Sarah Fisher Back on Track with Dollar General

Sarah Fisher may have been a little bit embarrassed and taken some ridicule for breaking down in tears after getting knocked out of the 2008 Indy 500.

But in hindsight, that display of emotion -- and more specifically the passion and hard work that led to the emotional display -- set in motion a chain of events that led to a smiling Sarah Fisher in the pits at the 2009 Kansas Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 Saturday

You never know who's watching ... in this case it was executives at Dollar General Stores. The CEO Dollar General, Rick Dreiling, said as much at the track today.

"I have to say if hadn't been for Memorial Day last year it wouldn't have been Dollar General (sponsoring the car) so it worked out pretty good," said Dreiling.

So what about Indy 2008 appealed to Dollar General?

"Quite frankly, Sarah's story is very inspiring to Dollar General," said Dreiling. "When we watched her last year go through what she did at Indianapolis we knew she was the perfect fit for all 72,500 employees at Dollar General. She's incredibly hard working and incredibly dedicated to her sport and the way she approaches the sport and the way she approaches her team is the way Dollar General approaches its business. We're Incredibly proud and incredibly excited that Sarah will be wearing the Dollar General yellow and black this year."

Dreiling made his comments while announcing that Dollar General has added two more ovals -- Texas and Homestead-Miami -- to their sponsorship of Sarah.

While adding two races -- to bring Sarah's total to six -- Dreiling said an entire year of sponsorship wasn't out of the question, but it also wasn't for sure either.

"We are very excited about Sarah Fisher," said Dreiling. "I'll be frank, the economic times are pretty tight out there right now and we were excited to be able to offer the two additional races for Sarah. Sarah and I chat quite a bit. We have a lot of thoughts on what we could do long term but we have to let a few more months play out.

Part of that wait-and-see approach is trying to gauge if Sarah Fisher moves the needle at the stores, brings retail return on their investment.

"We believe the secret and success of any motor sports program is being able to leverage it across the retail chain, so we're working very hard on that this year," Dreiling said.

Fisher said Dollar General being on board helps them have a more definite budget to plan toward, and to help retain key employees like engineer Tom Brown. Fisher is clearly extremely happy with Brown, and the two are confident in each other's abilities.

Also, having Dollar General on board helps remove the anxieties of paying bills that plagued Fisher's first year as a team owner.

"I had an interview last year with USA Today we were sitting there and I was near tears, almost crying, waiting for the phone to ring and to hear that the check had cleared or the wire (transfer) had made it through," Fisher said. "Well it's made it through already (this year) and the confidence now knowing we can have an accurate budget and decide where we can put our beans to get best on-track package. That's a relief by itself, as anyone who starts a small business can appreciate."

But, with cash in the bank comes pressure to perform, accentuated by about 40 senior-level Dollar General executives at the track for the Kansas race.

Also, Sarah feels the eyes of thousands of fans on her, hoping she can live up to expectations. Fans' passions were driven home to Fisher last year when they flooded her with about $50,000 in small donations to help her run at Indy.

"It's wonderful to have such a backing that they became an associate sponsor last year at the 500," Fisher said. "They're just wonderful people and they can identify with what it is I'm doing because they are very much the same type of person. They're the girl next door the guy guy next door, the same type of people who go to Dollar General."

Fisher said she's heard from fans who are shopping at Dollar General and helping to make the Dollar General contest to win a trip to Indy a success.

"My mom is a school teacher and she made the entire 8th grade class go there for a project," Fisher says with a big laugh, "so it's all the way down to the grass roots."

It all adds up to pressure that she'll feel heading into a windy, treacherous turn 3 and 4 at Kansas today.

"I'm pretty laid back," said Fisher. "I feel the pressure of performing this year for our sponsors, for our fans, for our team's growth. We gotta do a good job, that's the bottom line. We gotta get in the game."

And what about all the Sarah Fisher doubters out there? Does she feel like she needs to send a message to them with a great performance?

Sarah laughs. "In my mind there aren't any (Sarah doubters). They don't exist."

Comments

[Mike]

If there were Dollar General stores in So Cal, I'd shop there just to support Sarah and Rick Dreiling's choice to get involved with SFR. She has always been such a class act, and I applaud Dreiling for seeing it and acting on it.