Ganassi confirms Indy 500 return

Ganassi, whose team has won the CART championship the past four years, said he would enter Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser in the famous Indy 500.

"It was time to experience the Indy 500 again," said Ganassi, a former driver who raced in Indianapolis in the 1980s.

"We have decided the time is right to give our drivers, our team and our sponsors the chance to experience the Indianapolis 500 - the biggest auto race in the world."

Ganassi, whose team announced its entry on Monday, is the first of the leading CART team owners to decide to bring his team.

CART owner, Derrick Walker, has also announced a separate full-time Indy Racing League team.

Chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony George, was optimistic that having a leading CART team would bring back all the teams that competed at Indy before the 1995 split in the racing world.

He said: "This can be viewed as a step, a baby step, but it's Chip's step."

George founded the Indy Racing League (IRL) at the end of 1995 and CART teams have stayed away from the Indianapolis 500 since it became part of the IRL beginning in 1996.