ``It's going to be cool.''

Scott Dixon of the IndyCar Series and Wade Cunningham of the IndyPro Series drove the track Wednesday for compatibility tests, the final step toward certifying the track as race-ready.

``It was unbelievable how fast the corners come up,'' Cunningham said. ``There's not a lot of time to do anything, which is nice. It's great to have the race on a track where the drivers have a lot of input.''