Feb 28, 2008

Indianapolis, IN – Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) announced today the formation of an IndyCar Series team that will compete in the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 along with select events on the 2008 IndyCar Series schedule with a full-time debut planned for 2009. Sarah Fisher will wheel the No. 67 Honda powered Dallara. Fisher made the announcement at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the IndyCar Series spring training sessions, alongside fellow female pioneers, Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James.

After reviewing a handful of options for the 2008 racing season, starting my own team was the best opportunity for the partners we had moving forward and really is the next step for me and my career, says Fisher, President of SFR. This is something we strategically prepared to take on by consulting many different people in the motorsport realm—we didn‘t wake up one day and decide we were going to start a race team. Everyone we spoke with was very positive and felt if we could get it put together, it would be an amazing feat. It‘s hasn‘t been an overnight accomplishment, but it was certainly the next step for me and Andy [O‘Gara], my husband, as a couple. For my age and what we want to do in the future, this was our next step. The 27-year-old Fisher, who was awarded the 2001, 2002 and 2003 IndyCar Series ‘Most Popular Driver’ award and the 2005 NASCAR West Regional Series ‘Most Popular Driver’ award, continues on in the newly unified IndyCar Series with 67 IndyCar Series races under her belt. During her IndyCar Series career thus far, Fisher became the youngest women to race in the Indianapolis 500, became the first woman to capture the pole position and is the fastest female qualifier for the Indianapolis 500, in the 91 year history of the event.

As a driver, you don‘t have as many responsibilities as a team owner, continued Fisher. With more responsibility comes added pressure and as Billie Jean King once said, ‘pressure is a privilege’. It‘s interesting to take on a different project and be able to have our own direction and responsibility. We have surrounded ourselves with the right people that believe in us and this vision. It‘s fulfilling to guide the people you believe in. Being the driver for the team is something that is only appropriate as that is what started all of this. I‘ve always been a woman driver but being a female owner of a business is a big step. The only difference I can really think of is that in my company, the toilet seat will be left down. Guthrie broke the gender barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in 1976, St. James followed in 1996 and Fisher took the torch in 2000.

In 2008 Fisher continues Guthrie‘s pioneering vision by taking a team ownership role in addition to her driving duties. For Janet, being the first female owner/driver at the Indy 500 only gives me more motivation and confidence, says Fisher, who lists Guthrie as one of her heroes. Back in 1976 when she owned her team, she wasn‘t even allowed to use the restroom in the paddock. To follow in her shoes is really inspiring and if she could do it back then, we should be able to do it in 2008. Some of Fisher‘s biggest fans made the trip to Miami to help break the news, Guthrie and St. James.It is the greatest good news that Sarah has been able to form her own team, said Guthrie, who first met Fisher in May of 2002 at the IMS. She is an extremely talented driver, and this new opportunity is just the break that she has needed. Having run my own team at the Indianapolis 500 in 1978, when I scored my best finish there, I know what a huge and difficult challenge it is, and I‘m sure that she will be up to it. Sarah has the talent and the ferocious desire that is necessary for success, and this is her best opportunity yet. “I met Sarah when she attended our driver development program in 1996 and it was evident that she was a future star, said St. James, who last competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 2000. She was intense, committed, and determined to win then and those qualities have only deepened with her maturity. Racing requires many elements to be successful, and having a team of people around you who are completely committed to your success is one of the most important. Even though the competition in the IndyCar Series is fierce I think with Sarah’s experience and now her own team she will have the ability to shine like never before.”

[Source]