March 31, 2025 • 47 mins
Lyn St. James is an icon in the motorsports landscape and now as the co-founder of Women in Motorsports North America. We’re digging into how St. James view the growth of motorsports by encouraging more inclusion of women; the non-existent NASCAR ladder system and women trying to break into the sport; not being surprised by the current landscape of women in racing in the year 2025; the future of WIMNA in the motorsports space; WIMNA opening the door to a new generation learning about who St. James is and her career; the emotion of being inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame; recommendations for reading material and learning for women in racing.
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall our guest today is the absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And iconic Lynn Saint James.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
For those who don't know, and I highly recommend you
learn as much about Lynn as possible, go to her website.
It's a great place to do that because it's packed
jam full with so much information. But Lynn is the
nineteen ninety two Indianapolis five hundred Rookie of the Year.
She's the first woman to win that award. She's competed
in multiple Indy five hundreds. She's got sportscar experience such
as running the twenty four hours of Daytona. She has
(00:37):
a twelve hours of Seabring Wind. She's also competed in
the twenty four hours of Lama and Nuremberg Ring. Her
accomplishments are incredible across the motorsports world, as well as
just her presence and what she has done for racing
for women in the space. Lynn is also the co
founder of Women in Motorsports North America, an organization close
(00:57):
to my heart, something I love to support, I love
to be a part of. For those who don't know, WIMNA,
as it's affectionately known as is a community of professional
women and men who are devoted to supporting opportunities for
females in racing in all disciplines by creating an inclusive,
resourceful environment that includes mentorship, education, growth, advocacy, everything along
(01:21):
those lines to encourage more women to be involved in
racing and not just as a driver like Lynn was.
In our conversation today, we talk a little bit about
whether Lynn thought in the year twenty twenty five that
women in racing would it would be a different landscape
than it is right now. We talk a little bit
about WOMNA, We talk about her recent induction into the
(01:41):
National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, as well as
a topic close to me, being a NASCAR person, of
the female ladder system and getting more females into NASCAR
and into.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
The Cup Series level.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So fantastic conversation with Lynn. I hope you enjoy it.
Let's jump into it. Here's lind Saint Jay on the
Racing Writers Podcast. I have been too shy because we
have seen each other. I enjoy the interactions that we've had,
and yes, this is the first time we're going to
(02:16):
sit down and have a really more in depth conversation.
And that's just all my fault in that has nothing to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Do with you.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You're a little intimidating.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
No, don't say that. And I mean, you're in the media,
for God's sake. You cannot afford to be shy for
one thing, you know, miss lady. You got to be
bold to get the articles or the interviews or whatever
you want to call it from everybody. But anyway, I mean,
I respectful they hear you, but it baffles me because
it just does. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That is just my personality.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And it's interesting, as you pointed out, to have that
personality and a job like this where you do have
to approach people and be very outgoing and get the
story and not be afraid to ask people the questions.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So we're going to do that today. I'm going to
ask the questions. So I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Start offs, go for it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I wanted to start off by asking You're coming off
a weekend where I know you were at Phoenix Raceway
for a bit. I don't know if you were there
for the whole weekend, but you had a wonderful panel
on Friday, I believe, and I didn't get to of
course see it because I wasn't there, but I wanted
to ask how it went because I saw the pictures
and it seemed like it was very well received and
very engaging.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It was. It was very last minute, I mean literally,
and Brooked shared that during the the I guess it
was streamed as well. But Brooks Schuman, who I think
is the chairman or the head of the you know,
NASCAR actually has a women in Nascar group they have
about what did she tell me, Oh, don't quote me
on the number, like two hundred and forty or three
hundred and forty members, which is that of the ergs
(03:41):
that they have. I don't forget what ERG stands for,
but because I was talking to somebody else about ergs
that I'm like, I'm acting like I know. Anyway, she
said of all of the ergs within NASCAR that they
are the largest and the most active, and they've only
been around since COVID, so it's only been a couple
of years. But she put that together with the track
and I mean, originally we're gonna have Isabella, who then
(04:03):
ended up being at the ARCA driver's meeting during that window,
and it was the window, you know what I mean
how you know, how that stuff goes, and so she
pulled it all together. And then Catherine was supposed to
be there. Then her plane got delayed, and so then
you know, obviously Latasha was there. And then oh my god, Danielle,
the gal that came in that does PRN.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Radio PRN or serious XM. Danielle that I know is
daniel Trotta. I don't know if that's who you mean, No.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
That's not it's not her, I don't think. But oh god,
this is embarrassing. Anyway, she came in and did a
fantastic job. In fact, I gave her my card because
she turns out she lives here. She lives in Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Oh was that Heather de Bo?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Oh, Heather's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yes, she's wonderful. I'm like, I mean I listened. I
was sitting next to it, and I just listened to her,
and I'm like, oh my god, this is the real deal.
I mean, she talked about Manzanita, and you know, I mean,
this is like, this is who Yeah, yeah, you know,
I was like that became her cheering section on the
stage up there. But anyway, it was well received. I
think International Women's Day. I mean, it was the day before,
(05:07):
but I mean I think, you know, people are starting
to catch on, which gives me great joy. I can
remember for so many years, you know, it's Women's History Month,
nobody at motorsports cares where Now that's you know, to
see that kind of energy, and now we're kind of
working with them. So women in Motorsports North America is
working with women in DASCAR, and that's exactly fulfilling my
(05:29):
vision of how of what women women in Motorsports North
America should be. We can't fix everything, or not that
everything needs fixed, but I mean, we don't have the
bandwidth to do everything in spite of what Cindy system says,
so you know what I mean. But what I really
am hoping is that we're you know, we're poking or
(05:50):
stimulating or encouraging. If everybody does something that fits their organization,
then that's how all ships will rise, you know, I mean.
And so if we can just be there to assist
or to you know, to partner with or to augment
or whatever you want to call it, then you know,
then I feel like that's really what women is about,
(06:13):
is that we're here to you know, to kind of elevate, celebrate, connect,
you know, enable, you know that our wonderful things that
we are kind of our buzzwords, so that we can
help everybody, help all women, but also help every organization
grow organically or in a way that suits them, because
it's all different. I mean, it's all motorsports. But as
(06:35):
you well know, NHR is different than NEWSAC, that's different
than Indy Car, that's different than and it's different than NASCAR.
And then every racetrack has their own culture, so to speak,
depending on what part of the country they're in and
what type of racing they provide, so you know, everybody's
a little bit of an island, and then they all
compete against each other. But in this particular case, I
(06:56):
think this is one topic the growth of sports by
encouraging more women to come into it. It's a universal
message that everybody's you know, everybody can benefit from. But
everybody's got to put their toe in the water and
do something right.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And I've heard you say before Lynn that there are
so many talented women out there that can compete, whether
it's open wheel, NASCAR and so on. Drag racing of course,
particularly the NASCAR piece which I love that you just
said there that women is now working closer with NASCAR.
I think that will be excellent. I did want to
ask you on that. When it comes to, of course,
(07:31):
the pool of women stock car drivers, it's not very big, right,
We've seen that over the years. We are still looking
for who's going to be the next full time talented
female stock car driver at the Cup series level? A.
What is your outlook on that? And along those same lines,
what are the conversations that you have, if at all,
(07:53):
with either female race car drivers that have aspirations to
go to NASCAR or any conversations you have with folks
in NASCAR of how can we make this happen?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
There's a lot of content in that question, meaning then
there's a lot of content in that answer. Well, I have.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's not simple, it's just right like that.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
No, it isn't. It's not only that isn't not simple,
but it's it's it's not it's a difficult. So in
my conversations with NASCAR, I mean, NASCAR is an organization
and there's a lot of people there, right. Do I
have the ability to talk to Steve Phelps, Yes, you know,
but you know we are First of all, when I'm
talking about WOMNA, we're really representing all women in all disciplines.
(08:37):
And I've had to learn to get out of my
own way. And because I'm really obviously the one the
thing I still care about the most of the women drivers.
So when I'm talking maybe even to a Steve Phelps,
it's really more about WOMNA and about the industry and
you know, and then you know, learning about women in NASCAR,
and you know, so that's us working with NASCAR. When
(08:59):
I put my I had race car driver on and
I then got to kind of revert back before women existed,
you know. And but so that's kind of not a
really good answer though, because but when I put my
race car driver hat on, I have to be careful
because I could answer that if I wasn't a part
of women anymore, I get answer that I can really
(09:20):
give you my opinion, my opinion, right, But you know,
I feel that I have a responsibility not to represent
an organization and a board and people who are all
trying to again to get all ships to rise. Right,
So I'm really dancing around this.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But okay, because sometimes I think to what you're what
you're trying to say there is you have your opinion,
but sometimes it would be more hurtful than helpful to
publicly maybe dig into that a topic like that. Is
what I'm is what I'm taking away from that sort.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Of I mean, I can't represent. No, it's not some method.
