Sarah Fisher 

Sarah Fisher was born in Columbus, Ohio on October 4, 1980 and she was at her first race before she could crawl. Her father, Dave, raced go-karts (against current IRL drivers Mark Dismore and Scott Goodyear) and her parents took Sarah along to the track too.

Although she can't remember those early days at the racetrack, her first racing memory came when she was five years old. Sarah's parents woke her up during the middle of the night to be fitted in her new quarter-midget racecar. She raced quarter midgets from then until the age of eight years old.

Sarah raced go-karts from the ages of eight to 14, including enduro lay-down, sprint dirt ovals, sprint road course and sprint asphalt ovals, winning the 1991 - 1993 WKA (World Karting Assn.) Grand National Championship, being named the 1993 Circleville Points Champion and the 1994 WKA Grand National Championship. "My real love for racing developed when I was about ten years old. We would race go-karts at a very competitive dirt track in Southern Ohio. This helped 'drive' my motivation to win. The WKA races on road courses weren't as tough as this dirt oval, so I started to enjoy the weekend dirt oval races that weren't as easy to win."

The young champion graduated to Winged Outlaw Sprint cars from the ages of 15 to 18, winning the following honors along the way: 1995 Dirt Track Racing Round-Up Rookie of the Year, 1997 Nominated for National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Rookie of the Year, named to the All-Stars Circuit of Champions series in 1997 (62 race series) and a second place at Eldora Speedway on the All-Star Circuit. With her impressive list of achievements, Sarah's most memorable racing experience is rather surprising. "It was winning the first WKA nationals (in Batavia, NY). The track officials had us park our small van away from all the 'big' haulers, over by the concession stand. We were BIG underdogs at that race and we won! I remember passing almost the entire field on the outside of turn one that was a really great racing and family moment for me."

Sarah's family has been a great help to her along her racing route. Her dad Dave and Mom Reba made up her "crew" and attended all of her races throughout her career. "My parents have always been there for me from the very start, as well as other immediate family members. I had two uncles from the Fisher side of the family who were racing sprint cars at the same time, so they were there as well."

Education also plays an important role in the Fisher household, with Dave a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University and self employed in the family business, Fisher Fabrication, while Reba holds an OSU degree in Education (K-12 and Shop). She teaches computers at Teays Valley Middle School. Sarah is following in her parents educational footsteps by receiving numerous academic honors when graduating with honors in May, 1999 from Teays High School in Commercial Point Ohio seventh in her class. Along the way, she also picked up these educational honors; induction into the National Honor Society, participation in two state science fairs, Odyssey of the Mind and Power of the Pen. Sarah intends to attend college part-time in the fall of 2000, majoring in mechanical engineering.

In her senior year of high school, Sarah continued racing midgets. She won five of 23 races in the NAMARS series, including the feature at Winchester, and she holds the track record at that racetrack (14.6 seconds). She also continued working on her racecars during that time. "At times I would do all the preparation to the cars before the race. My favorite memory of that was when my dad was working in his fabrication shop and I was in the race shop changing sprint car engines. My Grandpa Fisher came by and saw me and the look on his face was priceless!"

In August 1999, Sarah got her biggest chance in racing so far -- when she became the youngest person to ever pass the Indy Racing League Rookie test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Sarah competed in her first IRL event for another team at Texas Motor Speedway on Oct. 17, starting 17th and finishing 25th due to mechanical failure.

Team owner Derrick Walker made a business decision late last summer to add an Indy Racing team to his stable and started looking around for a young driver to join his new team. Derrick talked with Sarah before her debut at Texas and he followed up with three months of planning and negotiations before officially announcing Fisher as his driver right before the season-opening IRL race at Walt Disney World Speedway in January 2000. The rookie driver will run the remainder of the 2000 IRL season with Walker Racing.

Sarah looks forward to the 2000 season, and has high standards for herself. My goals are to win the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL championship. I also want to be known as 'the real deal' -- a driver who can win at ANYTHING." With the desire and dedication she has shown so far in her racing career, Fisher is well on her way to achieving those goals.