Patrick returns to Indy

The long-anticipated announcement came after similar moves by Adrian Fernandez and Bobby Rahal that might signal the beginning of the end of the nine-year struggle for control over US open-wheel racing.

"As a lot of people will tell you, Tony [George, Indianapolis boss] and I tried very diligently to put it all back together," said Patrick, who founded CART with Roger Penske in 1979. "I'm not sure that cooler heads have prevailed."

Unser will field a Chevrolet-powered Dallara for Patrick Racing, which will be led by vice president and technical director Steve Newey, who won CART titles with Unser in 1990 and Rahal in 1992. Unser has won two Indy 500s and two CART championships.

"It's been very difficult to put this deal together," said Patrick, who has sold his CART team to Kevin Kalkhoven. "Finally we got everything put together. Al and I signed a contract on Sunday morning. It takes a lot of ingredients to put a race team together. I had sold all of my assets in Patrick Racing and terminated all of my employees. We had to start over."

Newey said the team, which will work closely with Walker Racing, will receive its first Dallara on March 29 and expects to be testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in April. The move is expected to bring the 500 closer to its traditional 33-car starting grid - a number that had been in question - and should bring the IRL to at least 22 cars for its other races.

Unser, who sustained a broken pelvis in an ATV accident on October, said he's nearly 100 percent and eager to return.

"I've raced against the 20 car pretty much my whole career," Unser said. "At times it's been difficult to beat, and at times I've been able to compete with it. It's an honour to drive it."