Fisher Still Attracts. What next?

[pits4me]

According to this article http://thescore.ibj.com/ Fisher’s name was searched for more—much more—than any other Indianapolis 500 driver in the days following the race. That includes fan favorite Danica Patrick and race winner Scott Dixon.

Further in the article it cites a plea from fans to have AGR send some financial support in her direction. We know that won't get very far in the Danica camp.

Maybe Sarah should make amends with Walker. He has the knowledge and resources to help, she has the equipment. Going back to Atlantic's was a tough pill for her to digest six years ago. Derrick's intentions certainly seemed honorable at the time.

Seeing these two reunited after Milwaukee may be mutually beneficial.

[Ruben Barrios]

Sarah has always gotten the short end on this whole theatre... I remember the first race I watched her, she snached 2nd place (albeit a very uncompetitive series) and she was driving very well...

[Yankee Racer]

The IRL, in my opinion, should be glad that people are searching for her. I think a lot of the searches are fueled by people looking to donate to the team. She really got a raw deal with that disgusting, calorie-packed heart-attack in a can that I'll leave anonymous because they don't deserve the advertising, and if fans rally to bring some money behind the team, it will be good for the IRL. It'll just be another feel-good story, and it seems the IRL has a lot of those to ride on. And I'm sure the IRL knows that's a good thing.

[beachgirl]

According to this article http://thescore.ibj.com/ Fisher’s name was searched for more—much more—than any other Indianapolis 500 driver in the days following the race. That includes fan favorite Danica Patrick and race winner Scott Dixon.

Further in the article it cites a plea from fans to have AGR send some financial support in her direction. We know that won't get very far in the Danica camp.

Maybe Sarah should make amends with Walker. He has the knowledge and resources to help, she has the equipment. Going back to Atlantic's was a tough pill for her to digest six years ago. Derrick's intentions certainly seemed honorable at the time.

Seeing these two reunited after Milwaukee may be mutually beneficial.

I keep hearing about the "problems" between Sarah and Derrick Walker, and other posters on this and other forums saying that Sarah had chances early in her career and chose not to take the offers, and that's why she's where she is now. Well, one of those posters finally came through with an explanation of sorts. Sarah in her early career wanted to race ovals. The IRL at that time was all ovals. Of couse she would want to race there. Derrick Walker and others wanted to take her to Atlantics. Why would she go race road and street tracks with no ovals??? There was never an issue of "going back to Atlantics". She was never IN Atlantics to begin with.

No one knew in 2000, 2001 that the IRL would change course and do road and street racing in 2005 and onward. So why is the fact that Sarah chose to remain in the all-oval series at that time rather than go roadracing considered to be a bad decision on her part? It seems like armchair hindsight to me.

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Anyway, I am a strong Sarah fan, and I really hope that some good karma (and good sponsors who pay their commitments) starts coming her way. She's one of the good people in racing.

[Dagger]

Sarah races on passion and talent. Starting her own team certainly elevates her into another level. I say she is a great amdassador for the sport and we as open wheel race fans need her to succeed.

[beachbum]

I believe that it was because Sarah's background was in midgets and modified dirt cars mostly. Derek wanted her to get some rear engine experience and the only real series for that, at the time, was Atlantics.My memory might be getting a little fuzzy, but I think the Atlantics deal came after she had a couple years in the IRL - running rear engine cars. I do remember that most reports at the time questioned why Walker wanted her to go "backwards" to Atlantics.

[Jag_Warrior]

I keep hearing about the "problems" between Sarah and Derrick Walker, and other posters on this and other forums saying that Sarah had chances early in her career and chose not to take the offers, and that's why she's where she is now. Well, one of those posters finally came through with an explanation of sorts. Sarah in her early career wanted to race ovals. The IRL at that time was all ovals. Of couse she would want to race there. Derrick Walker and others wanted to take her to Atlantics. Why would she go race road and street tracks with no ovals??? There was never an issue of "going back to Atlantics". She was never IN Atlantics to begin with.

