29 replies to this topic

[RedFever]

While we have already seen Lyn St. James, who will start in 32nd place, I have never heard of Sarah Fisher, who will start in a decent 19th place. Anyone know anything about her?

[FordFan]

I believe she's only 19 Red. I followed the practice a bit last week, and she was in or near the top ten just about every day. Maybe she'll be the one to make Bernie eat his words.

[RedFever]

just found this: (yes, she is 19!!!!!!!!!)

Notable: Passed Indy Racing League rookie test in August 1999 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway … Became youngest person to compete in league’s history by racing in the Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 17, starting 17th and finishing 25th after mechanical problems ended her race after just 66 laps … Scored five feature wins in 1999 while competing in NAMARS, ARCA and USAC midget competition … Started racing career at age 5 in quarter-midgets … Three-time WKA Grand National champion and 1992 WKA points champion … Racing experience includes competition in winged sprint cars in All Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws series, including the Knoxville Nationals … Graduated from Teays High School in Commercial Point, Ohio in May 1999 … Received numerous academic honors in high school including induction into National Honor Society, and graduated seventh in class with a 4.178 GPA on a 4.0 scale due to success in honors classes … Participated in two state science fairs and five district science fairs … Also was involved in Odyssey of the Mind, Power of the Pen and other academic organizations in high school … Enjoys karting and cardiovascular fitness in spare time

[theMot]

How can girls race cars? Thats just pathetic!!! She should be in the kitchen making her man some pie!!!

[This message has been edited by theMot (edited 05-23-2000).]

[RedFever]

theMot, looks like you didn't have a "4.178 GPA on a 4.0 scale"......

[Nuno]

Only two girls at the Indy 500 ?
Well , there was at least some 4 or 5 thousand at this year's Brazilian GP . On the right place for a woman to be at a car race - on the grandstands.
Mine was constantly walking to and from the next vendor to provide me cold beer... Good girl.

[GasPeddler]

Couldn't agree more, Mot! She shouldn't be allowed to run at the Brickyard til that kitchen is spotless!!

[theMot]

Oh come on guys dont get all pollitically correct on me here!!! I know yous are thinking the same things like me. A girl going fast in a car is just ghetto, its just not on. Its like a car going fast in reverse or something?? Its just filthy. In my Opinion Girls shoudlnt be doing the following:

1. Racing cars
2. Boxing
3. Plaing Contact sports like Football

Dont tell me you guys have lost your balls or something!!! If a chick tried to race me on the streets i would do it but only if she was cute because i know i would win cause they usually cant drive for crap and theres a chance i could pick em up. But as for the race track!!! PUCH THAT!!! The only thing they should be doing at the race track is being a Jordan model or something.

GIRLS GOING FAST IS GHETTO!!!!

[mono-posto]

I don't know Mot. You seem like the type to like fast girls?

[RedFever]

I am not being politically correct, I simply believe car racing is a sport were women are not handicapped by their smaller size or smaller muscles (say running or soccer, you could never have men and women in the same competition). However, if Da Matta races in CART (he is so tiny it's incredible), then a woman can do it. They have historically been not involved in this sport, but with proper training they can do well. Sarah is only 19 and can beat the crap with any car out of any of us here on this BB. Give her some time, she was driving already at 5, if the right sponsors will back her up, she might turn out to be a good driver. Let's wait and see.

I personally practice a traditionally male dominated sport such as skidiving. 2 of the best divers I ever jumped with are women, I would go anywhere with them, i have total faith in their skills and I know I will never stand a chance to be better than they are. Now, if it was soccer, then I feel pretty confident I can kick the **** out of forward of the US team who won the World Cup 2 years ago, with no problems. Regardless of the Nike TV spots with her and Michael Jordan, were she brags "all you can do, i can do better", I know I would leave her on the floor in less than 15 minutes, as on the physical level she can't compete with me, as I was used to defend against guys 6 foot tall, 190 pounds and still damaged their legs pretty bad. But this is car racing, she can do well, wait and see.

[theMot]

Red, thats the problem. Girls are not physically built like men. You of all people know that driving an F1 car is a very very physically demanding thing. I believe girls can compete in sprint races like you would have in Formula Ford but there is now way they could compete in F1 or Cart. The races are too long and physically demanding. They would start well but they would start to fade after 10 or 15 laps.

[This message has been edited by theMot (edited 05-23-2000).]