It's what was the word.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You used, hurtful more than helpful, not hurtful.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It is that I can't represent the organization. I can
represent my opinion. It's not that it's hurtful. It's just
that I can't speak on behalf of Lisa Boggs from
you know, Firestone and Beth and you know our co founder,
and I can't speak on behalf of all of them
on this topic. You know, I can only speak on
(10:19):
my knowledge in my opinion. So I think maybe that's
the way to handle it. I'm going to give you
my opinion to that answer. But please don't necessarily indicate
that this is Wimna's represents a response. NASCAR is a
culture onto its own, as is NHR AS is not
(10:39):
so much. MS is a little more broader. I think
it brought it has a broader culture to it internationally.
Age you know, again, I really look at the sport.
As all of these different forms of motorsports, they all
have a culture, and the culture of NASCAR. I mean,
I can remember a number of years ago when I
(11:02):
was doing my driver development program and I would still
say this today. If you want to work in NASCAR,
move to Charlotte. So there's number one. That's where the
teams are. And if you don't live in Charlotte, at
least live in the South because it is you can
come from other There have been isolated cases, and they
love to talk about those from Minnesota and the West Coast,
(11:24):
you know, but let's face it, it is still a
very insular kind of culture and family. It's really almost
a family. And so you know, so that's the beginning
is you've got to embed. It's like, if you want
to go Formula one racing, move to Europe, right, learn
the tracks over there. You know, race in the lower
(11:47):
levels so that you learn the tracks that way. Don't
just show up as your sub superstar. Got to go
race in Formula one. You know, I don't care how
great you may be here. And you know, and I
think they're learning that the Formula one drivers need to
come over and move to Indianapolis. If they're going to
run Indy, you know. So there we have to understand
that every former motorsports has its culture, and if you
(12:08):
want to be a NASCAR driver, then you better embed
yourself in that culture. You better also that the challenge,
the biggest challenge I think NASCAR has. And I've told
anybody who cares to ask over there, or even if
they don't ask, I've told them love that their ladder
which doesn't really exist, and they know that. I've talked
(12:30):
to Ben you know, Kennedy about this. I mean they've
asked me. He did ask me, actually, is that their
so called ladder doesn't exist. They have short tracks. They
have all of these tracks all over the country that
they that stock cars drivers race in. Very few of
those actually go and become Cup drivers. They become veteran
(12:51):
they whatever short track the country where they live in
or where they race every weekend. They're the kings and
the queens hopefully of those there, but many of them
are pissed off. They did want to go to the Cup,
but they didn't have the money and they didn't have whatever.
The dah da da dah.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, that ladder, as you said, isn't actually there for them.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You're right, you know, And it's not that they're stuck there.
It's just that they are kind of stuck there so
many times by choice, because I'd rather be the king
of a you know, or the queen of a little
mountain than to not be successful to get to the
top of the big.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Mountain and spending a lot more money.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, the money that many times you don't have. So
then you because it exists. Though. That's how you got
to learn, is you got to run those short tracks.
And everybody knows that when these youngsters come in, and
in most cases that's the other problem that I believe
exists is that this sport, NASCAR, not just NASCAR, this
sport wants too young. They want these young kids. They
(13:49):
want these eighteen nineteen twenty twenty two year old kids.
And you know, when you drop an eighteen nineteen twenty
one year old kid at a short track anywhere that
is a NASCAR short track, and they're competing against these
veterans who've been there for years and years and years, Hey,
I'm gonna let that kid know what the hell this
is all about. You know, they make it really tough.
(14:10):
They hate them in most cases because they're coming in
and taking a space because they know that those those
young drivers are only there for one purpose, just to
show that they got their stuff and learn what they
can't and they're out of there. They're gonna then think
that they're hot shoes and they're going to go to
the top. So it's just the embedded process that's happened.
And this has happened over years and years because there
(14:32):
was no plan. It was just that's how it happened. Well,
you know, over these years, they've gone younger. Over these years,
the veteran short trackers have just become veterans short tractors
and stayed where they are. They didn't come up through
the ladder. And then when you get up to the ladder,
when you get up to cup level, you ain't You're
(14:53):
there forever. You know. It isn't like you're going to
just be there for four or five years and then
there's a new crop coming in. So, you know, those
veteran cup drivers they're there now until their fifties, you
know what I mean, Like Jimmy, he comes back, you know, So,
I mean, I just think they've got a problem. They
(15:15):
don't have a ladder, they don't have a youth program
where kids actually race like junior dragsters or like quarter
I mean they have quarter midgets. Sort of they're trying
to do a youth program, you know, but they're kind
of not really. I mean, they're working with USAC, I
think on the quarter midgets, but they don't have go karts.
They don't have an absolute base of youth racing that
(15:39):
leads to the higher levels of NASCAR. You have drop ins,
so you have the kids that have maybe either were
raised in the Southeast somewhere or raised in Charlotte. And
I mean the one I'm watching right now who I
just absolutely admired Adore and he's like the model is
Connor's illage. I mean, he is from Charlotte, he is,
(16:01):
you know, but he's got incredible talent. He's paid his
dues running Mazda m X five Cup, you know. I mean,
he's run you know, different and yet what he shows
up he's got the talent and experience and he's embedded
himself in the culture. Even though he's not a good
old boy. I mean, he's not just some good old
(16:22):
boy kid, you know what I mean, but he he
still is from that area. I don't know if he's
from that area forever, but I know that you know,
he's been living in Charlotte for quite a while. But
you got to hang out with you got to you
got to be where the you got to go fishing,
where the fish are, and you've got to you know,
you've got to be there. And I just think that
is just hard for a lot of people to understand
(16:45):
and relocate. I mean, it's some of the Olympic sports
where the training centers are. You know, you have to move.
I mean I've read it and heard about you know,
ice skaters that moved when Texas I think was in Houston,
which was where the big training center was, or you know,
I mean, you've got to embeds yourself in whatever culture
you decide you want to race it, or whatever you're
from in the country, is the kind of racing you do.
(17:08):
And if you're running the Whalen Series up in the Northeaster,
you're running some sprint cars and dirt. I mean, I
feel I'm looking at a Kaylie Brison who's from Oklahoma
but has now decided I guess I just talked to her.
Finally got a chance to talk to her at Seabring
and she's moving to or she's moved to Indianapolis, you know,
(17:28):
and she's twenty one or twenty two, I think, you know,
so she's kind of well, she's over twenty one, let's
just put the way, so she's got some ability to
maybe do some things on her own and not totally
dependent on her family, you know, because when you're still
living at home, you're gonna live where the family lives,
right And so there's just a lot of those, Those
(17:51):
are hurdles that get in the way, you know, of success.
Besides money. Everybody knows it's always about money, but it's
those a lot of them. It's the cultural I mean.
And I remember Bill Elliott telling me, I mean this
is we're going now back to the eighties, and I mean,
there's nobody more Southern than Bill Elliott. And I remember
him telling me Lynn because I was thinking he really
(18:12):
had not an easy way because he's you know, he's
a great driver, and he knows his cars, and he
had a family, you know, I mean, he kind of
had all of what I call the ingredients. He goes, Man,
it was tough in the beginning, and they don't want
you to run you ain't going to run. I'm like, really,
you know, I mean, if you aren't, if you're coming
in from the way they perceived that, they meaning the
(18:34):
existing camp, the existing pool of drivers that you're going
to run with thirty what is it, thirty six weekends
a year if you actually do get a full season
ride there, even at that level, they're gonna we look
at all the complaining they're making about this kid, I
don't remember his name now that they're all kids, but
you know this that crashed some people out he did it.
(18:57):
I think he crashed again at Phoenix, but I don't know.
But I mean, you know, you're a target when you
come in new and so ah, it is a challenge
figuring all of that out besides just the see time
and the funding and then you know, the race teams
and all of that. So how NASCAR can fix that
(19:21):
if in fact they feel like they need to fix that,
Either that or I think it's up to the responsibility.
If you're passionate enough about racing and you're a female,
then you've got to figure out how to learn the system,
understand what the system is, and work within the system.
And because I don't think the system is going to
(19:43):
change that much night.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I love that dissection. I think that you were.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That's a very complicated answer. I hope it kind of
made some sense.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
No, And that's what I was just about to say.
It's a it's a long answer, but it's I feel
like it's a very well thought out, articular answer, and
to me it makes sense. And maybe it makes sense
because I'm in NASCAR and I can see it. I
know exactly what you're talking about. When when you were
going through your career and you had a very fruitful career,
that's how I would describe it, you know, the seventies
and the eighties, and here we are in twenty twenty
(20:11):
five talking about this. Did you think, when with what
you experienced than when you were going through your career
and also seeing others, you know, maybe a Janet Guthrie,
and I mean the list goes on, did you think,
as I said in twenty twenty five, it would be
different at this point or does this unfortunately not surprise you.
Kind of the landscape of women in racing.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It doesn't surprise me. Disappoints me, but it doesn't surprise me.
You know, we're still still a numbers game to a
certain degree. I always said the reason why there aren't
more women successful in racing is because more guys show up,
you know. I mean there's just more guys, you know,
And then the numbers alone put us at a disadvantage.
(20:55):
I mean, there's just for every female that is carcentric,
I mean even when I go to car shows now
or concours and things like that. Yeah, there are a
lot a lot of women who are interested in cars,
who are car girls. There are a lot of women
who own cars and drive cars, and even some of
them want to race cars, and some of them are races.
