INDYCARNATION

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Sarah Fisher straddled the concrete pit lane wall, periodically nodding in agreement with Graham Rahal’s radio transmissions during a pit stop in the initial Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg practice session.

The scene was a first for both the team owner and 21-year-old driver – her first race not in the No. 67 Dollar General car and his first time behind the wheel for the 3-year-old IZOD IndyCar Series team. Rahal is driving for Sarah Fisher Racing this weekend and at Barber Motorsports Park on April 9-11 for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

“I was a little nervous at first to be honest,” said Fisher, who will make her 2010 debut in the seat at Kansas Speedway. “The intercom has a little button that I was pushing probably the whole time (during the 60-minute practice). Seeing the Dollar General car go by me every lap, now that was something different.

“But learning how I can help this team take a step towards the next level will be yet another part of this adventure. Every day I am excited to develop and grow SFR, and this is just another branch in our reach towards further growth and success. Graham has already been an inspiration to this team while spending time in Indianapolis preparing for these events and has fit naturally to our program.”

Should Rahal win, Fisher would be the second female owner with a race victory (M.A. Yagle -- the M for Maude -- was owner of the 1929 Indianapolis 500 winning car). Elmer George won the 1957 USAC Championship race at Syracuse, N.Y., driving for his team owner/wife, Mari Hulman George.

Rahal, who didn’t compete in the season opener two weeks ago in Brazil, was 11th on the lap time chart for the first session on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit. He improved to 10th in the second session with a best lap of 1 minute, 3.3220 seconds (Will Power topped the session time chart at 1:02.3200).

“It feels good to be back,” he said. “Obviously, I’m thankful for the opportunity Dollar General has given me to be here this weekend. We found out a few things in the first session and we now know where we stand. We’ll work toward it and try to get better and better. I want to make them proud.”

Rahal won the 2008 St. Pete race in his IZOD IndyCar Series debut and was the pole sitter last year while with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

“If there’s one place I feel comfortable kind of jumping in and going this is it,” he said. “It’s been really good to me. I think the expectations are high because of that; we all want to go out and perform very well.”

Also watching from the pit stall was his father, Indy car championship driver and team owner Bobby Rahal.

“The finish, fit and preparation of the car is extremely good,” he said. “For a young team, smaller team, it’s as good as any I’ve seen do it. It’s a young team with a lot of experience (led by race engineer Tom Brown and race strategist John O’Gara), but when you don’t run all the time it’s a bit of a disadvantage. They’ll keep working at it and get better.”