[journeyman]

This reminds me of Dr. Johnson's famous remark (from the 1700's)concerning women preachers:

"Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

[Pacific]

Which says what about us? I guarantee Lyn St. James could kick all of our asses in any sort of race car. Remember, she raced IMSA GT and has raced at Indy.

Sarah Fisher has a lot of talent and with her intelligence she should excel. As I've always said, I hope Sarah ends up in CART in a second car for Derrick Walker. But that'd probably be in three to four years. I figure this season is the season Sarah gets acquainted with the IRL more, and in 2001 becomes a consistent top 10 runner. In 2002 perhaps some wins, and hopefully in 2003 and championship contender. At which point in 2004 it'd probably be time to move her over to CART or perhaps a season in Indy Lights before that to get her familiar with road racing. The car control necessary to suceed and set track records in sprint cars is pretty intense, so I bet Sarah would take to road courses satisfactorily for CART after a season of Indy Lights, unless Derrick thinks she could do it straight away. That's the path I'd like to see Sarah's career take. With the death of Adam Petty, she's pretty much the only young driver I really like.

[goGoGene]

I have two words...

Michele Mouton

[This message has been edited by goGoGene (edited 05-23-2000).]

[f li]

GGG:

Damn, she was good!

[Pete Stanley]

St. James would have qualified far better if she hadn't folded up her car on Saturday. That was a big accident.

Fisher is driving for Derrick Walker, who also fields a CART team. She got everyone's attention last year when she set a new track record for midget cars at Winchester. Winchester! She's brave, if nothing else.

[Mat]

I hope she does well at the 500. Good luck to her.

I was watching I think her 2nd or 3rd IRL race and she spun in front of the leading pack and took out one of them. I can;t think of his name, but when he was interviewed, he absoltuely hammered her. Said that every time she has been out on the trac she wrecked her race car, and didn't trust her. Pretty mean stuff. The commentators were pretty speechless, obviously they didn't agree with him.

I don't think she has any exceptional talent, but i don't think she is out of her depth either. I oep she does really well. maybe a podium behind the two target boys.

Mat

[RedFever]

Gene, thank you.

Of course Mot has no idea of who she is. This woman won, not just raced, in world championship rally races, extremely more physically demanding, night drives, little sleep, uncertainties of all kinds, ice, snow, dirt, mud, yet she kicked men's asses left and right (and her co-pilot was another woman).

Women can run marathons, why wouldn't they be able to train to lap in a car for 2 hours??? do you think F1 drivers are better fit than astronauts??? of course not, yes women have piloted a space shuttle. They can drive a freaking car, particularly looking at the average size of F1 drivers, were Wurtz, (is he my size? 5'11" - 185 pounds), is considered a giant!!!!!

[Pete Stanley]

Originally posted by Mat:
I hope she does well at the 500. Good luck to her.

I was watching I think her 2nd or 3rd IRL race and she spun in front of the leading pack and took out one of them. I can;t think of his name, but when he was interviewed, he absoltuely hammered her. Said that every time she has been out on the trac she wrecked her race car, and didn't trust her. Pretty mean stuff. The commentators were pretty speechless, obviously they didn't agree with him.

Mat

It was Eliseo Salazar. Salazar is most famous in the US for his performance in the 1996 Indy 500, where he eliminated two front-running cars from contention (Luyendyk and Davey Jones). He is most famous in Europe for a fight with Nelson Piquet.

[AyePirate]

Originally posted by Pete Stanley:
It was Eliseo Salazar. Salazar is most famous in the US for his performance in the 1996 Indy 500, where he eliminated two front-running cars from contention (Luyendyk and Davey Jones)

The U.S commentators pointed out Salazar's dubious history and said that especially in his early years the man was a menace and he should keep his machismo spewing mouth shut.

As for Sarah Fisher's chances at the brickyard. Excellent. Her racing resume'
is a standout among Indy rookies- I don't consider Montoya a "rookie". Indy is strange race, as close to a crapshoot as there is in autoracing. Relatively easy to get in (this is NOT a dig at women drivers, but a comment on the "all comers meet" aspects of the'500) and exceeding difficult to win, just ask Mario Andretti ( won on 4th attempt in 1969 then went 0 for 25).

[This message has been edited by AyePirate (edited 05-24-2000).]

[Chris G.]

Salazar made a complete fool of himself in that race. Trashing SF when he's been the heel a few times himself.

