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What could br more exciting for a 20-year-old than zooming around a racedtrack at 200 miles per hour? Nothing, according to Sarah Fisher, who is one of the fastest young women in the auto racing industry.
While most young woven in their early 20s are dreaming of finishing college or beginning their careers, Sarah is dreaming of winning the Indy 500.
"I want to win the Indianapolis 500. That is the most important race to me at this time. That race can change a person's life. All of us [in racing] want to win it very badly."
In May of 2001 Sarah qualifie for the eighty-fifth running of the Indianapolis 500. To qualify is no small feat, for the Indy 500 is every race car driver's goal. But to her great disappointment, things didn't go as planned. Half way through the race Sarah notices her car felt loose.
She explains, "The car was loose, and I was barely hanging on. Going into the corner of turn 2, I wasn't able to hang on, and the rear [of the car] stepped out, and there was nothing I could do to save it."
Sarah crashed into the turn 2 wall. Fortunately she was fine, but she ended the race in thirty-first position.
But even though she didn't win, Sarah was pleased. As one of three women ever to qualify for the Indy 500, and the third youngest, she had realized her dream of competing in car racing's most important race.
"I'm already focusing on summer races and the Indy in 2002!" she says
Twenty-year-old Sarah has been racing and competing for the past 15 years. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Sarah attended her first race when just a baby. Her dad competed in go-cart racing and open-wheel sprint car ranks. So her parents took her along to most of their competitions.
Sarah's first memory of the world of car racing was when she was 5. Her parents woke her up in the middle of the night to help her try on her new quarter-midget race car, which she raced until she was 8 years old.
"Both my parents raced, so it was normal...