Indianapolis ? Her tale was the stuff of fiction from that moment she made her Indy Racing League debut in October 1999.

She was just 19 then, which made her the youngest ever to run on that circuit, and she was still 19 the next May when she qualified for her first Indianapolis 500.

Photo Glalery: Sarah Fischer visited Lawrence last season

Sarah Fisher’s tale then was that of a storybook princess and the spotlight followed her all through that May. Her gender and youth attracted it, but she also had charm and a talent that offered so much promise.

She finished that race a distant 31st, yet that hardly diminished her aura or her popularity. She was still a kid of the moment, and when she finished second in the second race of the 2001 season, she appeared ready to fulfill her potential.

But then, on the eighth lap of last year’s Indy, she spun and crashed. Suddenly her tale was the stuff of nightmares. Her best finish in the nine remaining IRL races was 10th and her average finish in those races was 17th. Her relationship with her Walker Racing team frayed, her sponsor abandoned her and, ultimately, she gained a release from her Walker contract to search for a ride.

“It was a real-world check,” she said Wednesday at practice for the Indy 500 on May 26.

And how did that affect her?

“It turned me into the (witch) that I once was,” she said. “I came into racing having an attitude, ‘Hey, I don’t care what happens around me. I’m confident in my abilities.’ There for a while I was lacking that confidence. When you go on that downhill slide, it’s tough to pull out of that rut.”

She was speaking moments after it officially was announced she will have a chance to pull herself out of that rut with the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team, which is entering Fisher and lead driver Robbie Buhl in this year’s Indy. Buhl, a well-regarded veteran who owns part of the team, also found sponsorship for Fisher.

“It’s no secret she lost her confidence last year and you know what that means in this sport,” Buhl said. “But what you can’t lose sight of with her is that she’s only 21.”

“This is more for myself,” Fisher said. “My spirits need to be rekindled. Last year got to be pretty disheartening.”

The same was true for the first part of this year, which found her looking for and failing to find a ride.

“Being bored, that was the toughest part. When you don’t have a job, you’re painting your house three or four times,” she said of those months, which were filled too with anxious phone calls.

“One day, there’d be a phone call and it would be great, it’s positive, something’s going to come about. The next day there’d be another phone call, ‘Oops, that didn’t happen’ or ‘We have to go back on this deal’ or ‘It’s a sad day.’ It’s a lot of emotions you go through when you’re between jobs.”

Finally, after Buhl was injured March 24 at the California Speedway, she got a call asking her to take his seat for the IRL race April 21 at the Nazareth Speedway. This was the opportunity she longed for, but the morning of that race, team owner Dennis Reinbold sat her down and said, “Hey, just go out and have some fun.”

“Fun? What do you mean, fun? I want to do a good job,” she replied.

“I felt a lot of pressure,” she admitted Wednesday. “The team wasn’t putting any pressure on me at all. I had a lot of pressure on myself … and I was focused. I don’t remember the anthem being sung. I don’t remember lining up. I just remember getting in the car and going.”

She went well enough to finish fourth in that race, and then came the negotiations that led to Wednesday’s announcement and the opportunity to further resurrect her once-promising career when she runs for the pole today.

“There were a lot of ups and downs,” Fisher said. “Getting through that was an accomplishment, but it has paid off.

“Now I’m not stressed at all. I know and I believe in myself. I’m confident again that I’m a very competent race car driver.”