SF qualified 19th, which was no easy feat. She is fully capable of making a fool out of herself in the race, but nothing worse than I've seen from drivers in any other race. I bet she doesn't gas it too hard on the pace lap and send herself spinning (was it Guererro who did that from pole in indy one year?)

If anyone watched indy quals this year you would see what this race is about. Many were literally speechless, trembling, after they put the car on the grid. Never seen so much emotion from just qualifying...ever.

St. James gave a post-qualifying interview that showed she DOES understand what this sport is about - more than many, way more than Salazar. Many men would have complained of too much soreness after a wreck like hers - she shrugged it off as nothing. It HAD TO HURT. Maybe not the best driver in the world, but she's tough.

I agree with "women shouldn't box, play football" stuff. There is a physical/size issue that is undeniable in those circumstances. I don't see any physical limitations that prevent them from being competetive in motorsport. Ever stood next to a male F1 or CART driver? Some are smaller than most women.

Oh, both Montoya and Vasser will have their engines BLOW UP.


[This message has been edited by Chris G. (edited 05-24-2000).]

[Pacific]

I hope not, I want to see Ray and Montoya battle a lot. Of course, Menard has a poor reliability history, so...

I'll never forget when Guerrero was on pole and spun his Kenny Bernstein owned Quaker State Lola Buick I believe it was. Quaker State for sure anyway. It took a while to find out why Guerrero went out in the Hubbard-Immke Purdue car. Matsuda was hurt pretty bad in a wreck. Nothing serious, but some broken bones and a minor concussion I guess. Tyce Carlson suffered a concussion and small injuries with the same team earlier in the weak!!!!

Sarah's size is perfect. She's 5'3" 120 pounds. Wurz is supposedly 6'0" and like 175 pounds I've heard. I should check it out and do the equations. Then there's Roberto Moreno. He should be a horse jockey...gotta love Roberto though. I think Sarah will do just fine. I think her goal will be to run an uneventful race and just finish. She's trying to gain experience this year and not tear the car up. There have been days when she's put on many laps on the car and no incidents. Sure, with 32 cars on the track that'll change some, but I have confidence in her. Derrick Walker does too.

As far as Indy goes, Andy Hillenburg is what Indy is all about. I mean, it meant SO much to him. VERY emotional. Barely made it, slowest of the 33, but that's still in the race and boy am I happy for Andy. He does a great job in ARCA (a very diverse series), does good in Winston Cup (but LJ Racing ahs a small budget and is closed for the time being!!), did sprints of course (not to be confused with the Oklahoma Andy Hillenburg who still races WoO and sprints, etc), and runs FasTrack Driver School. The Sumar Racing Special team isn't a large operation by any means. It's cool they got in. Andy gave it all he could, I'm pretty sure what Andy got out of it was damn near all you could get out of it. He wanted it more than anybody there I think.

Meanwhile, while Montoya strolls through For Juan this is only a stepping stone to further greatness. Here's to success for Juan Montoya in F1 someday soon, further success in CART, and good luck at Indy. Here's for a safe Indy 500 with no injures. I remember 1996 when I was rooting for Zampedri, and then on the last lap somebody gave Guerrero too much rope and he f@#*ed it up and cause a nice crash which effectively ended Zampedri's career. Yeah sure, he's still technically racing, but...I didn't get too see Guerrero much when he was younger. But ever since I started watching Indy every year, 1988 on fourth, and following CART, I don't see what some others must see in the guy. Oh well...

[bschue]

Sort of off the topic, but still on Indy--What do you all think of Dr. Jack Miller--The Racing Dentist. Luckily he didn't qualify. He sucks. I think that although he has run a few races in the past they shouldn't let all these Bozo's come to Indy to do a "one-off" race. If I was a Montoya or Greg Ray, I would be scared as hell knowing these guys were running with me at 210-220 mph. The rookie tests at Indy doesnt prove jack ****!! They have these guys go around at different speeds in I think 3 phases. Big deal, I could do that, but I'd probably **** myself at the start of the race going in three wide to turn 1 and running wheel to wheel.

Re: the woman issue--I'm glad to see Sarah Fisher in the race and will be routing for her, but can't stand Lyn St. James and her big mouth, who only runs Indy every year. I wish Sarah the best of luck.

Just hoping for a safe race. I think Indy is the most dangerous track in the world. I still remember vividly the Stan Fox accident in 1995 on the first lap. I saved a picture from the Washington Post which showed him up in the air above Cheever's car with the cock pit (so much for that Kevlar type material) sheered in half and his legs totally exposed. It's an incredible picture. When his car landed it skidded into the wall and his legs hit the wall at probably 80+ mph. Unbelievably he did not break any bones, but did have some brain damage.

