American race car driver
At age 45, when many athletes are retired or over the hill, Lyn St. James was blazing a trail. St. James, one of the few women in professional automobile racing, was a rookie of the year at that age, finishing 11th at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 among 33 competitors. She became the second woman to race at Indy and competed in that event a total of seven times.
St. James became the first woman to win a solo North American professional road race at Watkins Glen, New York, in 1985. In 1996 she acquired her own team, Lyn St. James racing. When she switched from road racers to Indy cars in 1988, she became the first woman to compete full-time on the Indy circuit.
St. James, whose career thrived despite occasional problems finding a sponsor and frequent crashes in races, retired in 2001 to write a book, Ride of Your Life. Auto racing, she says, can cross gender lines. She has worked as a columnist, motivational speaker and television commentator.
Sketch by Paul Burton
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