Sarah Fisher: From Driver To Owner At TMS
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - She was the third woman to drive in the Indianapolis 500, but Sarah Fisher is blazing a new trail in the IndyCar Series these days as the only female owner, as well as the league's youngest. "You know, I never dreamed to own the team," Fisher told CBS 11 Thursday.
She may be out of the cockpit, but Sarah Fisher is very much in the driver's seat. She owns the #67 Dollar General car, one of the fastest at this year's Indy 500, and competing this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. "As a CEO it's my job to hire people that are better than me, "she chuckles, adding, " I think we've done just that."
She was the youngest woman to compete at Indy, later creating her own team. She retired from racing last year to start a family and is expecting a baby in September, a girl she is already referring to as "Peanut."
Sarah Fisher Racing employs 17-people full time and commands growing respect in a sport dominated by men. Driver Ed Carpenter qualified 8th at this year's Indy. "I guess I never really thought about it (his owner being a woman)," says Carpenter. "I treat her and she treats me; you know, we have a good relationship, I don't even know that it matters, we're both racers."
It's an expensive sport with thousands of moving parts but one word that keeps coming up whether you're talking about the lifestyle or the racing operation…is "family." Fisher explains, "As long as we can successfully blend family with racing, that's what we're going to do." Fisher is coy about how much it costs to run her team, but admits it's in seven figures. "So seven figures is a lot to be responsible for so What I look for are the 17 families I'm personally liable for."
So, does she miss racing? "I wake up every day and think about it, but I don't miss it. And I know that with that it was time to move on and time to get into the next page of my career."
Fisher's very first IRL race was at TMS; she'd like to think her first win as an owner will come Saturday at TMS, too.
