When Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles called Sarah Fisher and asked if she was ready to drive the pace car for the 2022 Indy 500, her answer was nonchalant.
"'Yeah, I can do that,'" Boles said Fisher told him.
Fisher has been driving the pace car at IMS for years — the celebrity driver takes a lap, then Fisher takes over for the rest of the race. She figured this was nothing different.
"No, no, no," Boles told Fisher. "The pace car driver."
This year, Fisher is the celebrity. And she won't even have to get out of the car.
She set a record for drivers who are women with nine Indy 500 starts between 2000-10, and will pace the field ahead of the 2022 Indy 500 on May 29.
"Every day here is special. I've been able to be here since 2000," Fisher said from the Yard of Bricks. "You all have opened me with open arms. Each year I've been here has been special. When (Boles) called, that was no different. Being the celebrity pace car driver, the driver that will be in the whole time, is just another special memory I'll be able to have here."
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Fisher will lead the field to the green flag in the 2023 Corvette Z06 70th Anniversary Edition.
“Unique to this package on the production car and the Pace Car are 70th Anniversary Edition exterior badging, including special Corvette crossflags, Edge Red brake calipers and the 70th Anniversary Edition logo on seats, steering wheel and sill plates,” the release said.
Fisher is no stranger to driving the pace car. During the 2016 season, she drove the pace car for 14 IndyCar races. She took over the role from three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, who scaled back his commitments as he aged. She has continued to drive the pace car ever since.
She usually trains the celebrity pace car driver. She's already pushing for some extra time in the car — "This model has so much more horsepower. I have to have some extra minutes (to practice)."
Fisher, an Ohio native, set an Indy 500 record for women with a four-lap qualifying speed of 229.439 mph in 2002. Her best Indy 500 came in 2002 (ninth) with her best finish in 2009 (17th). She was the first woman to win the pole position for a major North American open-wheel event (2002 IndyCar race at Kentucky) and was the first driver who is a woman to earn a top-three finish in an IndyCar race (2000 at Kentucky, 2001 at Homestead).
After she retired as a driver, she spent several years as a team owner. She gave Josef Newgarden his first IndyCar ride. Ed Carpenter drove part-time for her team in 2011 before forming his own team. The teams merged in 2014 before splitting in 2016.
She owns indoor karting tracks in Speedway and Daytona Beach with her husband, Andy O’Gara.
“Sarah Fisher is an Indianapolis 500 icon who always takes the time to appreciate her fans and represent the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ with class and humility,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said in a release. “She is such a fitting person for this honor, and it will be such a thrill and privilege to see her lead the field of 33 cars to the green flag before a huge crowd at the track and a global television audience.”
2011: A.J. Foyt (Mari Hulman George passenger)
