Sarah Fisher | |
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Fisher at the 2015 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma
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Nationality | American |
Born |
Columbus, Ohio, United States |
October 4, 1980
IRL IndyCar Series career | |
Debut season | 1999 |
Former teams |
Sarah Fisher Racing Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Kelley Racing Walker Racing Team Pelfrey |
Starts | 81 |
Wins | 0 |
Poles | 1 |
Best finish | 17th in 2007 |
Previous series | |
2004 - 2005 | NASCAR West Series |
Championship titles | |
1990 | WKA Grand National Championship |
Awards | |
1991 1992 1993 1993 1994 1995 2001 2002 2003 2005 2009 2009 |
WKA Grand Nat'l Championship WKA Grand Nat'l Championship WKA Grand Nat'l Championship Circleville Points Championship WKA Grand Nat'l Championship Dirt Track Rookie of the Year IndyCar Most Popular Driver IndyCar Most Popular Driver IndyCar Most Popular Driver NASCAR West Most Popular Driver Scott Brayton Driver's trophy for the Indy 500 Firestone Tireiffic Award |
Sarah Marie Fisher (born October 4, 1980) is a retired American professional racecar driver who competed in the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Commercial Point, Ohio, Fisher runs Sarah Fisher Racing, which she started in 2008, becoming the first and only female team owner and the youngest owner in the IndyCar Series, as well as the first female team owner to win an IndyCar Series race. In 2010, she competed in her ninth and final Indy 500, marking the most number of starts for a woman in the 94-year history of the event. Her first book, 99 Things Women Wish They Knew Before Getting Behind the Wheel of Their Dream Job, was released in May 2010.
Sarah became the youngest woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 at age 19 in 2000. She was also the third woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 behind Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James. That same year, she became the first woman to stand on the podium (1st, 2nd, or 3rd-place finish) with her third-place finish at Kentucky Speedway. In 2001, she became the first woman to run a full IndyCar Series schedule. During that season, she became the first woman to finish runner-up in a major-league open-wheel race when she placed second at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In 2002, she not only became the first woman in North American motorsports history to win the pole position for a major-league open-wheel race, doing so at Kentucky Speedway, but set the track qualifying record there when she won the pole position with a qualifying speed of 221.390 mph (lap time of 24.0661 seconds), a record that still holds.
Fisher made history by becoming the first female driver in the 21st century to drive a Formula One car when testing in 2002 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; a test arranged by her personal sponsor, TAG Heuer. In 2003, she set the record as the fastest woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average of 229.439 mph (369.246 km/h).