Sarah Fisher

Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James kicked the door down in getting women accepted in the Indianapolis 500, Sarah Fisher likes to say, but adds that she has other ideas. "I want to blow the door open," the 19-year-old Ohio honor student said as she prepared for her momentous role in Sunday's 84th Indy 500 behind the wheel of a 650-horsepower Indy Racing League Dallara-Aurora. "I want to win the Indy 500."

What's new in motor sports heading into this weekend: 1 The Nextel Cup series resumes Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, a one-mile track known as the "Monster Mile" with high-banked (24 degrees) corners. NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow will be used for the sixth time at Dover, then will be shelved for two weeks before it reappears at its first road-course race June 24 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s decision to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc.

With so many empty seats at the Long Beach Grand Prix, maybe the CART teams finally will start signing up some American talent, instead of looking outside the U.S. for drivers who can bring cash and/or sponsors to the teams for a ride. Signing Casey Mears after his great drive in Fontana last fall would've been a start. The two best young American drivers in open wheel racing were 3,000 miles away last weekend finishing first and second in Florida--Sam Hornish Jr. and Sarah Fisher.

One year after she set auto racing on its ear by nearly becoming the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick still draws the biggest crowds of any driver here, fans craning for a glimpse of her. With the 90th running of the legendary race today, Patrick's own promotion machine also remains at full tilt.

What's new in motor sports heading into this weekend: 1 The Nextel Cup series resumes Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, a one-mile track known as the "Monster Mile" with high-banked (24 degrees) corners. NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow will be used for the sixth time at Dover, then will be shelved for two weeks before it reappears at its first road-course race June 24 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. 2 Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s decision to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc.

One year after she set auto racing on its ear by nearly becoming the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick still draws the biggest crowds of any driver here, fans craning for a glimpse of her. With the 90th running of the legendary race today, Patrick's own promotion machine also remains at full tilt.

Danica Patrick didn't win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday but, gosh, as she would say, she sure dominated it. Just as she had dominated nearly a month's worth of practice as an Indy rookie. Just as she had stolen the show with a near miss on pole-qualifying day. This time, though, everything was for real. This wasn't practice. This wasn't four laps of qualifying, with nobody else on the track.

What: "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" Where: HBO, tonight, 10:15 A profile of Sarah Fisher, a 20-year-old Indy car driver, is among the stories on the latest edition of "Real Sports." Fisher, a native of Commercial Point, Ohio, and a student at Indianapolis' Butler University, has her sights set on the upcoming Indianapolis 500. Earlier this year, Fisher, who races for car owner Derrick Walker, finished second in the Grand Prix of Miami.

Sarah Fisher climbed from her car, broke into a mile-wide smile and buried her face in her hands. The 21-year-old driver, in her fourth season in the Indy Racing League, became the first woman to win the pole position in a major auto race Saturday when she nudged Billy Boat from the top spot in qualifying for the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Sparta, Ky. "I've never been this excited to race. Just get me in the car!" she said. "It's amazing how much fun you have when things are going right."

Sarah Fisher arrived in the pits to take a spin in an old-style roadster, another of those incessant photo ops that must be fulfilled in the days leading up to the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, the car stalled before it ever got off the line. Sort of like Fisher's career. Feted when she arrived in the Indy Racing League as a teenager -- and still the most popular driver on the circuit -- Fisher has yet to do much behind the wheel.

Remember Sarah Fisher? In today's frenzy of Danicamania, it is sometimes easy to forget the accomplishments of the young woman from Ohio who was the teenage darling of the Indy Racing League a few years ago. Danica Patrick caught the brass ring on the media merry-go-round when she qualified fourth for the Indianapolis 500, led it for a few laps and finished fourth. Later she won the pole at Kansas Speedway.

Danica Patrick didn't win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday but, gosh, as she would say, she sure dominated it. Just as she had dominated nearly a month's worth of practice as an Indy rookie. Just as she had stolen the show with a near miss on pole-qualifying day. This time, though, everything was for real. This wasn't practice. This wasn't four laps of qualifying, with nobody else on the track.

Sarah Fisher arrived in the pits to take a spin in an old-style roadster, another of those incessant photo ops that must be fulfilled in the days leading up to the Indianapolis 500. Unfortunately, the car stalled before it ever got off the line. Sort of like Fisher's career. Feted when she arrived in the Indy Racing League as a teenager -- and still the most popular driver on the circuit -- Fisher has yet to do much behind the wheel.

Sarah Fisher climbed from her car, broke into a mile-wide smile and buried her face in her hands. The 21-year-old driver, in her fourth season in the Indy Racing League, became the first woman to win the pole position in a major auto race Saturday when she nudged Billy Boat from the top spot in qualifying for the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Sparta, Ky. "I've never been this excited to race. Just get me in the car!" she said. "It's amazing how much fun you have when things are going right."

What: "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" Where: HBO, tonight, 10:15 A profile of Sarah Fisher, a 20-year-old Indy car driver, is among the stories on the latest edition of "Real Sports." Fisher, a native of Commercial Point, Ohio, and a student at Indianapolis' Butler University, has her sights set on the upcoming Indianapolis 500. Earlier this year, Fisher, who races for car owner Derrick Walker, finished second in the Grand Prix of Miami.

With so many empty seats at the Long Beach Grand Prix, maybe the CART teams finally will start signing up some American talent, instead of looking outside the U.S. for drivers who can bring cash and/or sponsors to the teams for a ride. Signing Casey Mears after his great drive in Fontana last fall would've been a start. The two best young American drivers in open wheel racing were 3,000 miles away last weekend finishing first and second in Florida--Sam Hornish Jr. and Sarah Fisher.

Remember Sarah Fisher? In today's frenzy of Danicamania, it is sometimes easy to forget the accomplishments of the young woman from Ohio who was the teenage darling of the Indy Racing League a few years ago. Danica Patrick caught the brass ring on the media merry-go-round when she qualified fourth for the Indianapolis 500, led it for a few laps and finished fourth. Later she won the pole at Kansas Speedway.

Sarah Carolyn Fisher, one of five psychologists who taught at UCLA when it was known as the University of California, Southern Campus, and one of the first women to invade what was then a predominantly male field, has died at 95. She had taught from 1915 until her retirement in 1957. Her death at home in Hollywood on Sept. 11 was announced by the university this week.

Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James kicked the door down in getting women accepted in the Indianapolis 500, Sarah Fisher likes to say, but adds that she has other ideas. "I want to blow the door open," the 19-year-old Ohio honor student said as she prepared for her momentous role in Sunday's 84th Indy 500 behind the wheel of a 650-horsepower Indy Racing League Dallara-Aurora. "I want to win the Indy 500."

There is no sign of the IRL and CART making peace in the open-wheel racing world, but the Indianapolis 500 offers a look at what might have been. Greg Ray, the Indy Racing League champion, and Juan Montoya, the Championship Auto Racing Teams champion, will start alongside each other on the front row of the 84th renewal of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" on May 28. After Montoya ran four laps Saturday around Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile rectangular oval at 223.