But for every female, there's at least one hundred, if
(21:15):
not two hundred guys. So when you're working on this
imbalance of you know, just the numbers alone in the odds,
it's really hard. And then, you know, and I have
a couple of other theories from doing all those years,
what twenty years of driver development program, is that I've
noticed that if these young females that had the aspirations
and had been racing go carts maybe since they were
(21:37):
you know, usually then back then it was maybe they
didn't start till they were ten. I'll use like a
daelic of Patrick who started racing go cards at ten,
but now they're starting you know, five and six. But
is that by the time and I worry about this
a little bit, by the time they turn eighteen and
eighteen or twenty, they've been doing this for maybe ten
plus years, right, And I kind of think that sometimes
girls are smarter than the average bears and they go,
(22:01):
you know, maybe there's something else out there. I mean,
you know, they whether it's education, whether it's another sport,
whether it's a job, whether it's a career. I don't
know that they get not just distracted, but sometimes they
get burned out. I mean they've you know, they've a
lot of those teenage years that kids that girls are
you know that are kind of hanging out with other
(22:21):
girls that they didn't do all that because they were
going to the races. And even if they get into
their like early twenties, again, the sport wants so young.
If they haven't really shined, they haven't really gotten a
really excited deal of some sort, by then they go
on to something else. And I don't mean to say
this to criticize the guys, but it's my observation because
(22:42):
I've talked to a lot of these young guys. They
don't know what else to do. They don't have anything
else to do. They they're not distracted other than maybe
by girls. They're not distracted.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
They don't have backup plans.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
They don't have a plan being that's a better way
to put it, you know, where the girls start to
develop some plan b's. I mean, I just think we
are well more well rounded as humans and unless you
have truly I mean, I'm thinking of somebody like a
Courtney Crone who I've known since she was like fourteen,
and I'm so happy that she's down, you know, on
the F one Academy and she's going to maybe get
(23:19):
some opportunity to show her things. But I mean, I
don't exactly know how she has done, and she just
had a birthday. But let's say she's in her mid twenties,
I mean, and she's kind of ebbed and flowed, you know.
I mean when I met her, she was, Oh, this
is all I'm going to do, and I'm going to
do this all. Then you know, she started doing instructing
and working because she had to, you know, she had
to find a way to make some bucks. She stayed
(23:41):
in the sport but you know, it didn't all come
together for her yet, and I don't think she's fully realized.
I mean, I think is Saber Cook, who I started
working with when she was like seventeen or eighteen. She's
thirty now, and I think she's finally coming into her
own as a race car driver, you know what I mean,
And she's still I was just with her and I
can still see she has that passion in that commitment.
(24:02):
But yet you know how far she'll really go, I
don't know, but I think she could have gone a
lot for I think she still has huge potential and
she just turned thirty. I mean, I could really see
her running IndyCars. She's fit, she's smart, and I mean
she's running Porsches right now. So you know, I think
the developmental process of women versus boys versus girls, let's
(24:26):
call it, because we're talking about the development years, we
do develop differently physically and emotionally and mentally, and I
think women maybe peak a little later. I don't sure
the guys sometimes ever peak. They just you know, it's
just different. They're just different in that way, and that's good.
Hurt the progress of women and young girls, I think
(24:50):
really progressing and realizing their full potential. I mean, I mean,
here's Catherine at forty I think I just read she's
forty four, so I mean, and she's kind of exploding
trying to, you know, still squeeze the last bit of
you know, potential greatness out of you know, out of
her career. And so it's it's a tough game to
(25:11):
figure out, and it is a brutal game. And you
you really, I'm blessed when I think back. I didn't
start racing till I was twenty seven, and that's probably
not replicable today.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, it would be unheard of today, right.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
To get where I you know, where I ended up
getting and for the sustaining what I was able to sustain.
But thank god I had a little bit of maturity.
I was running a business. I mean, I you know,
I could process a lot of things that I could
never have prosted at eighteen, nineteen or twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
This could be something that we could just keep digging
more and more into. But I don't want to waste
our entire time talking about it. No, No, you're fine,
You're fine. I just want to respect again the timeframe
that I had asked for so I don't I don't
want to miss out on some other stuff I want
to ask about. We had mentioned WIMNA, and you know,
I'm a supporter. I think it's done great things in
a short amount of time. When you start thinking now
further down the path, lind and start, you know, kind
(26:06):
of trying to imagine where it's going to be in
this landscape. What do you think that long term impact
of WOMNA and everything you all are doing there, just
based off of, again a short amount of time, what
you've accomplished, What do you think that means for the
long term success of kind of the role that WOMENA
can play in the motorsports landscape.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
You know, I really don't know. I am absolutely blown
away at the traction that we've gotten in a couple
of years. You know, we're just I think we're just
celebrating our third anniversary of existence. And I will continue
to say I want to respond to what the industry
wants and needs as opposed to me, Oh, this is
what we're going to do, and this is what women's about,
(26:46):
and this is I'm not trying to build an organization.
I'm trying to make a difference. I'm trying to put
people together who are in the sport already to figure
out how to make the difference, how to get more
women successful in motorsports and sort of the second part,
how to help the women who are already in it
to become more successful. How can we get more Julie
(27:08):
Geeses or more you know, where you get the women
Julie when you when I've met her, when she came
out here to Phoenix and I realized how long ago
she worked at Watkins Glenn and then how she you know,
I mean she's a veteran of the sport, but you know,
then she became president of the you know, of the
Chicago and they've they've given her great responsibility because she
proved that she could handle it when she you know,
(27:30):
helped do the whole thing at Phoenix while she was
doing that really literally from Daytona. So how do we
find those that are already in the sport and try
to help them if we can, if they want to,
Because the other problem is not everybody wants to be
you know, the big cheese, you know, I mean, they
just are very happy with their careers. And so I
(27:51):
want the sport to reach out to us and say
this is what we need. And that's why we love
to have partners like Bosh where we're doing their electrify
their careers, you know, so that is their model of
what they want to do. We're helping them do that.
You know. Some of the initiatives like the Shero Award, well, yeah,
that was a brainstorm that I had because I had
Billy g and King as my Shero, and I think
(28:11):
we have more Sheros out there. Let's talk about them
and help. But in most really the answer to that
question is I want the industry to tell us what
they need and what they want, and we'll do the Well,
if it's research, we'll do the research. If it's you know,
if it's if it's internships or scholarships, we'll figure that out.
If it's job fairs, we'll help figure that. We'll help
them figure that out, you know. So as opposed to
(28:36):
us knowing all the answers and then saying, well, this
is what we're gonna do, so, I think we need
to be flexible and we need to be responsive to
what the industry needs.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Through WIMNA, I would feel like Lynn that this has
given a younger generation a chance to learn either more
about you or just who you are if they didn't
already know you. I could be wrong, but but that's
I feel like this is this through again, through your
your presence and through WOMNA, that that the opportunity is there.
(29:11):
So along those same lines, what type of reception do
you get when you pop in at racetracks? Because again,
it's not just NASCAR, it's not just drag racing. You
are all over the place. WOMNA is all over the place.
It's not a one trick pony. What is the reception
when you are in a garage or visiting a race,
or or doing an event and people get to either
(29:33):
interact with you or listen to you being involved in
a program.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, that's a good question, and I hadn't really thought
of it that way, But you're right. Prior to WOMNA,
if you were around the sport for any you know,
really length of time, you knew who lind Saint James was,
and I could show up and you know and I
how are you? Oh, yeah, I'm lund Saint James. And
you know, maybe fifty to fifty chance that they go,
oh you know, or oh really you know? I mean,
(29:59):
they don't that doesn't mean anything. So and I never
assumed that people do the longer the years would buy. So,
you know, but the veteran people, race fans or people
that have been in the industry a long time knew
who lind Say James was. So I have to admit
that things have changed. And you're right, I mean, and
I just came back from Amelia Island to Concord yesterday.
(30:24):
It was just there and Saturday Sunday. And I still
kind of blame and give credit to Bill Warner because
when I became the honoree at Amelia, that is what
sort of blew open the minds of people that remember
who lind Say James was, you know, and putting me
I mean, that just brought me back to life again
because when career was now being celebrated, and then COVID hit,
(30:47):
and then I met Beth and then we created WEBNA.
I mean, it's kind of been this, you know, and
I was adducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame and
so there was there's been this moment, but the pivot,
the tipping point with Amelia Island getting the honorary being
the honor read Amelia Island, and I almost tear up
when I say it, because I just came from hanging
(31:09):
out with David Hobbs and Derek Bell and Bobby Rayhall
and Pearly. Hey what these were my heroes. These were
my heroes, and I'm now sitting on the stage with them.
I mean, I'm used to being in the audience celebrating them.
And it was still hard, you know, because I don't
still feel like I'm one of them. But I just
(31:30):
realized maybe I don't know. So it has changed, you know,
But I think it started with Amelia Island and it
has continued on and then women kicked it open big
time where people are and you're right, younger people, because
we are reaching out to younger people, right, And I
(31:50):
know in ninety percent of the time they have no
idea who I am and so, but at least now
they know they have no idea what I did. Yes,
they know who I am now, they know the name,
and they know that they need to think that I
might be important, but they don't necessarily know why. Right.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
That's a good segue into something else I wanted to
bring up where you were talking about the honors that
you've had and you mentioned a Hall of Fame. First off,
you are in many hall of fames. It's not just one.
