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Graduates include Sarah Fisher, Deborah Renshaw, Danica Patrick and one good sprinter named Becca Anderson who you've likely never heard of, but will.
St. James is a beacon for aspiring drivers
Through her development program, drivers are taught how to interest car owners.
August 23, 2002
By Nolan Weidner
Staff writer
Lyn St. James always wanted to be the first woman to win an Indianapolis 500. Now, she wants to help someone else do it.
The retired driver, who had seven shots at winning one of the hallowed crowns in American motorsports before retiring last year, said the sport of racing is ready for a female superstar but it needs to change so young drivers have an easier time climbing into competitive cars.
"There has to be a more proactive ladder system for attracting the talent that's going to make it to the top. They do it in football, they have scouts. They do it in baseball, they do it in basketball," St. James, 55, said recently at Watkins Glen, where she stopped during a Winston Cup weekend to promote her new book, "Ride of Your Life; A Race Car Driver's Journey."
After a lengthy career as a sports car driver, St. James hung up her helmet after the 2000 season. She spends much of her time now working with youngsters who want to make it into racing's major leagues through the driver development program in the Lyn St. James Foundation.
One of the biggest problems, she said, is that racing's major leagues, and the car owners who hire the drivers, have no organized way of looking at younger talent regardless of gender or race.
"How you get to a Richard Childress, or how you get to a Roger Penske, is like a mystery," she said.
Those who have graduated from St. James' program include current IRL driver Sarah Fisher, stock car racer Deborah Renshaw, rising Formula Ford racer Danica Patrick and Pennsylvania sprint car driver Becca Anderson. About one-fifth of the drivers who participate in the four-day program, which includes on-and off-track training, are men.
"I wanted to create a program that provided them with tools in a lot of areas outside of the ****pit - physical preparation, mental preparation, how to do an interview, how to put together your own press kit," she said. "Even the business side - how to negotiate a contract, how to put together a sponsorship proposal."
Despite driving in seven Indy 500s, where she finished 11th to win rookie of the race honors in 1992, St. James never drove a full CART or IRL season. She spent hours, she said, trying to sell her talents to teams who might put her behind the wheel.
"My phone only rang once, in my entire 30 years of racing, where a team owner asked me to drive a car. The rest of it was me chasing."
Where do you get that big break?
"I might be asking too much, maybe it's too much of a change," she said. "What I'm saying is in the area of diversity, in the category of non-white male drivers, why don't you at least think about having some kind of incentive program?"
While St. James considers herself an activist for women in sports, and especially racing, her book does not take up that fight.
It is a fairly straightforward account of her career revolving around the drama that unfolded in May 2000 as she qualified for her final Indy 500.
"My personal experience in racing, was there was very little of that. I still believe the sport is a gender-neutral sport, it's just that more men have been involved with it over time. It was not the purpose of the book to go on that bandwagon," she said.
At the same time, St. James wants her story to inspire others.
"The reality is, I am a woman who has succeeded in a male-dominated sport. So I guess I'm hoping that the story and my experiences stand for themselves."
St. James, who won GTO Class events in the 24 Hours at Daytona with such current stars as Bill Elliott and Robby Gordon, said she was really too old to have a lengthy career in Indy-car racing. But the stage is now set for a young woman to become a racing superstar.
"Within the next 10 years you're going to see a woman win the Indianapolis 500, and you're going to see three or four women (driving) at a competitive level in stock car racing. It may not be Winston Cup, maybe it's the Busch Series, but I think you're going to see some changes in scenery," she said.
"If it doesn't happen, I'm going to be really (angry). Because I know there are kids who really want it, I mean really want it, out there."
St. James is a beacon for aspiring drivers
Through her development program, drivers are taught how to interest car owners.
August 23, 2002
By Nolan Weidner
Staff writer
Lyn St. James always wanted to be the first woman to win an Indianapolis 500. Now, she wants to help someone else do it.
The retired driver, who had seven shots at winning one of the hallowed crowns in American motorsports before retiring last year, said the sport of racing is ready for a female superstar but it needs to change so young drivers have an easier time climbing into competitive cars.
"There has to be a more proactive ladder system for attracting the talent that's going to make it to the top. They do it in football, they have scouts. They do it in baseball, they do it in basketball," St. James, 55, said recently at Watkins Glen, where she stopped during a Winston Cup weekend to promote her new book, "Ride of Your Life; A Race Car Driver's Journey."
After a lengthy career as a sports car driver, St. James hung up her helmet after the 2000 season. She spends much of her time now working with youngsters who want to make it into racing's major leagues through the driver development program in the Lyn St. James Foundation.
One of the biggest problems, she said, is that racing's major leagues, and the car owners who hire the drivers, have no organized way of looking at younger talent regardless of gender or race.
"How you get to a Richard Childress, or how you get to a Roger Penske, is like a mystery," she said.
Those who have graduated from St. James' program include current IRL driver Sarah Fisher, stock car racer Deborah Renshaw, rising Formula Ford racer Danica Patrick and Pennsylvania sprint car driver Becca Anderson. About one-fifth of the drivers who participate in the four-day program, which includes on-and off-track training, are men.
"I wanted to create a program that provided them with tools in a lot of areas outside of the ****pit - physical preparation, mental preparation, how to do an interview, how to put together your own press kit," she said. "Even the business side - how to negotiate a contract, how to put together a sponsorship proposal."
Despite driving in seven Indy 500s, where she finished 11th to win rookie of the race honors in 1992, St. James never drove a full CART or IRL season. She spent hours, she said, trying to sell her talents to teams who might put her behind the wheel.
"My phone only rang once, in my entire 30 years of racing, where a team owner asked me to drive a car. The rest of it was me chasing."
Where do you get that big break?
"I might be asking too much, maybe it's too much of a change," she said. "What I'm saying is in the area of diversity, in the category of non-white male drivers, why don't you at least think about having some kind of incentive program?"
While St. James considers herself an activist for women in sports, and especially racing, her book does not take up that fight.
It is a fairly straightforward account of her career revolving around the drama that unfolded in May 2000 as she qualified for her final Indy 500.
"My personal experience in racing, was there was very little of that. I still believe the sport is a gender-neutral sport, it's just that more men have been involved with it over time. It was not the purpose of the book to go on that bandwagon," she said.
At the same time, St. James wants her story to inspire others.
"The reality is, I am a woman who has succeeded in a male-dominated sport. So I guess I'm hoping that the story and my experiences stand for themselves."
St. James, who won GTO Class events in the 24 Hours at Daytona with such current stars as Bill Elliott and Robby Gordon, said she was really too old to have a lengthy career in Indy-car racing. But the stage is now set for a young woman to become a racing superstar.
"Within the next 10 years you're going to see a woman win the Indianapolis 500, and you're going to see three or four women (driving) at a competitive level in stock car racing. It may not be Winston Cup, maybe it's the Busch Series, but I think you're going to see some changes in scenery," she said.
"If it doesn't happen, I'm going to be really (angry). Because I know there are kids who really want it, I mean really want it, out there."
