Women in Motosport

SARAH FISHER

NAME Sarah Marie Fisher
AGE 43 - born in October 4, 1980
COUNTRY USA
JOB Retired professional race car driver

An only child, she hailed from a family with a racing background; Fisher's father Dave, a self-employed mechanical engineer, competed in go-kart events against race car drivers Mark Dismore and Scott Goodyear. Her mother Reba, a middle-school teacher in technology, is the daughter of Evelyn Grindell, one of Ohio's early woman aviators, and drove go-karts in the backyard of her house. The couple met at a go-kart street race in Commercial Point. Fisher's grandparents owned a go-kart track in Richwood and her uncle was a local engine builder. She grew up in Commercial Point, a small farming village 20 mi (32 km) south of Columbus,[and was educated at Columbus School for Girls from preschool to third grade. As a young child, Fisher tried several sports, including soccer, swimming, and gymnastics; auto racing was the one thing that appealed most to her. She was taken by her parents to the local race track to watch her father compete.

Fisher was given her first car, a Barbie pedal vehicle, at age four. She began racing at age five when her parents fitted her into a blue and white 3 hp (2.2 kW) quarter-midget car she used for three years. Fisher's father devised a schedule to enter her at small, indoor tracks during the winter, and both her parents supported her early racing career. She cited Jacques Villeneuve, Steve Kinser and Dave Blaney as her racing heroes. When Fisher turned eight, she began racing go-karts in her age group on the East Coast of the United States, and learned of how karts worked from her father. She joined the World Karting Association (WKA), winning the Grand National Championship four times in 1991, 1993 and 1994; she was also Circleville Points Champion in 1993. Fisher and her family viewed her karting days as a family activity, not as a precedent to progression in the sport. She was introduced to endurance karting in 1994, learning endurance and patience, and reinforcing her smooth driving style. Fisher's father raised the seat in her car by 3 in (76 mm) and cut down on its front to improve her visibility, and she won the 1995 Dirt Track Racing Round-Up Rookie of the Year award.

In late 1995, John Bickford, the stepfather of Jeff Gordon, recommended Fisher to the Lyn St. James Foundation Driver Development Program and paid for all expenses. Fisher disliked the school because it focused mainly on the media and preparing the body and mind to drive and not on what the driver is doing inside the car. Not long after, her father purchased a 360 cu in (5,900 cm3) sprint car and she drove eight World of Outlaws races. The following February, Fisher progressed to a 410 cu in (6,700 cm3) car and raced locally with the All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) during the season. She competed in all 62 races of the 1997 ASCoC, gaining a season-best finish of second at Eldora Speedway. Her father broke his arm at the start of the 1998 season, preventing him from rebuilding two engines to allow Fisher to continue racing. With her father's help, Fisher reconstructed both engines; he felt it would be better for her to compete against top-level sprint car drivers. During the year, Fisher participated in 40 events; by the end of the season she had learned the techniques of driving sprint cars.

By 1999, she and her father sought an alternative series to enter, following a suggestion from the CEO of one of her sponsors that she drive on pavement surfaces and not on dirt. Fisher's parents visited multiple tracks to sample three divisions of asphalt racing  and they decided to enter her into the United States Auto Club (USAC) Midget division, which was the most competitive form of racing they saw. Fisher also drove in Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing-sanctioned events on asphalt ovals in the Midwestern United States. She won five feature races of the 23 she entered and broke Winchester Speedway's lap record. That year, Fisher graduated seventh overall in a class of 178 with honors and an A average from Teays Valley High School in Ashville, Ohio. She achieved a grade point average of 4.178, earning induction into the National Honor Society, and took 30 post-secondary credits at Columbus State Community College. Fisher enrolled at The Ohio State University in August 1999 to pursue a part-time undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering before she received a telephone call following the first day of classes inviting her to test an Indy Racing League (IRL) car.