I was impressed reading through the list. The most recent
one is the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
And I have waited and saved this question for right here,
so it will be on the record for other people
to hear it as well who were not in the
(32:29):
room that night when you gave your speech, because this
is the part that set out to me. Very early
in your speech, Lynn, you had made a comment that
that honor made you feel and I'm paraphrasing, I don't
I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Your exact quotes, so you're listening of what I heard.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Right, But it has stuck with me since then. But
you said something to the effect of that honor made
you feel a part of the motorsports family for the
first time in a long time, and that hit me
right in the heart. And I don't even know if
I remember the rest of your speech, but because that
part just stuck with me, and again, I wrote it
down and I wanted to ask. So that's basically my question,
just where where did that feeling come from? And I
(33:07):
guess why was it that moment that made you feel
part of the motorsports family, whereas we're talking about you've
been doing all these other things. So I guess, on
one hand, I kind of found it hard to believe
as much as it also just hit me in the
heart of how amazing it was to say that.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
You said that.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Well, I mean, it's just how I feel because I
think because that's motorsports, that's the motor First of all,
I didn't I thought it was only for media people.
I didn't do the research until Deb called me. I'm like,
why I'm not in the media.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
You know, you're not the only one.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
So anyway, I got over that, and then when I
saw who is you know what I mean, And I mean,
there's Richard Petting in the audience, for God's sake, you know.
And I'm kind of getting jills right now because that's different.
I mean, it's nothing. One is not better than the
other or bigger than the other. But I mean, getting
into the Automotive Hall of Fame, I have to admit.
I mean, to me, that was incredibly because I've never
(34:00):
would imagine and so and I mean, sorry, but you
know Sebring Hall of Fame, Well, you know I won
Sebring once and I've run Seabring like seven times, and
you know, and I used I mean that was cool, okay,
and some of the other halls of fame, and I'm
not putting them down, but it's just you know, the
Florida because I lived in Florida. I mean, you know, yeah,
it looks good on a resume, but this was motorsports,
(34:21):
you know, the Motorsports pres Association. That's I mean, it
doesn't get any more motorsports than that. The media controls
pretty much what motorsports is perceived, how it's perceived, and
I think that's kind of how I felt, you know,
because of who was there and who's in it, and
it was just being you know, being recognized as part
(34:46):
of the motorsports community and family and because it is family,
and everybody spoke to it that way, and it is
that way. I mean, families can be very dysfunctional. I
come from I'm an only child. I have no sisters
and brothers, you know, I come from very isolated kind
of you know, upbringing, so I don't have a big
sense of family. And so I've always felt respected by
(35:10):
people like by Kelton and John Doonan and Steve Phelpson,
some of the leaders and also crew members and co workers.
And you know, I mean, I've never said I've not
felt respected or you know, I've always felt that way.
But that's different than being invited to sit at the
table at dinner, you know, as part of the family,
versus invited to the party, but you know you're in
(35:32):
another room. I was finally in the room of the family.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It seemed like you very much enjoyed that night as well,
So that's not a question, it's just a statement I
was happy for That's that's what makes me as a
member and a former president who has put on that event.
That's what makes me the happiest is when the inductees
come and you can tell how much it means to
them and how much fun they're having. And it seemed
like you very much enjoyed that. So I was glad
to see that.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That was very nice, that it was very It was
an It was very nice, and I didn't have fun.
Jacket's a little weird, but that's I have a couple
of girlfriends who saw my postings that they went, where
did you get that jacket? Because they didn't see the Yeah,
you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
We've talked about we need to step the jacket game
up and make it a little maybe more modern and
uh kind of special, you know, like the Green jackets,
and like we we've got to we got up our game.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
We're not sure well right exactly exactly as.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
We wind own our time, Lynn, because again I know
we're coming up on it. You mentioned earlier about how
much International Women's Day means to you, and I've heard
you in the past speak about how much uh, women
and Girls in Sports Day matters to you. And it's
also a Women's History month too, so we're tying that
in as we record this. So that's where I wanted
(36:50):
to end, as I said to kind of wrap this up,
is given what March is, what it stands for, give
the listeners a little bit of homework in the sense
of who should they go learn about? Who would you
suggest that they read about during Women's History Month, or
who should be people that they want to look up
to or be inspired by.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Well, I mean my whole sort of thing about this though,
is that women's sports right now, is it at all
time high?
Speaker 4 (37:19):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:19):
And it has been I mean in my mind it's
been building, you know, So wohuld you look at women's
soccer and women's basketball, and you know, whether it's collegiate
or for the WNBA. I mean, we have women's tennis
and women's golf, I mean women's sports. I mean we've
got women played football, we got women hockey leagues, you know.
I mean it's wonderful, right because women can play and
are playing in all sports at all times of their life.
(37:42):
So celebrating I think has been that month for the
month of March is a great way besides learning about
other women outside of the sports. But sin sports is
kind of it's you know, that's my my box is
that women in racing, in motor sports have are not
part of that conversation. That's what has bothered me for
(38:04):
years is that, you know, so many other sports would
take leadership in celebrating the women in their sport, but
other than me, there weren't really this I'm talking about
like ten fifteen years ago, there were really no other
women celebrating women's history months, no other women in motorsports.
And I want us to be in that. I want
us to be in that conversation. There's all kinds of
(38:25):
conferences that go on. I'm not really answering your question
because this is something important to me. So there's all
kinds of conferences that go on in women's sports, in
women's leadership, in women's technology. Motorsports should be in that
convers they should be in that room. We should be represented,
Our engineers should be represented in women in technology and
women engineering, you know, women's sports conferences. They should have
(38:50):
race car drivers there or or women that work in
the industry, and we just aren't included. We're just not
even on the radar. And so but part of that
is our which is why I'm now happy to see
women race car drivers posting, you know, stuff about or women,
or sanctioning bodies or race teams posting and celebrating their women.
(39:11):
So that's going to help. We have to create awareness
that we exist outside of ourselves. So that's my big
reason why I get so excited about the fact that,
you know, we're now we're kind of on the radar now,
but we just got to keep pushing. But as far
as who to study, I mean, you got you know,
Billy Jean again taught me if you don't know your history,
you don't have a future. And when I learned about
hell Nice, who is the Bugatti Queen that is who
(39:34):
blew open. There's a book called The Bugatti Queen, and
when I read that book, that's what I created the
whole traveling exhibit on the history of Women in Racing
because I learned not only about her from the twenties,
but also other women that were racing back then. And
there are some amazing books. They're all on our book list,
by the way, on our website. If you go to
our website Women in Motorsports NA dot com and you
(39:56):
go to recommended reading, I've put all the books on
there that I I've read. We love that we have
an incredible history of women over the years, the decades,
the century. And that's to me. It isn't just I
love the ones about us now. I mean because of
social media, you can learn about Kaylee Brice that you
can learn about Jade I don't know how to pronounce
(40:18):
her last name. You know, you can learn about these
young girls that are out there racing. But there have
been so many interesting women and of course, you know,
Cindy did the three documentaries. Everybody knows Shirley Muldowney, but
not everybody knew Betty's skeleton, and we actually had given
Betty An Award when I had you know, we used
to have our women in the Winter Circle events and
you know, so in Paula Murphy, I mean I had
(40:40):
heard of Paula Murphy, but to be honest, I didn't
know if she was really legit or not hit the
jet she is, So I mean, you know, I think
besides the ones of the today's world, I think we
do need to take a moment in Women's History Month
is the time to do that and reflect back on
the past and do a little homework because because there's
some fascinating stories and I think at least what I
(41:03):
see on Facebook is they're just constantly new people that
I never heard of, he popping up, you know again
from the history. And I tell our young drivers, you
know that they need to know that there were somebody
before them, you know, so that because a lot of
them think they're the first things, that the best thing,
the first thing is that slice bread, you know. And
one that comes to mind that somebody posted recently and
(41:25):
who I broke my heart was Kara Hendrick, who was
an unbelievable you know, she was literally at the Jeff
Gordon era was competitive with the Jeff Gordon in fidgets,
and I think she did some spread car stuben and
midgets and so you know, and then unfortunately, while she
was leading a race and setting records, she was killed
(41:46):
in a crash. So you know, there's some that like
that that just never got you know. And I used
to give a Kara Hendrick Award every year at my
Driver Development because I wanted every young driver that came
through the program Danica Patrick was what are the recipients
of it? I wanted them to know that about her
and that she existed. I also wanted them to know
(42:06):
that you could lose your life doing this, because sometimes
that was sort of not ever wanted to be talking about.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
So do your homework, people, It's exactly why I asked
that question, not just for me selfishly because I love
to read so it gives me ideas too, but everybody
else also, As you said.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
It's very very important, very very important.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Gosh, Lynn, we could talk about so much more, but
I respect and I love the time that we've had today.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
I feel like we covered a lot of.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Ground and a short amount of time, which again kind
of like women is doing. So how about that we
tie it back in? But I appreciate it so much.
Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Well, thank you for for inviting me and for asking
me to be on your show, and you know, and
thank you for your career too, And you know you
you're one of those that have just you've been there.
I know you've been there a long time, and you
know you continued to not only survive, but thrive, I think,
and so so keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Thank you. I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Come a little bolder, girl, Come a little bit bolder.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
I'm working on it a little bit more every year.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Once again, my appreciation to Lynn for coming on the podcast.
We had about a forty five minute window, and I
wanted to jam as much as possible into that as
I could. Lynn is a fantastic speaker, mentor just again
an icon in what she did on the racetrack and
what she's now doing off the racetrack, and I just
really wanted to get her input on the female and
(43:35):
racing landscape. So I appreciate her coming on the show.
I hope that it was an enjoyable conversation for Lynn.
I know I enjoyed it. I thought it was very insightful,
and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. My
appreciation as well to Cindy System for coordinating and sending
my request along to Lynn to do the podcast. I
appreciate you both very much. A couple of websites to
(43:56):
check out go to Lynn Saint James dot com. I
mentioned in the opening of the show. You will find
so much information on Lynn's website, not only her incredibly
jam packed bio which includes what she has done on
the racetrack, but it will show all of the awards
and recognition that she has gotten over the years, from
(44:18):
going to the White House to the many different Hall
of Fames she has been inducted into. There's also information
on there about her being an author, a public speaker,
a coach and mentor the broadcast work that she has
done as well motivational speaking.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
She has a blog on there.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
You can also buy her book that is listed on
there as well. So that's Lynnsaint James dot com. WOMNA
Women in Motorsports North America, which we.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Also talked about. Go to their website.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Men and women can support WOMNA, you can be involved.
It's a great organization. I said that earlier. I'm a
part of it or I support it. However it works.
I've got my jackets, i got my beanies, I've got
my vest I go to the events in Indianapolis, the
summit at the end of the year, and it's a
fantastic group, everyone working so hard to just make this
(45:10):
a better place for women in motorsports. And again that's
for all disciplines, not just being a race car driver.
That myself, being a media member, pit crew members, public relations, marketing.
The list is endless of how females can be involved
in racing and this group goes a long way and
just helping, network, support, finding opportunities, whatever it may be.
(45:30):
If you want to check that out and support WOMNA,
you can go to Women in Motorsports NA dot com
and once again, just so much information on there from
all the news, education, the events, resources, advocacy networks.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
There's also the Shiro Award.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You can go on and learn about that and make nominations.
So Women in Motorsports NA dot com and Lynnsaint James
dot com are my two pieces of homework that I'm
giving all of you today, all right, So with that,
if you enjoy the conversation, let me know what you think.
I thought it was sosightful one of my favorite conversations.
Lynn is absolutely fantastic. So go to social media you
can interact with me there. My ex handle is at
(46:07):
Kelly crandall. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.
Very easy to find me. I say that every week
because it is true. Please find me on social media.
Let me know what you think. Thank you for clicking, listening, downloading.
Hopefully you have hit the subscribe button or the follow
up button so new episodes will appear in your feed
when they become available. And again, thank you for the support.
So I hope you enjoyed the episode. Appreciate you clicking
(46:29):
and listening. Go support Lynn, go support women in Motorsports
North America, and continue supporting the Racing Writers podcast. And
with that, we'll be back soon with a brand new episode.
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall our guest today is the absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
And iconic Lynn Saint James.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
For those who don't know, and I highly recommend you
learn as much about Lynn as possible, go to her website.
It's a great place to do that because it's packed
jam full with so much information. But Lynn is the
nineteen ninety two Indianapolis five hundred Rookie of the Year.
She's the first woman to win that award. She's competed
in multiple Indy five hundreds. She's got sportscar experience such
as running the twenty four hours of Daytona. She has
(00:37):
a twelve hours of Seabring Wind. She's also competed in
the twenty four hours of Lama and Nuremberg Ring. Her
accomplishments are incredible across the motorsports world, as well as
just her presence and what she has done for racing
for women in the space. Lynn is also the co
founder of Women in Motorsports North America, an organization close
(00:57):
to my heart, something I love to support, I love
to be a part of. For those who don't know, WIMNA,
as it's affectionately known as is a community of professional
women and men who are devoted to supporting opportunities for
females in racing in all disciplines by creating an inclusive,
resourceful environment that includes mentorship, education, growth, advocacy, everything along
(01:21):
those lines to encourage more women to be involved in
racing and not just as a driver like Lynn was.
In our conversation today, we talk a little bit about
whether Lynn thought in the year twenty twenty five that
women in racing would it would be a different landscape
than it is right now. We talk a little bit
about WOMNA, We talk about her recent induction into the
(01:41):
National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, as well as
a topic close to me, being a NASCAR person, of
the female ladder system and getting more females into NASCAR
and into.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
The Cup Series level.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So fantastic conversation with Lynn. I hope you enjoy it.
Let's jump into it. Here's lind Saint Jay on the
Racing Writers Podcast. I have been too shy because we
have seen each other. I enjoy the interactions that we've had,
and yes, this is the first time we're going to
(02:16):
sit down and have a really more in depth conversation.
And that's just all my fault in that has nothing to.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Do with you.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You're a little intimidating.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
No, don't say that. And I mean, you're in the media,
for God's sake. You cannot afford to be shy for
one thing, you know, miss lady. You got to be
bold to get the articles or the interviews or whatever
you want to call it from everybody. But anyway, I mean,
I respectful they hear you, but it baffles me because
it just does. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That is just my personality.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And it's interesting, as you pointed out, to have that
personality and a job like this where you do have
to approach people and be very outgoing and get the
story and not be afraid to ask people the questions.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So we're going to do that today. I'm going to
ask the questions. So I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Start offs, go for it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I wanted to start off by asking You're coming off
a weekend where I know you were at Phoenix Raceway
for a bit. I don't know if you were there
for the whole weekend, but you had a wonderful panel
on Friday, I believe, and I didn't get to of
course see it because I wasn't there, but I wanted
to ask how it went because I saw the pictures
and it seemed like it was very well received and
very engaging.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It was. It was very last minute, I mean literally,
and Brooked shared that during the the I guess it
was streamed as well. But Brooks Schuman, who I think
is the chairman or the head of the you know,
NASCAR actually has a women in Nascar group they have
about what did she tell me, Oh, don't quote me
on the number, like two hundred and forty or three
hundred and forty members, which is that of the ergs
(03:41):
that they have. I don't forget what ERG stands for,
but because I was talking to somebody else about ergs
that I'm like, I'm acting like I know. Anyway, she
said of all of the ergs within NASCAR that they
are the largest and the most active, and they've only
been around since COVID, so it's only been a couple
of years. But she put that together with the track
and I mean, originally we're gonna have Isabella, who then
(04:03):
ended up being at the ARCA driver's meeting during that window,
and it was the window, you know what I mean
how you know, how that stuff goes, and so she
pulled it all together. And then Catherine was supposed to
be there. Then her plane got delayed, and so then
you know, obviously Latasha was there. And then oh my god, Danielle,
the gal that came in that does PRN.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Radio PRN or serious XM. Danielle that I know is
daniel Trotta. I don't know if that's who you mean, No.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
That's not it's not her, I don't think. But oh god,
this is embarrassing. Anyway, she came in and did a
fantastic job. In fact, I gave her my card because
she turns out she lives here. She lives in Phoenix.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Oh was that Heather de Bo?
Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's it, that's it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Oh, Heather's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yes, she's wonderful. I'm like, I mean I listened. I
was sitting next to it, and I just listened to her,
and I'm like, oh my god, this is the real deal.
I mean, she talked about Manzanita, and you know, I mean,
this is like, this is who Yeah, yeah, you know,
I was like that became her cheering section on the
stage up there. But anyway, it was well received. I
think International Women's Day. I mean, it was the day before,
(05:07):
but I mean I think, you know, people are starting
to catch on, which gives me great joy. I can
remember for so many years, you know, it's Women's History Month,
nobody at motorsports cares where Now that's you know, to
see that kind of energy, and now we're kind of
working with them. So women in Motorsports North America is
working with women in DASCAR, and that's exactly fulfilling my
(05:29):
vision of how of what women women in Motorsports North
America should be. We can't fix everything, or not that
everything needs fixed, but I mean, we don't have the
bandwidth to do everything in spite of what Cindy system says,
so you know what I mean. But what I really
am hoping is that we're you know, we're poking or
(05:50):
stimulating or encouraging. If everybody does something that fits their organization,
then that's how all ships will rise, you know, I mean.
And so if we can just be there to assist
or to you know, to partner with or to augment
or whatever you want to call it, then you know,
then I feel like that's really what women is about,
(06:13):
is that we're here to you know, to kind of elevate, celebrate, connect,
you know, enable, you know that our wonderful things that
we are kind of our buzzwords, so that we can
help everybody, help all women, but also help every organization
grow organically or in a way that suits them, because
it's all different. I mean, it's all motorsports. But as
(06:35):
you well know, NHR is different than NEWSAC, that's different
than Indy Car, that's different than and it's different than NASCAR.
