Courtesy of ESPN.com

By John Oreovicz
ESPN.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Without officially calling it a retirement, Izod IndyCar Series owner/driver Sarah Fisher announced Monday that she will step out of the car in 2011 to focus on her role as team principal of Sarah Fisher Racing.

Fisher broke the news at a luncheon at SFR’s Indianapolis headquarters, where she also announced that Ed Carpenter will drive the No. 67 Dollar General-sponsored car in at least nine IndyCar races during the upcoming season.

“I’m pretty much retiring,” Fisher was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “I want to start a family.”

Fisher, 30, was voted the IndyCar Series’ “Most Popular Driver” three times, and was Indy car racing’s most successful female driver prior to the arrival in the series of Danica Patrick. Her IndyCar career highlights include pole position at Kentucky Speedway in 2002 and a pair of podium finishes.

The Ohio native formed SFR in 2008 and has competed on a part-time basis the last three years, generally on oval tracks.

“Being both an owner and a driver is both time consuming on both sides,” Fisher stated. “I really want to see this team move forward and to have one driver who does all the races — ovals and road courses. It’s just very hard to do both.”

Like Fisher, Carpenter’s background is in USAC short track racing. But the 29-year-old American will also tackle three road races — St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio and Baltimore — in the SFR car in 2011.

SFR will also enter six oval races, including the Indianapolis 500, and Fisher said she hopes to attract sponsorship to allow Carpenter to contest the full season.

“I talked to him and he said, ‘I might be able to do this or I might be able to do that,’” Fisher said. “I said ‘Stop, this is about you driving for me. You show up for these nine races and we can go from there and we’re planning for it.’ It was an honor to make that phone call. That doesn’t happen a whole lot anymore.”

Carpenter has driven for Vision Racing throughout his six-year Indy car career. The future of the Vision team, which is co-owned by IndyCar Series founder Tony George, his wife Laura, and actor Patrick Dempsey, is unclear. After competing full-time from 2005-09, Vision entered only four races in 2010 in partnership with Panther Racing.

“It really came together quickly over the last three weeks,” said Carpenter. “I had been working on some things with Panther and trying to carry over some of the momentum from what we did in 2010. But I wasn’t sure where that was going, so I called Sarah about her plans.

“In a lot of ways, I feel like we had a deal done after that first phone call,” he added. “I have been friends with Sarah and Andy [O'Gara, Fisher's husband and SFR crew chief] for a long time, and am really looking forward to working with their team.”

Carpenter’s best Indy car finish is second place, achieved at Kentucky Speedway the last two years.

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