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" 24th in 86th Indy 500
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I think the best comments on Sarah's day come from her
Crew Chief, Crew and those of us that knew what she was going through during
the race. Her crew chief commended her on using her head out there and
bringing the car back in one piece. After lap 20 Sarah was virtually on her
own out there after she lost her radio. There was no communication between
spotters, no communication between engineers, it was just flat dead. This
put a lot of extra responsibility on her, like calculating her own fuel so
she knew when to look for her pit stop sign. Sarah on racing without getting warnings from a spotter: “You just have to be aware of it. I’ve raced for 14 years in a sprint car and a midget without a spotter. As far as yellows coming out, you just have to be careful with it.” on trying to communicate during pit stops: “Pit stops are more relaxing for me as a driver because you can sit there for a minute and catch your breath. This time by I’m trying to point my head and fingers and describe what the car is doing with signals rather than just focusing on resetting fuel and getting the revs up and getting out of the pits properly.” On problems with the car: “We were chasing it all day. It was pushing real, real bad to start. We came back a little bit. We got it to a point where it was somewhat good but still had a lot of push. We threw in some good laps than came in and overshot it. Then it got loose and slimy and I had to pit early and we tightened it up again and it was real pushy. We were just chasing it back and forth all day. “It’s frustrating to me as a race car driver to only come home with 24th or 23rd. I think for Team Allegra we did a good job just finishing. Sarah's overall summary of the race: "It was a long race, but we made it through to the end with the car in one piece. My radio went out at about lap 20. I could hear Dane (Harte, crew mechanic) and my spotter talking to me at the beginning of the race, but I couldn't answer them back and let them know what was going on with the car so we could make it better. The only way we could communicate was with hand signals during the short 12 or so seconds that we were in the pits during each stop. We chased the car around and finally got it close at the end, which was too late. This month of May has been a wonderful experience for me. To be associated with a team like Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, who put such a first-class car and crew together in such a short time, was such an awesome experience. Everyone who stepped up to sponsor our program, from Allegra, to Raybestos, ATA, Purex, Huntington Banks, Tag Heuer, Infiniti and Firestone, was instrumental in our getting to the finish line today. I hope to have the opportunity to work with this wonderful group of people again in the future, and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I had in May." |
 Sarah after qualifying 9th |
 Morning driver meeting |
 Crowd during meeting |
 Awaiting Tech Inspection |
 On the Grid |
 Where's Sarah? |
 Sarah during a yellow flag |
 Sarah going back to the garage to be interviewed by ABC's Jack Welch |
 The crew cleans up the car after the race. |