Lyn St. James wasn't born an auto-racing prodigy. Growing up in Ohio, she didn't have a father who put her in a go-kart before she could walk. Her mother had polio from the time she was an infant, so for her, a car was a necessity—not a hobby or something to soup up.

That changed the day St. James went to a sports-car race. "I always say I found racing and racing found me," St. James said. "I was 27 and too old to be doing this career-wise. Back then you didn't do this as a career."

That didn't matter. St. James decided she was going racing. She didn't do it to be a woman in a male-dominated sport, nor because she wanted to be a pioneer or someone breaking a glass ceiling.

"I just put my head down and raced," she explained. "I'm a believer that if this is where I am and this is where I want to go, I'm going. If you're in my way, I'll go around you, over you, above or through you."

Growing up in the muscle-car era, St. James hung out with street racers and went to the local dragway. "I drag raced a buddy's car and brought home a trophy," she said. "My mother wasn't particularly pleased about it. There was nowhere to go with it in that era."

Fast forwarding, St. James moved to Florida when she fell in love with a man, John Carosso, with whom she had started a business. They had gone to the Indy 500 on their second date and after they arrived in Florida, they attended the 24 Hours of Daytona sports-car race.

"It was so different from any other form of racing I ever saw," she explained. "You could walk up and down the pit lane; you could go into the garages. The back of the grid were the Porsches, the Corvettes, and the Camaros, the real people."

Intrigued by the idea of racing what looked like a street car, St. James discovered the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), became a member, and earned her competition license. She bought a Ford Pinto and made her first start in 1973. "I've never looked back since," she said.

She had a few up-and-down years and in 1977, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) started the Kelly American Challenge Series. It was sponsored by Kelly Services, which was best known for providing secretaries known as "Kelly Girls" for businesses. The company was trying to expand its presence in light industrial and other businesses.

St. James showed up in 1978 at Road Atlanta in Georgia and missed the win by 0.79 seconds racing a Plymouth Volare. One of the biggest benefits of the series was the bonus it gave to the top female driver. "I could pay to be able to get to the next race," she stated.

Pursuing Opportunities

At the end of the 1978 season, she went to the SCCA Runoffs in Showroom Stock A class but blew an engine and was out of competition. She came across an article in Car & Driver magazine about a Ford Mustang or a Capri. There was a sidebar piece in the article titled "Ford and Feminism." "It talked about Ford wanting to create equal employment opportunities for women in non-traditional areas like engineering," recalled St. James.

She started writing letters and her perseverance landed St. James an appointment with Ford. She wound up getting a corporate sponsorship in 1981. "Getting a factory to sponsor you gives you credibility; the media pays attention," she said. "You get good equipment."

She raced in 53 SCCA Trans Am races with seven top-five finishes and 62 IMSA GT races with six wins, 17 top fives and 37 top 10s. A highlight was a solo win at the 1985 Serengetti 500 at Watkins Glen in New York. "I raced the whole race myself and I won," she said.

Ironically, a crash in a Ford Probe at Riverside Raceway in California in 1986 helped solidify St. James' career. "I walked away and there was a respect I gained from some executives because I was in the top-level equipment, and I didn't crumble."

The next year, she was part of a team that won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTO class. "When I won that race, I was remembering that the first sports-car race I ever saw was the 24 Hours of Daytona," St. James recalled. "To finally stand on the podium, it was unreal." She repeated the feat in 1990.

Then she started looking at some bucket-list events and with the help of a sponsor was able to join the Spice Team to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989.

All told, St. James spent 14 years as part of Ford's factory team, getting her contract renewed annually. She didn't have an agent or a manager and negotiated all her own deals.

"That's one of the things I'm most proud of. I'm not under contract anymore but I have many wonderful memories like standing with Dan Gurney when Ford celebrated its 100th year in racing with the legends of racing and I was included in that."

She continued, "There's huge respect and benefits that have come with me being part of the tradition of Ford Racing. I would have not had a career if I didn't have Ford as a sponsor. I wouldn't have been able to figure that out on my own without having that leverage and that credibility and support."

The Big Leagues

In addition to driving, St. James was doing TV commentary for SCCA Trans-Am races, many of which were running the same weekend as Indy cars in a supporting role.

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