During my recent op-ed on the Danica Patrick/Jack Roush “rumor” (OKAY….NOW THIS IS GETTING STUPID), I mentioned that Sarah Fisher’s wins were related to non-Indycar/NASCAR events only. 
While those facts are accurate, her performance doesn’t tell the entire story, and the record needs to be further expanded. In 1999, after a successful season competing in three different midget car series, Fisher became the youngest person ever to pass the Indy Racing League Rookie Test.
The next year, she became the third woman, and one of the youngest drivers to compete at the 500, followed by making “practical history” at Kentucky Speedway, when she become the youngest person to lead laps during an IRL IndyCar event, and until “DanicCar”, the youngest woman to stand on an IRL podium (third). In 2001, she claimed a second-place finish at the IRL’s inaugural race at Homestead Miami Speedway, the best result ever by a woman in IRL racing until Motegi 2008. In 2002, Sarah became the first woman to qualify fastest for a major North American open-wheel event, capturing the pole and setting a new track record at Kentucky Speedway.
The point of this “walk down memory lane” is that IRL, The Speed Channel, ESPN and the media in general have forgotten what Sarah has done in open-wheel; and oh by the way, she’s only 28. Based on her professional resume Fisher has more “historical firsts”, more podiums, more top-5/top 10’s, in more car types, than Danica has seen Bikinis; and she’s had to do all of that with generally sub-par equipment to boot. Women race drivers used to be about racing, not how “hot” they are, or whether they’ll agree to drape themselves across the hood of a ‘57 Chevy. Patrick and her marketing machine have damaged the hard won professional legacy of Sarah, women in open-wheel, and racing in general. Unfortunately, in the end of the day motorsports is going to be the poorer for it.
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