Fisher still after boys at Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Will Sarah Fisher ever beat the boys?

So far, Fisher hasn’t come close, not at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In four starts in the Indy 500, she has wrecked three times.

As a rookie 19-year-old driver in 2000, Fisher crashed in Turn 1 on Lap 72, making contact with Lyn St. James and ending the day 31st. In 2001, she did a half-spin exiting Turn 2 and hit the outside retaining wall on Lap 7. The result: another frustrating 31st-place finish.

A year later, Fisher qualified ninth, posting a sizzling 229.439 mph, but finished 24th, four laps behind winner Helio Castroneves. Last year, Fisher started 24th at Indy and finished 31st yet again after hitting the outside wall in Turn 3 on Lap 15 as a result of an engine failure.

She starts 19th today in her No. 9 Bryant Heating & Cooling Dallara/Toyota.

Fisher, the only woman driver in the IRL, has yet to win an Indy-car race. She has come close, finishing third at Kentucky in 2000 and second at Homestead in 2001. Few fans will forget her eighth-place effort at Michigan in 2002, when she led in the late laps only to be overrun in the sprint for the checkered flag.

Fisher, who is looking for sponsorship for the rest of the season, has prepared hard this year, working out in the gym and on the road.

“I’ll back myself against anyone, any of these drivers,” said Fisher, 23. “I’ve been riding the bike two, three hours a day. It’s been torture, but I’m very fit.”

She says she’s as mentally tough as any driver in the field. And she has no time for those who say women don’t belong at Indy.

“If you have the talent and ability, it doesn’t matter who you are,” Fisher said. “I don’t look at myself as being a girl here. I’m a race car driver.”