And then every racetrack has their own culture, so to speak,
depending on what part of the country they're in and
what type of racing they provide, so you know, everybody's
a little bit of an island, and then they all
compete against each other. But in this particular case, I
(06:56):
think this is one topic the growth of sports by
encouraging more women to come into it. It's a universal
message that everybody's you know, everybody can benefit from. But
everybody's got to put their toe in the water and
do something right.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And I've heard you say before Lynn that there are
so many talented women out there that can compete, whether
it's open wheel, NASCAR and so on. Drag racing of course,
particularly the NASCAR piece which I love that you just
said there that women is now working closer with NASCAR.
I think that will be excellent. I did want to
ask you on that. When it comes to, of course,
(07:31):
the pool of women stock car drivers, it's not very big, right,
We've seen that over the years. We are still looking
for who's going to be the next full time talented
female stock car driver at the Cup series level? A.
What is your outlook on that? And along those same lines,
what are the conversations that you have, if at all,
(07:53):
with either female race car drivers that have aspirations to
go to NASCAR or any conversations you have with folks
in NASCAR of how can we make this happen?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
There's a lot of content in that question, meaning then
there's a lot of content in that answer. Well, I have.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's not simple, it's just right like that.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
No, it isn't. It's not only that isn't not simple,
but it's it's it's not it's a difficult. So in
my conversations with NASCAR, I mean, NASCAR is an organization
and there's a lot of people there, right. Do I
have the ability to talk to Steve Phelps, Yes, you know,
but you know we are First of all, when I'm
talking about WOMNA, we're really representing all women in all disciplines.
(08:37):
And I've had to learn to get out of my
own way. And because I'm really obviously the one the
thing I still care about the most of the women drivers.
So when I'm talking maybe even to a Steve Phelps,
it's really more about WOMNA and about the industry and
you know, and then you know, learning about women in NASCAR,
and you know, so that's us working with NASCAR. When
(08:59):
I put my I had race car driver on and
I then got to kind of revert back before women existed,
you know. And but so that's kind of not a
really good answer though, because but when I put my
race car driver hat on, I have to be careful
because I could answer that if I wasn't a part
of women anymore, I get answer that I can really
(09:20):
give you my opinion, my opinion, right, But you know,
I feel that I have a responsibility not to represent
an organization and a board and people who are all
trying to again to get all ships to rise. Right,
So I'm really dancing around this.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But okay, because sometimes I think to what you're what
you're trying to say there is you have your opinion,
but sometimes it would be more hurtful than helpful to
publicly maybe dig into that a topic like that. Is
what I'm is what I'm taking away from that sort.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Of I mean, I can't represent. No, it's not some method.
It's what was the word.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
You used, hurtful more than helpful, not hurtful.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
It is that I can't represent the organization. I can
represent my opinion. It's not that it's hurtful. It's just
that I can't speak on behalf of Lisa Boggs from
you know, Firestone and Beth and you know our co founder,
and I can't speak on behalf of all of them
on this topic. You know, I can only speak on
(10:19):
my knowledge in my opinion. So I think maybe that's
the way to handle it. I'm going to give you
my opinion to that answer. But please don't necessarily indicate
that this is Wimna's represents a response. NASCAR is a
culture onto its own, as is NHR AS is not
(10:39):
so much. MS is a little more broader. I think
it brought it has a broader culture to it internationally.
Age you know, again, I really look at the sport.
As all of these different forms of motorsports, they all
have a culture, and the culture of NASCAR. I mean,
I can remember a number of years ago when I
(11:02):
was doing my driver development program and I would still
say this today. If you want to work in NASCAR,
move to Charlotte. So there's number one. That's where the
teams are. And if you don't live in Charlotte, at
least live in the South because it is you can
come from other There have been isolated cases, and they
love to talk about those from Minnesota and the West Coast,
(11:24):
you know, but let's face it, it is still a
very insular kind of culture and family. It's really almost
a family. And so you know, so that's the beginning
is you've got to embed. It's like, if you want
to go Formula one racing, move to Europe, right, learn
the tracks over there. You know, race in the lower
(11:47):
levels so that you learn the tracks that way. Don't
just show up as your sub superstar. Got to go
race in Formula one. You know, I don't care how
great you may be here. And you know, and I
think they're learning that the Formula one drivers need to
come over and move to Indianapolis. If they're going to
run Indy, you know. So there we have to understand
that every former motorsports has its culture, and if you
(12:08):
want to be a NASCAR driver, then you better embed
yourself in that culture. You better also that the challenge,
the biggest challenge I think NASCAR has. And I've told
anybody who cares to ask over there, or even if
they don't ask, I've told them love that their ladder
which doesn't really exist, and they know that. I've talked
(12:30):
to Ben you know, Kennedy about this. I mean they've
asked me. He did ask me, actually, is that their
so called ladder doesn't exist. They have short tracks. They
have all of these tracks all over the country that
they that stock cars drivers race in. Very few of
those actually go and become Cup drivers. They become veteran
(12:51):
they whatever short track the country where they live in
or where they race every weekend. They're the kings and
the queens hopefully of those there, but many of them
are pissed off. They did want to go to the Cup,
but they didn't have the money and they didn't have whatever.
The dah da da dah.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, that ladder, as you said, isn't actually there for them.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You're right, you know, And it's not that they're stuck there.
It's just that they are kind of stuck there so
many times by choice, because I'd rather be the king
of a you know, or the queen of a little
mountain than to not be successful to get to the
top of the big.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Mountain and spending a lot more money.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, the money that many times you don't have. So
then you because it exists. Though. That's how you got
to learn, is you got to run those short tracks.
And everybody knows that when these youngsters come in, and
in most cases that's the other problem that I believe
exists is that this sport, NASCAR, not just NASCAR, this
sport wants too young. They want these young kids. They
(13:49):
want these eighteen nineteen twenty twenty two year old kids.
And you know, when you drop an eighteen nineteen twenty
one year old kid at a short track anywhere that
is a NASCAR short track, and they're competing against these
veterans who've been there for years and years and years, Hey,
I'm gonna let that kid know what the hell this
is all about. You know, they make it really tough.
(14:10):
They hate them in most cases because they're coming in
and taking a space because they know that those those
young drivers are only there for one purpose, just to
show that they got their stuff and learn what they
can't and they're out of there. They're gonna then think
that they're hot shoes and they're going to go to
the top. So it's just the embedded process that's happened.
And this has happened over years and years because there
(14:32):
was no plan. It was just that's how it happened. Well,
you know, over these years, they've gone younger. Over these years,
the veteran short trackers have just become veterans short tractors
and stayed where they are. They didn't come up through
the ladder. And then when you get up to the ladder,
when you get up to cup level, you ain't You're
(14:53):
there forever. You know. It isn't like you're going to
just be there for four or five years and then
there's a new crop coming in. So, you know, those
veteran cup drivers they're there now until their fifties, you
know what I mean, Like Jimmy, he comes back, you know, So,
I mean, I just think they've got a problem. They
(15:15):
don't have a ladder, they don't have a youth program
where kids actually race like junior dragsters or like quarter
I mean they have quarter midgets. Sort of they're trying
to do a youth program, you know, but they're kind
of not really. I mean, they're working with USAC, I
think on the quarter midgets, but they don't have go karts.
They don't have an absolute base of youth racing that
(15:39):
leads to the higher levels of NASCAR. You have drop ins,
so you have the kids that have maybe either were
raised in the Southeast somewhere or raised in Charlotte. And
I mean the one I'm watching right now who I
just absolutely admired Adore and he's like the model is
Connor's illage. I mean, he is from Charlotte, he is,
(16:01):
you know, but he's got incredible talent. He's paid his
dues running Mazda m X five Cup, you know. I mean,
he's run you know, different and yet what he shows
up he's got the talent and experience and he's embedded
himself in the culture. Even though he's not a good
old boy. I mean, he's not just some good old
(16:22):
boy kid, you know what I mean, but he he
still is from that area. I don't know if he's
from that area forever, but I know that you know,
he's been living in Charlotte for quite a while. But
you got to hang out with you got to you
got to be where the you got to go fishing,
where the fish are, and you've got to you know,
you've got to be there. And I just think that
is just hard for a lot of people to understand
(16:45):
and relocate. I mean, it's some of the Olympic sports
where the training centers are. You know, you have to move.
I mean I've read it and heard about you know,
ice skaters that moved when Texas I think was in Houston,
which was where the big training center was, or you know,
I mean, you've got to embeds yourself in whatever culture
you decide you want to race it, or whatever you're
from in the country, is the kind of racing you do.
(17:08):
And if you're running the Whalen Series up in the Northeaster,
you're running some sprint cars and dirt. I mean, I
feel I'm looking at a Kaylie Brison who's from Oklahoma
but has now decided I guess I just talked to her.
Finally got a chance to talk to her at Seabring
and she's moving to or she's moved to Indianapolis, you know,
(17:28):
and she's twenty one or twenty two, I think, you know,
so she's kind of well, she's over twenty one, let's
just put the way, so she's got some ability to
maybe do some things on her own and not totally
dependent on her family, you know, because when you're still
living at home, you're gonna live where the family lives,
right And so there's just a lot of those, Those
(17:51):
are hurdles that get in the way, you know, of success.
