Indianapolis Motor Speedway announces 2022 Indy 500 pace car and driver
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.”
The 2022 Indy 500 pace car driver: Sarah Fisher pic.twitter.com/GxEqGrODgf
— Matthew VanTryon (@MVanTryon) May 10, 2022
All-time list of Indy 500 pace car drivers
2022: Sarah Fisher
2021: Danica Patrick
2020: Mark Reuss
2019: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2018: Victor Oladipo
2017: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
2016: Roger Penske
2015: Jeff Gordon
2014: Dario Franchitti
2013: Jim Harbaugh
2012: Guy Fierei
2011: A.J. Foyt (Mari Hulman George passenger)
2010: Robin Roberts
2009: Josh Duhammel
2008: Emerson Fittipaldi
2007: Patrick Dempsey
2006: Lance Armstrong
2005: General Colin Powell
2004: Morgan Freeman
2003: Herb Fishel
2002: Jim Caviezel
2001: Elaine Irwin Mellencamp
2000: Anthony Edwards
1999: Jay Leno
1998: Parnelli Jones
1997: Johnny Rutherford
1996: Bob Lutz
1995: Jim Perkins
1994: Parnelli Jones
1993: Jim Perkins
1992: Bobby Unser
1991: Carroll Shelby
1990: Jim Perkins
1989: Bobby Unser
1988: Chuck Yeager
1987: Carroll Shelby
1986: Check Yeager
1985: James Garner
1984: John Callies
1983: Duke Nalon
1982: Jim Rathmann
1981: Duke Nalon
1980: Johnnie Parsons
1979: Jackie Stewart
1978: Jim Rathmann
1977: James Garner
1976: Marty Robbins
1975: James Garner
1974: Jim Rathmann
1973: Jim Rathmann
1972: Jim Rathmann
1971: Eldon Palmer
1970: Rodger Ward
1969: Jim Rathmann
1968: William Clay Ford Sr.
1967: Mauri Rose
1966: Benson Ford
1965: P.M. Buckminster
1964: Benson Ford
1963: Sam Hanks
1962: Sam Hanks
1961: Sam Hanks
1960: Sam Hanks
1959: Sam Hanks
1958: Sam Hanks
1957: F.C. Reith
1956: L.I. Woolson
1955: Thomas H. Keating
1954: William C. Newburg
1953: William Clay Ford Sr.
1952: P.O. Peterson
1951: David A. Wallace
1950: Benson Ford
1949: Wilbur Shaw
1948: Wilbur Shaw
1947: George W. Mason
1946: Henry Ford II
1941: A.B. Couture
1940: Harry Hartz
1939: Charles Chayne
1938: Stuart Baits
1937: Ralph DePalma
1936: Tommy Milton
1935: Harry Mack
1934: Willard “Big Boy” Radar
1933: Byron Foy
1932: Edsel Ford
1931: Willard “Big Boy” Radar
1930: Wade Morton
1929: George Hunt
1928: Joe Dawson
1927: Willard “Big Boy” Radar
1926: Louis Chevrolet
1925: Eddie Rickenbacker
1924: Lew Pettijohn
1923: Fred Duesenberg
1922: Barney Oldfield
1921: Harry C. Stutz
1920: Barney Oldfield
1919: Jess G Vincent
1916: Frank E. Smith
1915: Carl Fisher
1914: Carl Fisher
1913: Carl Fisher
1912: Carl Fisher
1911: Carl Fisher
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 2022 Indy 500 pace car driver Sarah Fisher is IndyCar record-holder