Trans Am Racing Taught Her How to Get Up to Speed “NOW”
Few drivers have built a racing résumé as diverse and accomplished as Lyn St. James. While many fans know her for her groundbreaking achievements at Indianapolis, St. James first sharpened many of the skills that would define her career in Trans Am competition.
St. James competed in four Trans Am seasons and made 53 starts in the series. She finished 10th in the championship in 1983, driving a Mercury Capri for Tom Gloy. Returning in 1988 to race for Jack Roush, she spent three seasons with the legendary team, recording seven top-5 and 23 top-10 finishes.
“Looking back, I think the era of Trans Am that I raced in was the best,” St. James said. “Everyone talks about the 60s with Mark Donohue, George Follmer, Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones and that was fabulous. But when I raced it was different. We had very deep fields, and it was only one class. The competition was tough, with a lot of really strong cars and drivers. The OEM’s were heavily involved and there were real sponsors. Budweiser as an example. You had to get it done and show what you were made of. I had some great races, but some were not so great.”
The lessons she learned in Trans Am paid enormous dividends when she reached the Indianapolis 500 in 1992. A seven-time starter in the Indy 500, St. James finished an impressive 11th in her rookie year and went on to compete in 15 IndyCar races during her career.
“Racing Trans Am taught me, more than anything, how to get up to speed, really fast,” St. James explained. I was used to 30-minute qualifying sessions. In Trans Am, we had very short sessions, and you had to learn to go fast when the tires weren’t in yet. That whole mindset, of getting in the car and immediately getting right with the program right out of the box was what I learned in Trans Am.”
St. James’ racing accomplishments extend far beyond Trans Am and IndyCar. She competed twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, raced nine times in the 12 Hours of Sebring, won the GTO class at Sebring in 1990, and earned two GTO class victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona. In her 62 IMSA GT starts, she scored six victories, 17 top-five finishes, and 37 top-10s. Her 1985 IMSA GT victory at Watkins Glen remains the only solo victory by a woman in the series. In 1995, St. James set a women’s world closed-course speed record with a qualifying run of 225.722 mph. Throughout her career, she established 31 international and national closed-circuit speed records.
Beyond the race track, St. James has enjoyed success as a businesswoman, author, mentor, motivational speaker and founder of Women in Motorsports North America. She was named by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 100 Female Athletes of the 20th Century and was selected as one of IMSA’s “50 Great Drivers” and will be inducted into the IMSA Hall of Fame later this year. Lyn will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America with the class of 2027.
Racing America is proud to welcome Lyn St. James as Grand Marshal, celebrating a career defined by determination, versatility, and a lasting impact on motorsports.
