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Saturday, May 5
History-making driver retires
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Lyn St. James took two ceremonial laps,
pulled into the pits and ended her career in Indy-car racing.
"Gosh, I wish I was 20 years younger," said the 54-year-old
driver, who announced her retirement on Sunday before the start of
practice for the May 27 Indianapolis 500.
|  | | "I'm not done yet. I'm just done at this level," said Lyn St. James after her last lap at Indianapolis. |
St. James, who began racing sports cars in 1976, was the second
of three female drivers to compete at Indianapolis. Janet Guthrie
was the first, from 1977-79, and Sarah Fisher, who is entered again
this year, was a 19-year-old rookie a year ago.
"Sometimes you have to step back and take stock of what reality
is. If you can't be at the top of your game, you can't win here,"
said St. James, whose best finish in seven starts at Indianapolis
was 11th in her first race in 1992, when she was the rookie of the
year. "I've had a wonderful career, and I'm retiring from active
Indy racing with many wonderful memories."
The key phrase, however was "Indy racing." She said she has no
intention of quitting all forms of the sport.
"I'm not done yet. I'm just done at this level. ... I've got to
race something," she said. "That's who I am."
St. James, who also runs a driver development school for women,
said she is working on a book that will come out next year and will
continue as a spokeswoman for a national driver safety program. She
may also go into race broadcasting, she said.
But as she took her final laps at Indianapolis, she was still a
race car driver.
"I didn't have any emotion out there, because you can't," she
said. "The emotion is now."
The fastest in practice was Greg Ray at 224.301 mph. Others
above 220 mph were former winners Eddie Cheever at 220.968 and
Buddy Lazier at 220.221, and Cheever's teammate, Scott Goodyear, at
220.084.
Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves also made appearances late
in the day with Penske Racing, a CART team that is returning to
Indianapolis for the first time since 1995.
Al Unser Jr., who returned last year, had a top lap at 216.639
mph.
St. James was the first onto the track when practice opened and
had a top lap of just under 180 mph. When she came into the pits,
she was greeted with a hug from Speedway president Tony George.
St. James, an Ohio native who lives in Daytona Beach, Fla., won
the SCCA Florida Regional Showroom Stock A title in 1976 and '77.
She drove the IMSA Kelly American Challenge series in 1979-81 and
was rookie of the year in the IMSA Camel GT series in 1984.
The next year, she became the first woman to run a closed-course
lap above 200 mph and the first to win an IMSA GTO race, at Elkhart
Lake. She was the only driver to score championship points in every
SCCA Trans Am event in 1988 and first came to Indy to test for Dick
Simon Racing in 1990.
"It's been a phenomenal part of my life to work with that
lady," said Simon, a longtime car owner and former driver who also
coached Guthrie.
In 1992, St. James became the oldest rookie to qualify at
Indianapolis at 45 and two years later had her best starting
position, sixth. She finished 13th in 1997 but failed to qualify
the next two years.
Last year, she crashed her primary car during a qualifying
warmup, then put a backup in the lineup in the closing minutes of
the final day qualifications. She started 32nd and finished 32nd
after another crash -- with Fisher -- on her 70th lap.
With her retirement from Indy, the oldest driver this year is
Arie Luyendyk, 47, who is coming out of a year's layoff to try for
his third victory.
Luyendyk, the career money-leader at Indianapolis with almost
$5.6 million in winnings in 15 previous starts, worked as a
consultant for Treadway Racing and an analyst for ABC Sports last
year. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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