ATLANTICS: A Student Warrior in the Battle of Lime Rock
26 May 2000
- Senske, one of the top female drivers in open-wheel racing today, drives
for Lynx Racing, the only championship-winning racing team/driver
development program in auto racing today owned by women, Peggy Haas and
Jackie Doty.
- Senske has been racing since she was 7 years old, won her first race at
age 8, and in 1999, at age 20, she ran 20 races in both the Star Mazda
(open-wheel) and Women's Global GT (sports cars) series, completing every
lap of every race, scoring one win, one pole, three fastest race laps and
three podium finishes, as well as six top-5s and six top-10s.
- Senske spent the past week at Indianapolis working with Lyn St. James on
her qualifying effort and generally learning the ropes of an event in which
she plans to compete in the next few years.
- Lynx Racing alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier, Alex
Barron and Memo Gidley. Being self-funded, the team chooses drivers on
merit rather than for their ability to bring money. The Lynx program
includes racecraft, car setup and data interpretation along with personal
growth via meditation and visualization techniques.
___________________________
In all the media frenzy about Sara Fisher and Lyn St. James
qualifying for the Indy 500, little attention was paid to the young girl
with the long blonde pony tail and alert expression standing quietly in the
background taking it all in like the brightest student in the class.
Last week's wide-eyed student will become this weekend's
steely-eyed warrior when Sara Senske, 21, of Kennewick, Washington, straps
herself into the #19 Lynx Racing Reynard 98E and puts her lessons to the
test amid the intense competition of the Barber Dodge Pro Series support
race at the Lime Rock Grand Am Dodge Dealers 150 on Monday, May 29.
"Spending last week immersed in the pre-qualifying atmosphere of
the Speedway was a useful lesson in intensity and focus, both in the car
and in your daily life," says Senske. "This is my rookie season in the
Barber Dodge Pro Series, and the Lynx team and I decided ahead of time that
the first couple of races would be just me getting used to the car and the
level of competition, which is extremely high. Now that I know what's
going on, it's time to add what I learned at Indy to what I've learned in
testing and the first three races and crank it up a couple of notches.
It's my nature to be aggressive on the track, but now I know enough to use
it like a tool. Lime Rock is a real driver's track that rewards
intelligent, decisive action, and I'm aiming toward a breakthrough
weekend."
On-track activities at the 1.54-mile road course in the hills of
Connecticut begin Friday, May 26 with practice and preliminary qualifying.
Final qualifying on takes place on Saturday with the 40-minute Barber
Dodge Pro Series race scheduled to take the checkered flag at 11:40 am
Monday, May 29.
2000 marks the 10th anniversary of Lynx Racing, one of the most
unique organizations in auto racing today. Created and owned by two women,
Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty, Lynx is both a championship-winning racing team
and a uniquely successful driver development program that focuses on a
driver's spiritual and psychological growth in addition to their on-track
skills.
The Lynx mission is to seek out young drivers with the desire and
potential to become champions at the highest levels of the sport and
provide them with the funding, equipment and training to take the last step
toward realizing that potential, a process the team calls 'destiny by
design.' Lynx alumni include CART FedEx drivers Patrick Carpentier, Alex
Barron and Memo Gidley. Current Lynx drivers include David Rutledge and
Mike Conte, both of whom compete in the CART Toyota Atlantic series.
Event Schedule:
Friday, May 26
10:40 am -- 11:10 am Barber Dodge Pro Series practice
3:35 pm -- 4:05 pm Barber Dodge Pro Series preliminary
qualifying
Saturday, May 27
11:10 am -- 11:40 pm Barber Dodge Pro Series final qualifying
Sunday, May 28
11:00 am -- 5:00 pm Indy 500 party at Lime Rock Chalet / No
on-track
activities
Monday, May 29
9:25 am -- 9:40 am Barber Dodge Pro Series warm-up
11:40 am Barber Dodge Pro Series race (40 minutes)
Broadcast Schedule (all times Eastern):
6:00 pm -- 7:00 pm ESPN2 / Monday, June 12
3:30 am -- 4:30 am ESPN2 / Wed., June 14 (repeat)