LYN ST. JAMES

By H.A. Branham

Lyn St. James retired from racing in 2001, whereupon her stature -- both inside and outside of motorsports -- began to grow exponentially. Very cool, by any measure. Very appropriate as well, for a great racer who is far more than that.

The first part, though, is why we’re writing her name today. And we do mean the first part. Long before St. James’ name was linked primarily to her IndyCar efforts and the Indianapolis 500 specifically, she raced sports cars and raced them well. That’s why she’s a 2026 IMSA Hall of Fame inductee. Previously, she had been she was named one of “IMSA’s 50 Greatest Drivers.”

IMSA GTO, wherein production-based monsters prowled in 1980s and 90s, was her deal. Concurrently, for many years the SCCA Trans-Am Series had killer fields that partially mirrored GTO in cars and drivers. St. James was there, too. IMSA, though, and its marquee events during those years --Weren’t they all, for a while? -- truly showcased St. James.

Like it or not, times were different and so was St. James. Female drivers? Sort of a big deal back then. Rather than fight the inevitable, image-wise, St. James embraced it, as did sponsors -- and then embellished it, becoming one of IMSA’s premier GTO competitors, mainly driving Fords for team owner Jack Roush.

“I wanted to be one of the dudes but at the same I wasn’t trying to be a guy …?” St. James said. “I have to be authentic; does that make sense?”

Sure does now and for those who were in the know, it made sense back then.

“She has done so much for female diversity and drivers,” said longtime IMSA official Mark Raffauf. “There had been previous female road racers, but none got the visibility that Lyn did because of her marketing smarts. She marketed herself as a woman. She didn’t try to be a guy. When you put Ice Blue Secret Deodorant livery on a car …

“Lyn always said ‘I’m a woman, not a guy.’ And … she was one of the first to be trained physically as a woman race car driver.”

Long before she was a female racer, she was Evelyn Cornwall of Willoughby, Ohio, schooled privately at the historic Andrews Osborne Academy, then studying at the St. Louis Institute of Music. Piano teaching loomed as a vocation. Seriously. St. James, as you might imagine, is fine if you don’t remind her of this.

A quick, figurative left turn led to countless real ones -- right turns, too -- as St. James started chasing a dream in 1973, by chasing cars on a race track with her then-husband John Caruso. Her first car was a Pinto and in her first race she drove it into a lake at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach -- another topic no longer up for discussion. Small, regional amateur sports car races prepped her well enough for a solid breakthrough in 1976-77 when she won consecutive SCCA Florida championships in the grassroots Showroom Stock class.

Turning pro in 1979 came with a name change, with marketing in mind. Lyn St. James was created, based on the popular actress Susan Saint James. In ’81 St. James she started a 10-year relationship with Ford, serving as driver and spokesman for Ford Motor Company and Ford Racing. It was a fine run during a spectacular time, with St. James especially excelling in Roush Racing’s Ford Mustangs, Mercury Capris and the Merkur XR4Ti in GTO.  

The Rolex 24 At Daytona, always an extravaganza, was even more so in St. James’ peak years. Even pre-peak: she co-drove a prototype to a fifth-place overall finish in 1983. The headliners were of course the fabulous, exotic GTPs but the GTOs weren’t far behind with cars that fans could relate to and drivers that were first-rate. Example: when St. James co-drove to a Rolex 24 GTO victory in 1987, her Mustang teammates were NASCAR’s Bill Elliott, sports car superstar in the making Scott Pruett and capable veteran Tom Gloy.

“Those were the hey-days,” she said.

In ’90 she won GTO at Daytona again, in a Mercury Cougar along with Robby Gordon and Calvin Fish. Two months later the same trio took the GTO title at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Ah, the “Florida Double.” Other than her famous Watkins Glen solo triumph in 1985, probably the highlight of St. James’ IMSA years.

There were many years to come. St. James moved to IndyCar in 1992, and in her first Indianapolis 500 start she finished 11th (a career-best in the 500) and nabbed Rookie of the Year at the historic race. In ’94 she started sixth in the 33-car field. Overall, St. James raced in 16 IndyCar events. Twice she qualified in the top 10, with her best finish an eighth at the old Disney World track in ’96.

Open-wheel and Lyn St. James connected at the right time. Her story and style mixed nicely with an increasingly international sensibility within IndyCar. It was exciting and so was St. James.

In the early ‘90s, a Lyn St. James logo appeared. Very slick. Then and now.

St. James’ last IndyCar run was in 2000. She retired from active competition in ‘01, although she does appear for special one-offs, such as running fabled Goodwood four times between ‘01-07.

Retirement really hasn’t applied to St. James. Her focus shifted to helping female athletes, especially racers. St. James founded the Women in The Winner’s Circle Foundation in 1994, to “assist in driver development and advocacy, primarily for young women pursuing careers in motorsports.”

Furthermore, she co-founded the Women in Motorsports North America (WIMNA) in 2022; their mission statement is that “WIMNA is a community professional women and men devoted to supporting opportunities for women across all disciplines of motorsport by creating an inclusive, resourceful environment to foster mentorship, advocacy, education and growth, thereby ensuring the continued strength and successful future of our sport.”

“When she retired, she didn’t quit,” said INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles when St. James was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. “She has made a huge difference and continues to every day.”

Holly Cain, a journalist who covered St. James in IMSA and IndyCar, has continued to cover her. There has been much to write about.

“Well beyond what she accomplished on the race track, her great legacy to this sport extends to her impact out of the driver's seat,” said Cain, a long time WIMNA member.
“Who could not admire her bold willingness to insist, ‘Why not me?’ at a time when she was so often forced to fight harder and be better to get the same competitive opportunities as the men she raced.

“Beyond the well-earned achievements on-track, Lyn has remained a true champion for others. Decades after establishing milestone after milestone while competing, no single person has done more to further the opportunity of women in auto racing. The credibility she built and earned as a competitor is matched only by the heart and soul she has so generously infused into the sport to make it better.”

OK, here’s the rub, for the sake of this story: Remember all the IMSA stuff (much less Trans-Am)? Good for you. Not enough people do. That’s not to say that St. James’ image is lacking, just that it’s skewed. For those who saw Lyn St. James in IMSA, they know the deal and they know St. James was real, not just a concocted promotional/diversity tool. She played such an integral role in IMSA, no way that should be overlooked.

But it is.

“IMSA is where she made a name for herself,” said motorsports historian Ken Breslauer, “And she was always competitive in everything she was in, even if it was lesser equipment.”

St. James says she’s been surprised, through the years, that her IMSA successes have been overshadowed.

“I treasure those IMSA years, like, well, most people would not understand [how much] … so many amazing memories,” she said. “Then in the ‘90s I got to the IndyCar level and the Indy 500 and yes, that did elevate me in many ways … to the point where a lot of people didn’t know who the hell I was before that or until that! I was like, “Wait a minute, I didn’t just fall off the truck and decide to go IndyCar racing … I don’t really know how to explain it.”

That attempt was pretty good.