Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Sarah Fisher making history at Indy

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You may be more familiar with Sarah Fisher as a former IndyCar driver turned team co-owner, but Fisher - who turns 35 today - can also lay claim to a little piece of Formula One history as well.

It was on September 29, 2002 that Fisher got the chance to drive a McLaren Formula One car around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in between Friday's F1 Free Practice sessions during the United States Grand Prix weekend. She was the first female driver in the 21st century to drive a Formula One car in the test, arranged by her personal sponsor TAG Heuer.

Fisher paved the way for other female drivers to find success in the modern sport in recent years, most notable Danica Patrick. Fisher herself was often mentioned as a contender for a possible Formula One ride, but it never came to pass.

Today, Fisher is retired from driving and is instead focused on managing the CFH Racing team in the in the Verizon IndyCar Series, and raising her two children Zoe and Daniel with her husband of eight years standing Andy O'Gara.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.