One of CART's co-founders is trying to sell his team to a former driver and then wants to start up another one in the Indy Racing League with a longtime competitor.

That's the scenario of Pat Patrick, Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr.

Fittipaldi, who won the 1989 Indy 500 for Patrick after banging wheels with Unser as they battled for the lead in Turn 3, is in the process of trying to buy Patrick's crew and equipment to campaign his own car in Championship Auto Racing Teams next year.

And Patrick is seriously looking at running Unser in the 2004 IRL season and returning to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in nine years.

"Yes, I'm having discussions with Emerson," admitted Patrick, who started CART with Roger Penske in 1979 -- 10 years after he first competed at Indianapolis. "He wants my equipment and part of the stipulation would be to keep my team together.

"It's not a done deal yet, but I think we've arrived at a fair price."

Patrick has been talking with representatives from Chevrolet because he longs to return to the May classic he won twice with Gordon Johncock (1973 and 1982) and once with Fittipaldi.

"I miss Indianapolis, and I'd like to win it one more time," said the 70-year-old oil and petroleum entrepreneur from Jackson, Mich., whose initial IMS effort came in '69 with Johnny Rutherford. "It still means a lot to me, and that's where some of my greatest memories are.

"I'm negotiating to put a deal together to go to the IRL, and I'll have to run the full season because you can't just show up in May and be competitive anymore."

Patrick, who would likely run Unser in some partnership (possibly Kelley Racing), denied that IRL founder Tony George had offered to pay the two-time Indy winner's salary in 2004.

"Nobody has offered me any money and sponsorship is a concern in both series right now. I've got three people looking for money," said Patrick, who ran Oriol Servia in CART this year but lost Visteon as his primary sponsor after three years. "If Jim (McGee) goes with Emerson I'll have to find somebody to run my team because I don't have the time or knowledge."

	Could Al Unser Jr. be running Indy next year with Pat Patrick?

With 45 Indy-car wins (United States Auto Club and CART), Patrick was asked how hard it was leaving the series he funded and ran in the early '80s.

"It was a very exciting time in my life to start CART and watch it become the best racing series in the world," he replied. "But it's not as much fun as it used to be and it seems like I go to less and less races every year."

Fittipaldi, who was traveling out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment, campaigned a Champ Car with Jamie Dingman for rookie Tiago Monteiro in 2003 and used the shop and crew of Eric Bachelart's MiJack/Conquest Racing.

The two-time Formula One and Indy 500 champion recently returned from Brazil and met with Patrick general manager Jim McGee.

"Emerson is charged up, and he's been traveling all over the world to put this deal together," said McGee, who worked with Fittipaldi in the 1980s. "He wants to buy the whole package, and that's good because the biggest thing I'm trying to do is keep this team together because we've got a good group.

"I worked with him for five years and we had a great relationship and he's got a lot of passion to own a race team. I told him if he gets the sponsor, we'll run the race team. He's sold on CART and really we're just waiting for CART to give us its plan."

CART is facing Chapter 11 and some kind of re-organization with a new group of owners called Open Wheel Racing Series.

McGee and Patrick have been together since 1995 but obviously have different agendas.

"I want to go back to Indy, but I want to go back and be able to win the thing and, if you don't have factory support, I don't think you can compete with Penske and (Chip) Ganassi," said McGee, who's won Indy with Mario Andretti, Rick Mears and Bobby Unser.

"I still enjoy CART's challenges and Pat told me to sell the team if I could so that's what I'm trying to do."

IRL testing at Phoenix
Sam Hornish Jr. and Darren Manning escaped injury in separate accidents during IRL testing Wednesday at Phoenix International Raceway.

"The damage wasn't too severe, but it wasn't the way I wanted to wrap up the day," said Manning, who is teaming with Scott Dixon on the Target/Ganassi team. "I would have loved to have been able to put in another 60 to 70 laps.

"I was pleasantly surprised because the cars are powerful and have great throttle response."

After having several strong runs in Derrick Walker's under-funded CART team in 2003, Manning is enjoying his new surroundings.

"It's quite a feeling, really, to be with such a great team like Target Chip Ganassi Racing. The cars are strong right off the trucks, and you can see why they've been so successful," said the 27-year-old Brit.

"These guys have one focus and that is being the best. I'm looking forward to having a full offseason worth of testing, which is something that I haven't had before. It's going to be a fun season."

Defending IRL champ Dixon tested along with Robbie Buhl, Dan Wheldon and Hornish, who is now driving for Team Penske. No times were provided by the IRL.

The 2004 Bombardier Rookie of the Year, Wheldon did not compete at Phoenix in 2003 but has tested at Phoenix many times for Andretti Green Racing. It was his first time on the slightly reconfigured oval, which has been widened in Turn 2.

"It really hasn't changed too much, as far as what the driver feels," Wheldon said. "The entry to Turn 1 is still obviously quite tight, so you've still got to get the car through there and through the middle of the corner.

"You do have a bit more road to play with on the exit, so if you're under-steering, it does make it a little bit more comfortable from that standpoint."

Toyota Atlantic drivers to test
Three of the top four finishers in the 2003 CART Toyota Atlantic series have been invited to test Derrick Walker's Champ Car next week at Sebring International Raceway.

Scotsman Ryan Dalziel, runner-up in the championship to A.J. Allmendinger, will be in the Reynard/Cosworth along with Canadians Michael Valiante and Jonathan Macri. Germany's Timo Glock also will be part of the Dec. 8 program.

This test comes on the heels of last month's CART Champ Car testing rule announcement that gives two extra test days to any existing Champ Car team that provides any of the top-10 finishers in the 2003 Toyota Atlantic championship standings with a test.

Dalziel and Valiante are trying to follow Allmendinger into Champ Cars in 2004 but could return to the Atlantic series along with Joey Hand, Aaron Justus and Danica Patrick.

Even though longtime regular DSTP Motorsports is not returning in 2004, Toyota Atlantic president Vicki O'Connor isn't overly concerned about the car count.

"We're in basically the same position we're always in at this time of year," said O'Connor. "I'm getting calls every day from new teams that are taking a look at our series, and several of our existing teams would like to expand to two cars. I would be happy with 17-18 cars for the full season, which would be an increase over the number we had this year.

"I also expect that we'll have a number of 'one-offs' to bring us to 20 or more cars at some races."

A C2 category, for teams with older, Swift 008.a chassis, is also being added, which is expected to attract more cars.

The series has introduced several new rules aimed at reducing costs for 2004 and beyond. Off-season and in-season testing is being limited, while a single engine builder and a spec shock program also has been mandated.

Robin Miller covers open-wheel racing for ESPN.com.