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Wednesday, September 5, 2001
Kansas will be a great track
By Sarah Fisher
Special to ABC Sports Online
Derrick Walker gave our entire team the July 4th holiday off, which was great. So we didn't fly out to Kansas City until Thursday morning.
As soon as we landed, I had an appearance to go to at an O'Reilly Auto Store close to downtown, so we got our rental car and headed that way. The one thing that I noticed first about Kansas was that it is very flat -- very green and pretty -- but definitely flat.
|  | | Sarah Fisher bounced back from a tough race in Richmond to finish 12th in Kansas City. |
I signed autographs from noon until 1 p.m. and then headed out to the track for the first time. We hadn't tested at Kansas Speedway, so this was my first time seeing the track. It was very impressive. It had a great set-up, beautiful facility and garages and it was pretty easy to get around -- once you could find your way inside the track. There were no signs to tell you where to go to get through the tunnel to the infield, so we drove around for about 15 minutes until we found the entrance. Other than that, it's a wonderful track.
I met with my engineer Mike Wright for a couple of hours and then we headed out for another autograph session for Dillon's, which is owned by Kroger. That session was in Lawrence, where the University of Kansas is located, and it lasted from 5-7 p.m. We had a really good crowd and I was impressed by how friendly the people are in Kansas. They are very interested in our racing and asked some good questions.
We headed back to check into the hotel and eat some dinner at the Rainforest Café. Then I hit the sack pretty early, but couldn't sleep very well because our rooms were right outside the pool and I think there were about 50 kids in the pool until pretty late.
The next morning, we headed back to the racetrack, where we had our first practice session. We worked mainly on learning the track in the first session. I've heard people say that this track is similar to Kentucky Speedway, but there were some pretty big differences. K.C. is more of a set-up track where mechanical grip is important. The banking is also much different, which makes the elevation changes a bit deceiving.
During the second session, I worked on race set-up and ran on full tanks, so we weren't very fast, but what matters is how you do in the race, so that's what we worked on.
It was extremely hot in Kansas, so I tried to stay inside the truck or our hospitality tent as much as possible to stay cool, but our crew guys had to work in the heat inside the garages. I'd just like to acknowledge how hard they work under very extreme circumstances: Gilbert Lage, team manager; Ron Catt, crew chief; Ken Brooks, data engineer; and our top-notch mechanics, Tom Fuery, Eric Wainscott, Craig Ramsey, Paul Sheehan and Steve Phillips. They are the best team anyone could ask for and I really appreciate all their hard work.
Saturday was qualifying, and once again, it was extremely hot. We shared the track for the weekend with the Truck series and their race was at noon. Our qualifying session was after that and I drew the first spot to go out and qualify. We thought that the track would be pretty slippery from all the truck rubber, but it wasn't bad. My run went well and the car was flat out all the way. It felt comfortable on the track, but we wound up 17th on the grid. Our weekend emphasis was on race set-up, so our qualifying set-up wasn't trimmed out as much as it could have been.
After qualifying, I had been asked to do the driver introductions for the Indy 2Day pre-race show, so we went over to the media center and I got some "coaching" from Jason Priestley on how to do the lineup. It was a lot of fun, and it was fun to kid around with the other IRL drivers a little bit.
Next, we headed out to the autograph session, which was held under the bleachers outside the track. That lasted for about an hour and a half, and by that time, I was pretty tired. I went to dinner with my mom Reba and then went to bed.
Race day. We got to the track pretty early because the race was sold out and traffic was supposed to be pretty bad. We didn't have any problems getting in, which was good. We had a morning warm-up and got the car pretty comfortable for the race. After that, I ate lunch and chilled out for an hour or so and made sure to drink a lot of water, because it was very hot again.
When we went out to the grid for driver introductions, I was amazed at the large crowd. The race was sold out and I think there were over 75,000 people there. It was great to see that kind of support.
The start of the race was a good one and I gained a couple of positions, but then the car started feeling loose, as if the back end had no traction, so I came in under the first caution and we changed two tires with different air pressures and filled up. Back out on the track, the car still felt pretty sketchy, so I wasn't able to really race all day, but we hung in there and just finished. We ended up 12th.
Our next race is at another new track -- Nashville Superspeedway, and it's on July 21 (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET). Unlike Kansas, we have tested at Nashville, so we will have a good reference point when we go back.
Nashville will be a night race, and I like to race at night, so look out!
IRL driver Sarah Fisher drives the No. 15 Walker Racing/Kroger Special. She pens a diary for ABC Sports Online throughout the season.
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Eddie Cheever Jr. takes the checkered flag to win the inaugural Kansas 300 (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
Eddie Cheever Jr. takes a liking to the brand new Kansas Speedway (ABC Sports).