Lyn St. James
Lyn St. James is an American former race car driver. She competed in the IndyCar series, with eleven CART and five Indy Racing League starts to her name. St. James is one of nine women who have qualified for the Indianapolis 500, and became the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award. She also has two class victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and won the GTO class, partnering with Calvin Fish and Robby Gordon, at the 1990 12 Hours of Sebring. Additionally she has competed in endurance racing in Europe, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, at which her AMC Spirit AMX team placed first and second in class in 1979.
St. James founded the Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation in 1994 and is a motivational speaker. She has served on the board of trustees of Kettering University, and since 2015, serves as an appeal panelist for NASCAR's National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
In 1986, St. James was driving a Ford Probe during the IMSA LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside International Raceway and was in a big accident involving both Chip Robinson and Doc Bundy.
Career
Achievements
St. James has been invited to the White House on multiple occasions, meeting with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. She was also named by Sports Illustrated as among the “Top-100 Women Athletes of the Century." Working Woman Magazine added her to the “Top 350 Women who changed the world between 1976-1996.” In 1994, she was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and is only one of two women in it for auto racing. She was also President of the Women's Sports Foundation from 1990-1993. She was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2023.
Speed records
St. James set the world closed-course speed record for women three times. She became the first woman driver to reach over 200 mph on a race track when she drove a Ford Mustang Probe GTP to a lap of 204.223 mph at Talladega Superspeedway in 1985. In 1988, she used a Ford Thunderbird stock car to set the mark at 212.577 mph. During qualifying for the 1995 Indianapolis 500, St. James ran a lap of 225.722 mph.
Personal
Lyn St. James was born Carol Gene Cornwall, but shortly after birth, her first name was changed to Evelyn, after her aunt. After her first marriage to John Carusso, she changed her name to Lyn Carusso. Eventually she would adopt the professional name Lyn St. James in her business and racing activities. She got the idea from the name of actress Susan Saint James. Upon her divorce from Carusso, she legally changed her name to Lyn St. James.