Chelman |
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Posted 14-08-2003 16:28 by Chelman |
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Middenmoot.....
HIeronder een (oud) bericht van een US racing forum waar ik weleens kom. Dit jaar is ze vlgs. mij uitgevallen in de Indy 500...(maar ik weet het niet zeker.
quote:
Since this week is an "off" weekend for the Winston Cup guys, I decided to write about a great driver in the IRL series that you should watch on Saturday night?
For those of you who don't follow the Indy Racing League ("IRL"), or any open-wheel series for that matter, I highly recommend that you tune in and watch the IRL race (being held at the Richmond, Virginia track) on ESPN this weekend and check out a gal named Sarah Fisher, who will be driving in that race. She is one heck of a racer. Besides being able to drive the wheels off of a racecar, I think she's a sponsor's dream come true.
Fisher is intelligent, knowledgeable, dedicated, goal-oriented, wonderful when interacting with fans, and a PR (public relations) goldmine. Not to mention the fact that she is a great FEMALE driver. Now, I know, everyone says that it doesn't matter who is behind the wheel, and it shouldn't; guys [supposedly] race a woman driver the same way they race every other man out there. While that may be true on the track, off the track Sarah Fisher stands out from the crowd, for many reasons. I'm glad a [full-time] sponsor finally woke up and realized what an asset it would be to have Sarah Fisher piloting their racecar.
Fisher had previously been driving for Walker Racing, but lost that ride earlier this year when the team could not find a primary sponsor. Fisher subsequently asked for and was granted a release from Walker Racing. She signed with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in April, 2002, to fill in for Robbie Buhl, who was injured and could not participate in the race on April 21st in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. She finished fourth in that race. Needless to say, Fisher definitely made an impression on Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.
Dreyer and Reinbold Racing subsequently signed Fisher to race again, in the Indy 500, only (teaming with Buhl). With her four-lap qualifying speed of 229.439 mph, she set the "female" record, earning the highest starting position a woman driver ever obtained at the Indy 500. Fisher started in the third row of the thirty-three-car field. She completed 196 of 200 laps at Indy, and finished 24th.
I'm glad that Dreyer and Reinbold Racing saw the potential that Sarah has to excel in a racecar, and offered her a full-time ride (as Robbie Buhl's teammate) for the seven remaining races on the IRL's schedule this year, beginning with this Saturday night's race at Richmond. It will be nice to see Fisher, who was voted most popular driver of the IRL series last season, back behind the wheel.
Sarah Fisher has a long background in racing. The 21-year-old Ohio native entered her first race at age five in quarter-midgets. She is a three-time WKA Grand National champion, and the 1992 WKA points champion. She also scored five feature wins in 1999 while competing in NAMARS, ARCA, and USAC midget competitions. Fisher graduated with honors from high school in 1999, the same year in which she also made her Indy Racing League debut - and made history, again, by being the youngest driver ever in the IRL, at age 19.
Fisher ran her first full season in the IRL in 2000. After a slow start, she came on strong later in the year. She started fifth at Atlanta on July 15, 2000, and carried that over into her next race as well. During the 2000 season, Fisher also became only the third woman in history to even qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
In 2001, Fisher finished second in the Infiniti Grand Prix of Miami - the highest a female driver has EVER placed in an Indy-style race. Her other top-10 finish in 2001 was a 10th-place finish at Pike's Peak in June. She finished the season 19th in the standings. To date, Fisher has a total of 24 IRL starts, four of which she has qualified in the top seven.
Saying that Sarah Fisher is a good driver is an understatement. She's young (age 21), and has a bright future in racing ahead of her. She is the epitome of professionalism, and a sponsor's dream come true, both on and off the track. When she's not behind the wheel racing, or greeting fans, etc., Fisher intends to attend college part time (somewhere in Indianapolis), in hopes of earning a degree in engineering?and I'm sure she will.
If you'd like to learn more about IRL driver, Sarah Fisher, you can visit her website at: www.SarahFisher.com . You can also read the weekly sports diary that Sarah will be writing, which will be posted on the ABC Sports website. And I highly recommend that you tune in and watch her race on Saturday night, as I intend to do (it will be televised on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. EST).
KOSOVO JE SRBIJA! SVETA SRPSKA ZEMLJA !
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