Stay on Track

Rounding turn four at roughly three times the interstate speed limit, Sarah Fisher heard the command from her pit crew crackle distinctly through her helmet's headset: "Green flag! You've got a green flag!" Barreling headlong toward the front straightaway in the number-15 car, she slammed down the gas pedal and rocketed past the grandstand at nearly 200 MPH as 500,000 fans leaped to their feet in rapt anticipation.

The cautionary yellow-flag period following Scott Sharp's early crash had ended, and Fisher was entering lap six of her second Indy 500 as the youngest driver and the only woman to compete in the 85th running. She would later describe the sensation of "hanging on for dear life" as the slick tires of her Walker Racing car fought to maintain their grip on the cold Brickyard asphalt that morning, while legends Al Unser Jr. and Michael Andretti gained speed in her rearview mirror.

Jerking the wheel from side to side in a desperate attempt to maintain control at escalating speeds, Fisher slid below the white line on turn two and skimmed the grassy apron ringing the inside of the track. That was all it took to send her turquoise race car spinning sideways across the track, into the outside retaining wall and Scott Goodyear's number-52 car. Her rear engine sparked flames, the yellow caution flag dropped, and Fisher struggled free of her safety harness -- her hopes deflated, and her 2001 racing season tarnished.

"Every time you set foot on the track, you have to assume that something unexpected will happen," Fisher says, one week after the crash. "Accidents happen, especially to rookies. The trick is to evaluate and attribute those mistakes, and then produce results. If you don't learn anything from a crash, you won't do any better next time."

Sarah Fisher is the fastest 20-year-old in the world. She races open-wheeled race cars at higher speeds and with greater skill than any other person her age. She also happens to be the only woman competing in a sport dominated by notorious heroes and hotshots -- dashing daredevils whose daddies won the Indy 500 before Fisher was even born. She is an anomaly in racing. But Sarah Fisher is no novelty. This girl is the real thing, and she is working every day to prove that -- to the world and to herself.

As Fisher builds her career on the racetrack, she is learning that good race-car drivers concentrate less on speed than on patience and determination. And great race-car drivers demonstrate less bravado than respect and poise. Here is Fisher's own formula for a smooth-running, long-lasting career built to endure even the most devastating crashes.

Keep Your Composure

"It was a risk to sign on Sarah at the beginning," says Derrick Walker, owner of Walker Racing and a 21-year veteran of the Indy 500. "I had no idea how good she was. No idea at all."

That is largely because Walker, a native of Scotland and former general manager of Penske Racing, never saw Fisher drive before he offered her a spot on his national racing team. He says that he didn't need to. She demonstrated such maturity and clarity during their first meeting in his Ohio race shop nearly two years ago that he knew he had stumbled upon someone remarkable.

It wasn't what Fisher told him about her 14-year racing career that dazzled Walker, it was how she told it: with total composure and confidence. "I was absolutely shocked," Fisher says about the day Walker offered her a contract and a race car that costs between $5 and $7 million to run each year. And so was Walker when the 19-year-old rookie brought her father along to oversee negotiations. But Walker remained unfazed -- Fisher's maturity and resolve had won him over.

"Sometimes during a race, you find yourself behind the wheel of a car that you think could get blown into the weeds at any second," Walker says. "You need to have the inner confidence to stay in the race, make it to the next pit stop, make a few adjustments, and come back with a vengeance. Sarah has that confidence."

Fisher's self-assurance was broken in the first 15 minutes of the 2001 Indy 500 -- the Super Bowl of professional race-car driving. She never even made it to her first pit stop. But the sport's youngest competitor is not about to let one mistake -- and a little derision from opinionated race fans -- sabotage her entire program. With nine Indy Racing League (IRL) competitions left in the season, Fisher knows that she must remain composed and driven to perform well throughout the summer and to earn the respect of her colleagues. This Saturday, she will climb into a new number-15 car to compete in the Casino Magic 500 in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is determined to leave Indianapolis and its heartbreaking seventh lap in the dust.

"In this business, a small mistake can become a dramatic incident," Walker says. "Accidents are going to happen. The most important thing is how Sarah reacts to her mistakes. Can she pull herself together? Can she maintain her confidence? Can she hold her head high and get on with life? Above all, she's got to stay in control."