My Indianapolis Colts are playing their first preseason game tonight, too, but that's not the sport I want to talk about at the moment.
Sarah Fisher made auto racing history today by becoming the first woman to win the pole position for a race in a major American oval-track racing series. For those of you who don't follow racing, that means she had the fastest lap time in qualifications and will start first in tomorrow's race, the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
As you may know, there have been a number of women who have succeeded in drag racing, but this is a first for a racing series where you have to turn the wheel. The only other woman who has even come close to doing as well was Shawna Robinson, who won the pole for a NASCAR Busch Series race (essentially the "triple-A farm league" of the Winston Cup series) at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1994
Sarah had the fastest time in the practice sessions earlier today, but when qualifications started the track surface was hotter and more slippery. Sarah's crew therefore decided to wave off her first qualifying attempt and send her to the back of the line. It meant she'd get to qualify later, when the track was cooler, but she'd only get to run one timed lap instead of two. As it turned out, that one lap was just enough. She had a speed of 221.390mph, which was just [b:8ab2e23286] .0028[/b:8ab2e23286]sec faster than second place, Billy Boat. The speed was a new track record, too.
The race starts tomorrow at 1:30pm EDT on your local ABC station. Sarah is originally from Ohio, not too far across the river from Kentucky Speedway, so this is essentially her "home track." She finished third in the race there two years ago, in a car that wasn't nearly as good as the one she has now. Maybe tomorrow will be the day she scores the first victory for a woman driver, too!
[img:8ab2e23286]http://www.sarahfisher.com/images02/SarahRL3.jpg[/img:8ab2e23286]
Go Sarah!