Besides money. Everybody knows it's always about money, but it's
those a lot of them. It's the cultural I mean.
And I remember Bill Elliott telling me, I mean this
is we're going now back to the eighties, and I mean,
there's nobody more Southern than Bill Elliott. And I remember
him telling me Lynn because I was thinking he really
(18:12):
had not an easy way because he's you know, he's
a great driver, and he knows his cars, and he
had a family, you know, I mean, he kind of
had all of what I call the ingredients. He goes, Man,
it was tough in the beginning, and they don't want
you to run you ain't going to run. I'm like, really,
you know, I mean, if you aren't, if you're coming
in from the way they perceived that, they meaning the
(18:34):
existing camp, the existing pool of drivers that you're going
to run with thirty what is it, thirty six weekends
a year if you actually do get a full season
ride there, even at that level, they're gonna we look
at all the complaining they're making about this kid, I
don't remember his name now that they're all kids, but
you know this that crashed some people out he did it.
(18:57):
I think he crashed again at Phoenix, but I don't know.
But I mean, you know, you're a target when you
come in new and so ah, it is a challenge
figuring all of that out besides just the see time
and the funding and then you know, the race teams
and all of that. So how NASCAR can fix that
(19:21):
if in fact they feel like they need to fix that,
Either that or I think it's up to the responsibility.
If you're passionate enough about racing and you're a female,
then you've got to figure out how to learn the system,
understand what the system is, and work within the system.
And because I don't think the system is going to
(19:43):
change that much night.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I love that dissection. I think that you were.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That's a very complicated answer. I hope it kind of
made some sense.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
No, And that's what I was just about to say.
It's a it's a long answer, but it's I feel
like it's a very well thought out, articular answer, and
to me it makes sense. And maybe it makes sense
because I'm in NASCAR and I can see it. I
know exactly what you're talking about. When when you were
going through your career and you had a very fruitful career,
that's how I would describe it, you know, the seventies
and the eighties, and here we are in twenty twenty
(20:11):
five talking about this. Did you think, when with what
you experienced than when you were going through your career
and also seeing others, you know, maybe a Janet Guthrie,
and I mean the list goes on, did you think,
as I said in twenty twenty five, it would be
different at this point or does this unfortunately not surprise you.
Kind of the landscape of women in racing.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It doesn't surprise me. Disappoints me, but it doesn't surprise me.
You know, we're still still a numbers game to a
certain degree. I always said the reason why there aren't
more women successful in racing is because more guys show up,
you know. I mean there's just more guys, you know,
And then the numbers alone put us at a disadvantage.
(20:55):
I mean, there's just for every female that is carcentric,
I mean even when I go to car shows now
or concours and things like that. Yeah, there are a
lot a lot of women who are interested in cars,
who are car girls. There are a lot of women
who own cars and drive cars, and even some of
them want to race cars, and some of them are races.
But for every female, there's at least one hundred, if
(21:15):
not two hundred guys. So when you're working on this
imbalance of you know, just the numbers alone in the odds,
it's really hard. And then, you know, and I have
a couple of other theories from doing all those years,
what twenty years of driver development program, is that I've
noticed that if these young females that had the aspirations
and had been racing go carts maybe since they were
(21:37):
you know, usually then back then it was maybe they
didn't start till they were ten. I'll use like a
daelic of Patrick who started racing go cards at ten,
but now they're starting you know, five and six. But
is that by the time and I worry about this
a little bit, by the time they turn eighteen and
eighteen or twenty, they've been doing this for maybe ten
plus years, right, And I kind of think that sometimes
girls are smarter than the average bears and they go,
(22:01):
you know, maybe there's something else out there. I mean,
you know, they whether it's education, whether it's another sport,
whether it's a job, whether it's a career. I don't
know that they get not just distracted, but sometimes they
get burned out. I mean they've you know, they've a
lot of those teenage years that kids that girls are
you know that are kind of hanging out with other
(22:21):
girls that they didn't do all that because they were
going to the races. And even if they get into
their like early twenties, again, the sport wants so young.
If they haven't really shined, they haven't really gotten a
really excited deal of some sort, by then they go
on to something else. And I don't mean to say
this to criticize the guys, but it's my observation because
(22:42):
I've talked to a lot of these young guys. They
don't know what else to do. They don't have anything
else to do. They they're not distracted other than maybe
by girls. They're not distracted.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
They don't have backup plans.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
They don't have a plan being that's a better way
to put it, you know, where the girls start to
develop some plan b's. I mean, I just think we
are well more well rounded as humans and unless you
have truly I mean, I'm thinking of somebody like a
Courtney Crone who I've known since she was like fourteen,
and I'm so happy that she's down, you know, on
the F one Academy and she's going to maybe get
(23:19):
some opportunity to show her things. But I mean, I
don't exactly know how she has done, and she just
had a birthday. But let's say she's in her mid twenties,
I mean, and she's kind of ebbed and flowed, you know.
I mean when I met her, she was, Oh, this
is all I'm going to do, and I'm going to
do this all. Then you know, she started doing instructing
and working because she had to, you know, she had
to find a way to make some bucks. She stayed
(23:41):
in the sport but you know, it didn't all come
together for her yet, and I don't think she's fully realized.
I mean, I think is Saber Cook, who I started
working with when she was like seventeen or eighteen. She's
thirty now, and I think she's finally coming into her
own as a race car driver, you know what I mean,
And she's still I was just with her and I
can still see she has that passion in that commitment.
(24:02):
But yet you know how far she'll really go, I
don't know, but I think she could have gone a
lot for I think she still has huge potential and
she just turned thirty. I mean, I could really see
her running IndyCars. She's fit, she's smart, and I mean
she's running Porsches right now. So you know, I think
the developmental process of women versus boys versus girls, let's
(24:26):
call it, because we're talking about the development years, we
do develop differently physically and emotionally and mentally, and I
think women maybe peak a little later. I don't sure
the guys sometimes ever peak. They just you know, it's
just different. They're just different in that way, and that's good.
Hurt the progress of women and young girls, I think
(24:50):
really progressing and realizing their full potential. I mean, I mean,
here's Catherine at forty I think I just read she's
forty four, so I mean, and she's kind of exploding
trying to, you know, still squeeze the last bit of
you know, potential greatness out of you know, out of
her career. And so it's it's a tough game to
(25:11):
figure out, and it is a brutal game. And you
you really, I'm blessed when I think back. I didn't
start racing till I was twenty seven, and that's probably
not replicable today.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, it would be unheard of today, right.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
To get where I you know, where I ended up
getting and for the sustaining what I was able to sustain.
But thank god I had a little bit of maturity.
I was running a business. I mean, I you know,
I could process a lot of things that I could
never have prosted at eighteen, nineteen or twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
This could be something that we could just keep digging
more and more into. But I don't want to waste
our entire time talking about it. No, No, you're fine,
You're fine. I just want to respect again the timeframe
that I had asked for so I don't I don't
want to miss out on some other stuff I want
to ask about. We had mentioned WIMNA, and you know,
I'm a supporter. I think it's done great things in
a short amount of time. When you start thinking now
further down the path, lind and start, you know, kind
(26:06):
of trying to imagine where it's going to be in
this landscape. What do you think that long term impact
of WOMNA and everything you all are doing there, just
based off of, again a short amount of time, what
you've accomplished, What do you think that means for the
long term success of kind of the role that WOMENA
can play in the motorsports landscape.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
You know, I really don't know. I am absolutely blown
away at the traction that we've gotten in a couple
of years. You know, we're just I think we're just
celebrating our third anniversary of existence. And I will continue
to say I want to respond to what the industry
wants and needs as opposed to me, Oh, this is
what we're going to do, and this is what women's about,
(26:46):
and this is I'm not trying to build an organization.
I'm trying to make a difference. I'm trying to put
people together who are in the sport already to figure
out how to make the difference, how to get more
women successful in motorsports and sort of the second part,
how to help the women who are already in it
to become more successful. How can we get more Julie
(27:08):
Geeses or more you know, where you get the women
Julie when you when I've met her, when she came
out here to Phoenix and I realized how long ago
she worked at Watkins Glenn and then how she you know,
I mean she's a veteran of the sport, but you know,
then she became president of the you know, of the
Chicago and they've they've given her great responsibility because she
proved that she could handle it when she you know,
(27:30):
helped do the whole thing at Phoenix while she was
doing that really literally from Daytona. So how do we
find those that are already in the sport and try
to help them if we can, if they want to,
Because the other problem is not everybody wants to be
you know, the big cheese, you know, I mean, they
just are very happy with their careers. And so I
(27:51):
want the sport to reach out to us and say
this is what we need. And that's why we love
to have partners like Bosh where we're doing their electrify
their careers, you know, so that is their model of
what they want to do. We're helping them do that.
You know. Some of the initiatives like the Shero Award, well, yeah,
that was a brainstorm that I had because I had
Billy g and King as my Shero, and I think
(28:11):
we have more Sheros out there. Let's talk about them
and help. But in most really the answer to that
question is I want the industry to tell us what
they need and what they want, and we'll do the Well,
if it's research, we'll do the research. If it's you know,
if it's if it's internships or scholarships, we'll figure that out.
