Indy 500 Driver Speaks at Nontraditional Jobs Workshop
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Sarah Fisher has the record for the most starts for a woman in the history of the Indy 500.
Tuesday morning, Fisher was the keynote speaker at the largest-ever Nontraditional Employment for Women Opportunities Workshop.
Warsaw Area Career Center and the Wawasee Area Career and Technical Cooperative co-sponsor the annual NEW Opportunities Workshop that provides high school sophomore girls a chance to check out careers they may not have thought about before.
During her presentation, Fisher told the 255 high school sophomore girls that she drove up from Indianapolis Tuesday morning. She recently had a baby, who is 5 weeks old.
When she started racing, Fisher said, she never thought she’d be driving 236 miles per hour. She never thought she’d talk to the likes of Tom Brokaw, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa.
Growing up, she was surrounded by engineers.
“I had a really great environment growing up that told me I could do anything,” Fisher said.
Racing was always a part of her life. An only child, her parents put her in a racecar at 5 years old.
“It was all that we knew,” Fisher said of racing. “My dad always taught me the mechanical side of racing.”
Growing up, she had to do something to pay for her racecars other than get good grades, she said. She learned to MIG weld and do other shop work. She also had to figure out a way to alter cars to make them fit her.
Originally, Fisher said, it was her plan to become a mechanical engineer like her dad. But at 19, instead of college, she drove more than 200 mph in a Indy race.
So many people ask her why she races. For her, it’s the competitiveness. It’s being asked by engineers how to make their cars go faster. And it’s for her young female friends who come to the races with their fathers.
Fisher has competed in nine Indianapolis 500 races. She’s been voted “Most Popular Driver” four times in two separate Series, IndyCar and NASCAR, and been awarded “Indy’s Best & Brightest Leaders Under 40.”
Fisher is the first woman to qualify fastest for a major North American open-wheel event, the fastest woman to ever qualify for the Indy 500 and the youngest woman to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Fisher told the high school girls that she never had the perfect scenario. Somewhere deep inside she thought there was something that needed to be fixed.
In 2007, she ran her last race for someone else. In 2008, she created her own racing team, Sarah Fisher Racing. She then qualified for an Indy 500 without any sponsorship at the time.
During a race in 2008, Fisher broke her car in half. She didn’t know what she was going to do. Other teams helped her, but fans also gave the racing team money. One father, Fisher said, donated some money because he knew Fisher needed it more than him and Fisher was an inspiration to his daughter.
God really does have a plan, Fisher said. And because Fisher really resonates with Dollar General customers, Dollar General became Fisher’s longest running sponsor.
Eventually, there came a point where Fisher being the owner and driver got too complicated for her. It was time for her to start a new challenge, which for her was starting a family. She also had 17 employees that counted on her for jobs and money. Fisher chose Ed Carpenter as her driver for her race team. Carpenter became Fisher’s team’s first Indy car winner.
Everything she’s learned, everything she’s been through, Fisher said, “The one thing I can take away from it is loving what I do. If you find something you truly, truly enjoy, that’s what will make you successful.”
During a question-and-answer session, Fisher said her baby was a girl.
“The one thing I want her to do is anything she wants,” Fisher said.
Dan Wheldon, the 2011 Indianapolis 500 winner, died Oct. 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a horrific multicar crash on Lap 11 of the IndyCar Series season finale. Fisher was asked how that accident affected her team.
Emotional, Fisher said they all have to move forward. There was a big drivers meeting Monday, and they have to figure out how to be safer. She said they need to go forward, however, and that is what Wheldon would want them to do.
One woman asked Fisher what she wished she would have known when she started that she knows now.
“I wish I would have saved a lot more money,” Fisher said.
Asked if she plans to get behind the wheel again or stay in management, Fisher said becoming a parent really changes your life. She hopes to be a successful team owner, and she takes a lot of pride in seeing the success of the individuals she puts together on her team.
After the keynote speech, during an interview, Fisher said, “It’s really being able to enjoy what I do. It’s why I come into the race shop in the morning, it’s because I want to be there. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you won’t want to be there.”
She’s been successful, she said, because of her experience more than anything else. Having great mentors also helps.
Eventually, Fisher said, she wants two cars in her racing team. Right now, she’s learning to juggling her race team and her family team.
“I have a great support system. It’s just a balance. It’s trying to find the balance between home and work. I want to have a family as well as achieve success in racing,” Fisher said.
