Emerson Indy 250
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NOTEBOOK |
 Ladies
first: Mike Shannon, a former St. Louis Cardinals player and now one
of the team's broadcasters, was the grand marshall for Sunday's race and
put a little spin on the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines!"Instead, referring to Sarah Fisher, the only woman in the 21-car field, Shannon shouted: "Sarah, start your engine and, gentlemen, see if you can catch her." Unfortunately for Fisher and Shannon, she struggled to a 13th-place finish, five laps off the pace of the leaders. St. Louis Photos: New Photos from the Final Practice session can be found here (more to come) ABC Sports Diary: If you haven't already had a chance to check out the latest edition to Sarah's ABC Sports Diary please take a minute to check it out now. here Chevy Engine: This was the last race before Sarah gets her new Chevy Gen IV. She will debut the new Engine at the Belterra Casino Indy 300 on August 17, 2003 in Kentucky, don't miss it! IRL Insider: At the conclusion of every race, Sarah does a piece with AOL for Broadband. Be sure and check her latest video entry from the Michigan race. The new submission will be shot Sunday night after the race and should be up for viewing sometime the following week. AOL Keyword: Motorsports, Then IRL Insider with Sarah Fisher. New Photos: Photos from the Firestone Indy 400 (Michigan) are now available for viewing. here |
Sarah finished the race in the 13th position just one lap behind her teammate Robbie Buhl. “We had a pretty good car, and it got better and better all day,” said Mike O’Gara, engineer for Fisher’s GMAC/AOL #23. “We just don’t have the power yet to hang with those guys yet, but it’s coming." Fisher started in the 18th position today.
“Let
the real racing begin,” echoed team co-owner Dennis Reinbold. “Our team’s
kept digging all year to make the best of that we’ve got. We’ve got a lot to
prove and a lot of attitude that we’re anxious to unleash next week at
Kentucky.”Fisher, also, looks forward to returning to Kentucky Speedway, where she won her first pole position last August. The Belterra Casino 300 will be run Sunday, August 17th at two o’clock EDT and will be carried live on ABC.
“Kentucky’s been good to me and I’m really looking forward to getting back there next week-end,” said Fisher. “We’ll test the new Gen IV this week just to shake it down, and we’ll be ready when we hit the track for real.”
During the final practice session the team encountered a few minor problems. Unfortunately we lost the gearbox but quickly replaced it. Sarah was able to complete 21 laps. She ran most of the session in the 19th position with speeds of 165.067. After the practice session, the team practiced pits stops. They completed 4 successfully.
Chevy’s Indy V8 Generation IV motor ran the race in the #52 car of Buddy Rice (finished 14th), while the remaining Chevy’s will ran their last race with the older Gen III. All Chevy teams are expected to run the new Gen IV’s beginning at next week’s Kentucky race.
Sarah qualified with a speed of 168.438, her best of the weekend. She sits in the 18th position on the grid in front of teammate Robbie Buhl, Scott Sharp and Buddy Lazier.
During afternoon practice sessions, Sarah was still running in the 21st position with speeds reaching 165.920. Sarah ran a total of 71 laps in combined practice sessions. The top speed was Scott Dixon who reached speeds of 175.785
During morning practice sessions Sarah was running 21st with a speed of 161.677.
“We picked up a little more speed this afternoon, and we’re continuing to tweak here and there,” said Fisher. “I was hustling the car as much as I could.”
“The team is ready, and I’m ready for a great race in St. Louis. We have our sights set, of course, on Kentucky, for the new Chevy engine to come. But racing is racing, and we’re out there for a win every week, just like everyone else. We’ve turned some tight corners lately to get to where we are with our team and setup, so we should be ready for the turns at Gateway International Raceway.”
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