No one knew in 2000, 2001 that the IRL would change course and do road and street racing in 2005 and onward. So why is the fact that Sarah chose to remain in the all-oval series at that time rather than go roadracing considered to be a bad decision on her part? It seems like armchair hindsight to me.

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Anyway, I am a strong Sarah fan, and I really hope that some good karma (and good sponsors who pay their commitments) starts coming her way. She's one of the good people in racing.

When he said "back to Atlantics", I assumed he meant taking a step back to Atlantics. She would have been going backwards, in a sense. But with that, she could have probably picked up valuable engineering and formula car setup knowledge, that she didn't appear to have at that time. Sarah supposedly had difficulty communicating what she was feeling in her car back to the race engineers. At what I believe was her last Richmond race with Walker, she continued adjusting her car's bars in the wrong direction, until she finally crashed. Her radio transmissions were reported by a fan who was there. She knew something bad was going on. But at speed, she wasn't able to comprehend her mistake until it was too late.

Yes, Atlantics was all about honing road racing skills. But even some road racing time might have helped her learn more about a formula car's setup vs. that for a sprint car. Others have used formula car experience on road courses and done rather well on ovals: Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Montoya... I'm not putting Sarah anywhere near that class. But I do think she could (should) have swallowed some pride and taken the time to better learn her craft. In a girl vs. girl battle, given that Sarah NEVER had top equipment, and still did rather well at times, I'd pick her over Danica on the talent scale. And with Sarah vs. Danica, there's so much less unneeded drama with Sarah. It appears that's she's JUST out there to race - not put on some kind of bizzare, made for MTV reality show. And I can respect Sarah for that.

[electron]

now here is one for a sponsor to pick - another example of a Fan favorite that can't find funding.
Maybe if she has the stamina to hang in there when the next budgets by sponsors are discussed she will be in the picture but on the short - I doubt it.
The damage didn't look so great to me, wasn't the sidepod completely intact? so a nose and suspension... maybe AGR can spare that, would really be a class act.
EDIT: she is not at Milwaukee.

[beachbum]

now here is one for a sponsor to pick - another example of a Fan favorite that can't find funding.
Maybe if she has the stamina to hang in there when the next budgets by sponsors are discussed she will be in the picture but on the short - I doubt it.
The damage didn't look so great to me, wasn't the sidepod completely intact? so a nose and suspension... maybe AGR can spare that, would really be a class act.
EDIT: she is not at Milwaukee.The report in the link in the first post on this thread suggested the estimate cost of the repairs were in the $150,000 to $250,000 range. That wipes out all of the winnings from Indy. SFR had suggested that they needed the winnings just to pay regular bills. A shoestring operation can't take a big crash repair hit. True, all racers know it can happen, but racers are optimists. From the way she drove at Indy, it seemed preservation was as important as performance, so they knew a big hit would be devastating. A team like AGR or Penske can just roll out another bullet.

[beachgirl]

now here is one for a sponsor to pick - another example of a Fan favorite that can't find funding.
Maybe if she has the stamina to hang in there when the next budgets by sponsors are discussed she will be in the picture but on the short - I doubt it.
The damage didn't look so great to me, wasn't the sidepod completely intact? so a nose and suspension... maybe AGR can spare that, would really be a class act.
EDIT: she is not at Milwaukee.

And may I add, had not intended to be. It wasn't on her released schedule for the team pre-Indy.

[garyshell]

And may I add, had not intended to be. It wasn't on her released schedule for the team pre-Indy.

And that is why when asked about her plans she said she didn't know what this meant for Kentucky, with no mention of Milwaukee.

Gary

[!!WALDO!!]

I believe that it was because Sarah's background was in midgets and modified dirt cars mostly. Derek wanted her to get some rear engine experience and the only real series for that, at the time, was Atlantics.

She was All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Rookie of the Year in 1997, which was Winged Sprints. She came to Midgets in 1999 to attempt to follow Jeff Gordon.
She won my race in 1999 at Kalamazoo and also at Winchester, IN.

