She Blazed a Trail at Blazing Speeds

Gender might still be an issue on the golf course, but it’s not on a motor sports oval, says Sarah Fisher, who would know. Today, at age 22, she will be making her fourth start in an Indy 500.

Fisher wasn’t the first woman at Indy -- Janet Guthrie broke the race’s gender barrier in 1977; Lyn St. James drove seven times in the 1990s -- and, except for a slow car, she is prepared.

She has been driving against boys since she was 5 and steering a go-kart. “That’s life,” she said. “That’s all I know.”

It was, however, abnormal for Guthrie, who, like golfer Annika Sorenstam in the past week, operated under a microscope.

For her debut 26 years ago, there was even debate whether speedway president Tony Hulman would start the race with the traditional, “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

He didn’t, instead announcing, “Those in the company of the first woman driver in the Indianapolis 500, start your engines.”

Trivia time: What late-night television show host is co-owner of an Indy 500 racing team?

Career trail: The Portland Trail Blazers are conducting a national search for a general manager and president and you too can apply. Just go to www.teamworkconsulting.com and click away.

The job description for general manager isn’t daunting. The team is looking for “someone with previous and successful experience in basketball operations.” (Say, didn’t your team of third-graders win the title?)

As for the president’s gig, that’s a little more complicated. Applicants are asked, “What specific community relations program have you helped lead, and what were the short- and long-term results?”

These being the Jail Blazers, any work counseling parolees probably gets you an interview.

Strip search: “One of the favorite stops on the July basketball recruiting tour has been Adidas’ Big Time tourney [in Las Vegas] because of the side shows,” The Sporting News reports. “But the only thing worse than losing out on the Next Big Thing to your hated rival is pulling a Mike Price. So the buzz has many coaches mulling a self-imposed ban in Sin City, which would limit the vices to the casino -- and the ‘talent evaluation’ to the hardwood.”

Coaches showing restraint? Well, at least they’re “mulling” it.

Wake-up call: Chris Sabo, former All-Star third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, recently resigned as manager of the Florence (Ohio) Storm, just days before the independent minor league team’s opener.

Sabo said he was “exhausted and tired.” But team officials were baffled because in his resignation Sabo cited professional differences in coaching style.

What’s the confusion? They wanted him to coach, he wanted to sleep.

Trivia answer: Jay Leno is a classic car aficionado, but rival comedian David Letterman is minority owner of Team Rahal. He is expected to be in the pits for today’s race.

And finally: Ty Willingham is a smart guy and, shall we say, opportunistic. Noting that LeBron James, America’s latest millionaire teenager, played basketball for a high school team nicknamed the Irish, the Notre Dame football coach told an alumni gathering in Pacific Palisades last week, “I think we’ll ask him for a donation.”