Formula Mazda: Sara Senske to shoot for win under the lights
15 July 1999
L ADY LYNX -- Rising Star Sara Senske Will Run For The Win In The Star
Formula Mazda Feature Race Under The Lights At The Irwindale Speedway On
Saturday, July 17
· Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske is the fastest-rising star in open-wheel
racing today and is on the fast track to be the next female driver in the
Indy 500.
· She drives for the only female-owned, championship-winning team in auto
racing today; Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier,
Alex Barron and Memo Gidley.
· Senske finished third in her last outing, on the 1.0-mile oval at Pike's
Peak. She is currently 5th in the 1999 Star Mazda Championship points
battle. She also drove in the inaugural race of the innovative new Women's
Global GT Series.
· Star Mazda is a premier training series for future Indy car stars:
Formula Mazda cars have 170 hp rotary engines, weigh 1,000 pounds and are
capable of speeds up to 150 mph.
______________________________________
One of the hottest young racing drivers in the country, who just
happens to be female, will be demonstrating her skills in the Star Mazda
feature race under the lights at Irwindale Speedway this Saturday night.
Sara Senske, 20, of Kennewick, Washington, has been racing karts since she
was seven, won her first race at age eight, and is on the fast track to be
the next woman to drive in the Indy 500.
She drives for Lynx Racing, the only championship-winning,
woman-owned racing team in auto racing today. Co-owned by Peggy Haas and
Jackie Doty, Lynx is now in its ninth year of operation and counts among
its alumni CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier, Alex Barron and Memo
Gidley.
Lynx Racing's mission is to identify young drivers with that special
something it takes to become a champion at the highest levels of the sport.
The team them provides them with the funding, training and equipment to
develop their skills and make the jump to the top levels of the sport.
Sara Senske is the team's newest and youngest member, and the Star
Mazda series in which se currently competes utilizes single-seat,
open-wheel 'formula' cars that are similar, though smaller and less
powerful, to those that run in the CART or the IRL. Their place in the big
picture of racing might best be described in baseball terms -- if CART and
the IRL are the major leagues, driving in the Star Mazda Series is the high
school varsity team. The next step up is college varsity, the U.S. F2000
series, followed by the triple-A KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Lynx Racing has affiliated teams at each level, and Senske is being
groomed to rise through the ranks, with the ultimate goal of becoming the
first female driver to win an Indy-car race and championship.
"My father was a driver, and he encouraged my dream starting when I
was very young," says Senske. "I started in karting, as virtually every
big-name driver today did, and won my first race at age eight. Ever since
then, my focus in life has been to become a successful professional driver
and to use that success to help other women get into the sport. And driving
for Lynx Racing is a major step toward that goal. Lynx has a reputation
among racers and teams for signing the top drivers and teaching them to be
champions, and in my heart, I've always felt like a champion."
Early in her racing career, Senske won three karting Grandnational
events, won the International Karting Federation Region 6 Gold Cup
Championship in 1988 and again in 1989, and was the regional champion three
years in a row, 1990-1993 in the Junior II 4-cycle class.
After making the switch from karts to cars at the Skip Barber
Racing School in 1996, she scored five podium finishes and one victory in
the Skip Barber Western Race Series, and was voted 'most improved driver.'
Senske signed with Lynx Racing in 1997 and finished 8th in the 1998 Star
Formula Mazda Championship. She is currently fifth in the 1999
championship points battle, and also drove in the first-ever race in the
new Women's Global GT Series at Road Atlanta earlier this year.
"We chose Sara not because she's female, but because we saw in her
that special something that we've come to recognize as championship
potential," says Lynx Racing co-owner Peggy Haas. "We've always wanted a
woman driver on the team, but we weren't willing to sign someone for that
reason alone. Lynx drivers have to be capable of taking the opportunity
and knowledge we give them and rising to the top levels of the sport, and
Sara has that quality."
When not behind the wheel of her racing car, Senske is a student
who pursues her interests in communications and sports marketing at
Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Her hobbies include ice skating,
rollerblading, skiing, biking, writing poetry and listening to contemporary
Christian, jazz and classical music. She counts the Bible as the greatest
influence on her life, and Indy 500 driver Lyn St. James as her 'racing
hero.' Her favorite TV show is "I Love Lucy," her favorite food is Thai
and the thing about her that would surprise people is that she can juggle.
If she couldn't be a racing driver, she'd like to be on the Olympic Women's
Hockey Team.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, July 17
10:00 a.m. Gates open for competitors
11:30 a.m. Star Mazda driver's meeting
1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Star Mazda practice
1:50 p.m. - 2:20 p.m. Star Mazda practice
2:40 p.m. - 3:10 p.m. Star Mazda practice
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Star Mazda practice
5:30 p.m. Star Mazda qualifying
7:30 p.m. (approx.) Star Mazda heat races / 25 laps
8:30 p.m. (approx.) Star Mazda main event / 75 laps
Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.