Lyn St. James

Lyn St. James
St. James at the 2015 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	American
Born	Evelyn Gene Cornwall (1947-03-13) March 13, 1947 (age 77)[1] Willoughby, Ohio, U.S.
Retired	2001
Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
Years active	1996–2001
Teams	Zunne Group Racing Team Scandia Hemelgarn Racing Dick Simon Racing
Starts	5
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	8th Orlando in 1996
Previous series
1992–1995	CART
Awards
1992	Indy 500 Rookie of the Year

Lyn St. James (born Evelyn Gene Cornwall; March 13, 1947) 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 (oldest to win the award at 45, a record she held for 30 years until Jimmie Johnson won it when he was 46 in 2022).^[2] She also has two class victories at the 24 Hours of Daytona,^[3] and won the GTO class, partnering with Calvin Fish and Robby Gordon, at the 1990 12 Hours of Sebring.^[4] 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 ^[5] placed first and second in class in 1979.^[6][7]

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.^[8]

In 1986, she 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.^[9]

Lyn 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,^[10] 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.^[11]

• She was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2023.

Lyn St. James became the first woman driver to reach over 200 mph on a race track. She drove a number of different cars including Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, and Mazda, but for the majority of her career she drove a Ford Mustang. She used a Ford Thunderbird to break a closed course record for women with 227.32 mph.^[12]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1978	Autodyne	Luis Sereix Phil Currin	Chevrolet Corvette	GTO	186	17th	6th
1979	Thunderbird Swap-Shop	Bonnie Henn Janet Guthrie	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	GTO	194	17th	8th
1980	Condor Racing	Ralph Kent-Cooke	Porsche 935	GTX	87	DNF	DNF
1983	Nimrod Racing	Reggie Smith Drake Olson	Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin	GTP	224	5th	3rd
1987	Roush Racing	Tom Gloy	Ford Mustang	GTO	213	31st	9th
1988	Roush Racing	Deborah Gregg	Mercury Merkur XR4Ti	GTO	282	8th	2nd
1990	Roush Racing	Robby Gordon Calvin Fish	Mercury Cougar XR-7	GTO	278	6th	1st
1998	TRV Motorsport	Jeret Schroeder Tom Volk	Kudzu DL-4-Chevrolet	GTO	283	17th	4th

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1989	Spice Engineering	Ray Bellm Gordon Spice	Spice SE89C-Ford	C1	229	DNF	DNF
1991	Euro Racing A.O. Racing	Desiré Wilson Cathy Muller	Spice SE90C-Ford	C1	47	DNF	DNF

(key)

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.^[22]

• Official website
• Lyn St. James career summary at DriverDB.com
• Lyn St. James driver statistics at Racing-Reference