Modified Dirt Cars? Nope, only open wheel.

(NO REFERENCE, IMPLIED OR REAL TO ANY POSTER, LIVING, DEAD, or NOT YET BORN.)

[weeflyonthewall]

I keep hearing about the "problems" between Sarah and Derrick Walker, and other posters on this and other forums saying that Sarah had chances early in her career and chose not to take the offers, and that's why she's where she is now. Well, one of those posters finally came through with an explanation of sorts. Sarah in her early career wanted to race ovals. The IRL at that time was all ovals. Of couse she would want to race there. Derrick Walker and others wanted to take her to Atlantics. Why would she go race road and street tracks with no ovals??? There was never an issue of "going back to Atlantics". She was never IN Atlantics to begin with.

No one knew in 2000, 2001 that the IRL would change course and do road and street racing in 2005 and onward. So why is the fact that Sarah chose to remain in the all-oval series at that time rather than go roadracing considered to be a bad decision on her part? It seems like armchair hindsight to me.

Hope someone can explain this to me.

Anyway, I am a strong Sarah fan, and I really hope that some good karma (and good sponsors who pay their commitments) starts coming her way. She's one of the good people in racing.

2002? The same year Sarah and Danica were in the Toyota Celebrity race. (Dara Torres outclassed them both IMO). There were rumors around Long Beach that the IRL was already exploring non-oval racing. Wasn't Atlantic was still running ovals back then? Sarah would have been much better off taking a step back to the minors for a while. MLB players do it all the time. Walker has a great eye for developing drivers. With a season of Atlantics on her CV many believe she'd have quicker response, better race read and crash avoidance. Most important, be on the same page as the engineers when trying to figure out what direction to take the set-up.

[tbyars]

2002? The same year Sarah and Danica were in the Toyota Celebrity race.... There were rumors around Long Beach that the IRL was already exploring non-oval racing.

Exatly right, weefly. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, by 2002, not too many people involved in the series had any question at all that road courses were coming very soon.

In retrospect, a year of two in Atlantics would have been an excellent move for Sarah.

[Old3Fan]

My memory might be getting a little fuzzy, but I think the Atlantics deal came after she had a couple years in the IRL - running rear engine cars. I do remember that most reports at the time questioned why Walker wanted her to go "backwards" to Atlantics.

So she could learn how to move forward instead of backwards which is mostly what she did when she was in the IRL.

[pits4me]

In retrospect, a year of two in Atlantics would have been an excellent move for Sarah.

To be a consistant front runner a driver must have a good foundation and be able to talk the language. Having roots in sprint and outlaws certainly helps but rounding off their career development in Atlantics has proven very valuable for many many drivers. Something that lacked in the old IndyLights and IPS series.

[Madmonk]

I like Sarah Fisher, but the Indycar Series of today is not the Indycar Series of yesteryear. As a teamowner without a sponsor, starting an underfunded team is a good way to get hurt and/or go bankrupt.

Personally, I think she needs to concentrate on getting her fitness level up to replace Foyt IV at Vision or Duno at Dreyer & Reinbold. But if she persists with her own team, I think she needs some help in the form of a veteran team manager (like Derrick Walker).

[NickFalzone]

Apparently AGR has helped out Fisher a bit:


Tony Kanaan's No. 11 7-Eleven entry had Direct Supply logos on either side of the nose this weekend as a sign of goodwill toward Sarah Fisher.

Direct Supply, a major sponsor of Sarah Fisher Racing's No. 67 car, is based in Milwaukee. Kanaan and Fisher, who competed in her first race as an owner/driver May 25 in the 92nd Indianapolis 500, were involved in an on-track crash just past the halfway point of the 200-lap race.
Direct Supply CEO Bob Hillis watched the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 at The Mile. Fisher also was in attendance.


Andretti Green Racing gave Fisher an underwing to help the team repair the damaged car.