[RedFever]

Salazar apologized for his remarks to Sarah: «I want to congratulate her. Not everyone can qualify at Indy. At her age, I was still racing with some crappy cars in Chile».

Sarah has forgiven him. And she already has some important friends. Like Al Unser, 4 time winner of the Indy 500, who is personally advising her. While Walker, thinking in business terms, already compares her to Rick Mears.

Mario Andretti instead is not being supportive: «Women have still not demonstrated anything. Second or thir means nothing. Until one of them will win a race, it doesn't count at all». Sarah agrees with him. On Sunday, an 8th place would be enough to beat the record of Janet Gutrie in 1978, who crossed the finish line in 9th position. «Only if I do well I can open the doors to more women».

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lord Cuinavale]

RedFever got the details right about Sarah Fisher. She is 19 and seems to be quick enough to run with the admittedly uneven competition she has in IRL. (I suspect I 'diss' IRL compared to CART the way most people here deride CART compared to F1.)

A lot of the things Sarah does and does not do right is down to her being 19, not to being, well, her. She is reasonably consistent, learns quickly and provides very, very good feedback to her pit crew when she is on the track (which is vital when you are running on ovals over here, be it IRL, CART or even NASCAR.)

Also, Sarah is a mechanical engineering student in college and is technically 'literate' enough that Derrick Walker has given her her own office in his engineering department.

Derrick Walker is sort of the Eddie Jordan of CART over here. He has a reputation for spotting and 'bringing along' promising young drivers. He and several other team owners, in both IRL and CART, have been impressed enough with Sarah that she may actually have more offers than she can handle for next season.

Derrick says his ultimate goal is to have Sarah drive in his CART team and Sarah says that is 'one of' her goals as well. (She never says what the others are. Whatever they are, one of 'em ain't making sure the kitchen is spotless, bless her heart.)

I doubt that we will ever see Sarah in F1 and I don't even know that she would want to drive in F1. (CART does have some reasonably challenging road and street circuits, though. Ask Jacques Villeneuve.) The old saw was always that women lacked the upper body strength necessary to be able to - uh - 'man'handle a car through esses, bends, sweeps and turns for an entire race distance.

Because of her age and gender, Sarah keeps getting put through these medical exams after each race and, so far, has passed them all with flying colours (none of which is pink.) So, apparently, the same can be said of her that is being said of Jenson Button in F1 (and Pizzonia, looks like): if you're fast enough, then you're old enough. (And, well, 'man' enough?????)

Anyway, guys, Sarah already has spin-offs. There is a Danii Brachii (from Illinois despite that name) racing in England now and her goal is quite decidedly to try to get at least to F3 and F3000, if not F1 itself.

And John Della Penna, who also has a team in CART, is sponsoring an 18-year old Argentinian named Ianinni Zanazzi in the South American equivalent of Indy Lights. If anything, Zanazzi is quicker than Sarah Fisher and has blown off most of the promising South American formula drivers at one time or another.

Della Penna says Zanazzi should be ready for CART by 2002, by which time she will be an old woman of 21.

So, one way, or another, I do not think the kitchen will be all that spotless from now on. Especially every other Sunday afternoon.





------------------
Lord Cuinavale
Washington, DC

[CC Rider]

I think we're all missing the really important question here. Sarah Fisher is 19, she's a she ... so far so good ... the real question that needs answering is:

Does she have really big hooters ??

(in my best Homer Simpson voice, "mmmm, hooters")

[Damop]

Now, now, CCRider - they are not hooters they are frontal impact injury prevention systems.

[bigblue]

So women are actually safer in race cars?

I remember a story of Michelle Mouton sunbathing topless before a stage, putting on her driving suit and showing the "boys" how it was done (driving I mean). She was an excellent driver, top 5 in her day.

[This message has been edited by bigblue (edited 05-25-2000).]

[RedFever]

WC in 1982!!!!!! with Audi.

[goGoGene]

You mean a member of WCC team , right RedFever. MM took second in the championship to...damn Finnish guy...can't remember...

but she only lost out in the final round that year.

I have to admit she's my fav rally driver, maybe even my fav driver in any series.

I never heard that story about her sun bathing, pretty funny if it's true.

ggg