If it's job fairs, we'll help figure that. We'll help
them figure that out, you know. So as opposed to
(28:36):
us knowing all the answers and then saying, well, this
is what we're gonna do, so, I think we need
to be flexible and we need to be responsive to
what the industry needs.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Through WIMNA, I would feel like Lynn that this has
given a younger generation a chance to learn either more
about you or just who you are if they didn't
already know you. I could be wrong, but but that's
I feel like this is this through again, through your
your presence and through WOMNA, that that the opportunity is there.
(29:11):
So along those same lines, what type of reception do
you get when you pop in at racetracks? Because again,
it's not just NASCAR, it's not just drag racing. You
are all over the place. WOMNA is all over the place.
It's not a one trick pony. What is the reception
when you are in a garage or visiting a race,
or or doing an event and people get to either
(29:33):
interact with you or listen to you being involved in
a program.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, that's a good question, and I hadn't really thought
of it that way, But you're right. Prior to WOMNA,
if you were around the sport for any you know,
really length of time, you knew who lind Saint James was,
and I could show up and you know and I
how are you? Oh, yeah, I'm lund Saint James. And
you know, maybe fifty to fifty chance that they go,
oh you know, or oh really you know? I mean,
(29:59):
they don't that doesn't mean anything. So and I never
assumed that people do the longer the years would buy. So,
you know, but the veteran people, race fans or people
that have been in the industry a long time knew
who lind Say James was. So I have to admit
that things have changed. And you're right, I mean, and
I just came back from Amelia Island to Concord yesterday.
(30:24):
It was just there and Saturday Sunday. And I still
kind of blame and give credit to Bill Warner because
when I became the honoree at Amelia, that is what
sort of blew open the minds of people that remember
who lind Say James was, you know, and putting me
I mean, that just brought me back to life again
because when career was now being celebrated, and then COVID hit,
(30:47):
and then I met Beth and then we created WEBNA.
I mean, it's kind of been this, you know, and
I was adducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame and
so there was there's been this moment, but the pivot,
the tipping point with Amelia Island getting the honorary being
the honor read Amelia Island, and I almost tear up
when I say it, because I just came from hanging
(31:09):
out with David Hobbs and Derek Bell and Bobby Rayhall
and Pearly. Hey what these were my heroes. These were
my heroes, and I'm now sitting on the stage with them.
I mean, I'm used to being in the audience celebrating them.
And it was still hard, you know, because I don't
still feel like I'm one of them. But I just
(31:30):
realized maybe I don't know. So it has changed, you know,
But I think it started with Amelia Island and it
has continued on and then women kicked it open big
time where people are and you're right, younger people, because
we are reaching out to younger people, right, And I
(31:50):
know in ninety percent of the time they have no
idea who I am and so, but at least now
they know they have no idea what I did. Yes,
they know who I am now, they know the name,
and they know that they need to think that I
might be important, but they don't necessarily know why. Right.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
That's a good segue into something else I wanted to
bring up where you were talking about the honors that
you've had and you mentioned a Hall of Fame. First off,
you are in many hall of fames. It's not just one.
I was impressed reading through the list. The most recent
one is the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.
And I have waited and saved this question for right here,
so it will be on the record for other people
to hear it as well who were not in the
(32:29):
room that night when you gave your speech, because this
is the part that set out to me. Very early
in your speech, Lynn, you had made a comment that
that honor made you feel and I'm paraphrasing, I don't
I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Your exact quotes, so you're listening of what I heard.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Right, But it has stuck with me since then. But
you said something to the effect of that honor made
you feel a part of the motorsports family for the
first time in a long time, and that hit me
right in the heart. And I don't even know if
I remember the rest of your speech, but because that
part just stuck with me, and again, I wrote it
down and I wanted to ask. So that's basically my question,
just where where did that feeling come from? And I
(33:07):
guess why was it that moment that made you feel
part of the motorsports family, whereas we're talking about you've
been doing all these other things. So I guess, on
one hand, I kind of found it hard to believe
as much as it also just hit me in the
heart of how amazing it was to say that.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
You said that.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Well, I mean, it's just how I feel because I
think because that's motorsports, that's the motor First of all,
I didn't I thought it was only for media people.
I didn't do the research until Deb called me. I'm like,
why I'm not in the media.
Speaker 4 (33:35):
You know, you're not the only one.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
So anyway, I got over that, and then when I
saw who is you know what I mean, And I mean,
there's Richard Petting in the audience, for God's sake, you know.
And I'm kind of getting jills right now because that's different.
I mean, it's nothing. One is not better than the
other or bigger than the other. But I mean, getting
into the Automotive Hall of Fame, I have to admit.
I mean, to me, that was incredibly because I've never
(34:00):
would imagine and so and I mean, sorry, but you
know Sebring Hall of Fame, Well, you know I won
Sebring once and I've run Seabring like seven times, and
you know, and I used I mean that was cool, okay,
and some of the other halls of fame, and I'm
not putting them down, but it's just you know, the
Florida because I lived in Florida. I mean, you know, yeah,
it looks good on a resume, but this was motorsports,
(34:21):
you know, the Motorsports pres Association. That's I mean, it
doesn't get any more motorsports than that. The media controls
pretty much what motorsports is perceived, how it's perceived, and
I think that's kind of how I felt, you know,
because of who was there and who's in it, and
it was just being you know, being recognized as part
(34:46):
of the motorsports community and family and because it is family,
and everybody spoke to it that way, and it is
that way. I mean, families can be very dysfunctional. I
come from I'm an only child. I have no sisters
and brothers, you know, I come from very isolated kind
of you know, upbringing, so I don't have a big
sense of family. And so I've always felt respected by
(35:10):
people like by Kelton and John Doonan and Steve Phelpson,
some of the leaders and also crew members and co workers.
And you know, I mean, I've never said I've not
felt respected or you know, I've always felt that way.
But that's different than being invited to sit at the
table at dinner, you know, as part of the family,
versus invited to the party, but you know you're in
(35:32):
another room. I was finally in the room of the family.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It seemed like you very much enjoyed that night as well,
So that's not a question, it's just a statement I
was happy for That's that's what makes me as a
member and a former president who has put on that event.
That's what makes me the happiest is when the inductees
come and you can tell how much it means to
them and how much fun they're having. And it seemed
like you very much enjoyed that. So I was glad
to see that.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That was very nice, that it was very It was
an It was very nice, and I didn't have fun.
Jacket's a little weird, but that's I have a couple
of girlfriends who saw my postings that they went, where
did you get that jacket? Because they didn't see the Yeah,
you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
We've talked about we need to step the jacket game
up and make it a little maybe more modern and
uh kind of special, you know, like the Green jackets,
and like we we've got to we got up our game.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
We're not sure well right exactly exactly as.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
We wind own our time, Lynn, because again I know
we're coming up on it. You mentioned earlier about how
much International Women's Day means to you, and I've heard
you in the past speak about how much uh, women
and Girls in Sports Day matters to you. And it's
also a Women's History month too, so we're tying that
in as we record this. So that's where I wanted
(36:50):
to end, as I said to kind of wrap this up,
is given what March is, what it stands for, give
the listeners a little bit of homework in the sense
of who should they go learn about? Who would you
suggest that they read about during Women's History Month, or
who should be people that they want to look up
to or be inspired by.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Well, I mean my whole sort of thing about this though,
is that women's sports right now, is it at all
time high?
Speaker 4 (37:19):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:19):
And it has been I mean in my mind it's
been building, you know, So wohuld you look at women's
soccer and women's basketball, and you know, whether it's collegiate
or for the WNBA. I mean, we have women's tennis
and women's golf, I mean women's sports. I mean we've
got women played football, we got women hockey leagues, you know.
I mean it's wonderful, right because women can play and
are playing in all sports at all times of their life.
(37:42):
So celebrating I think has been that month for the
month of March is a great way besides learning about
other women outside of the sports. But sin sports is
kind of it's you know, that's my my box is
that women in racing, in motor sports have are not
part of that conversation. That's what has bothered me for
(38:04):
years is that, you know, so many other sports would
take leadership in celebrating the women in their sport, but
other than me, there weren't really this I'm talking about
like ten fifteen years ago, there were really no other
women celebrating women's history months, no other women in motorsports.
And I want us to be in that. I want
us to be in that conversation. There's all kinds of
(38:25):
conferences that go on. I'm not really answering your question
because this is something important to me. So there's all
kinds of conferences that go on in women's sports, in
women's leadership, in women's technology. Motorsports should be in that
convers they should be in that room. We should be represented,
Our engineers should be represented in women in technology and
women engineering, you know, women's sports conferences. They should have
(38:50):
race car drivers there or or women that work in
the industry, and we just aren't included. We're just not
even on the radar. And so but part of that
is our which is why I'm now happy to see
women race car drivers posting, you know, stuff about or women,
or sanctioning bodies or race teams posting and celebrating their women.
(39:11):
So that's going to help. We have to create awareness
that we exist outside of ourselves. So that's my big
reason why I get so excited about the fact that,
you know, we're now we're kind of on the radar now,
but we just got to keep pushing. But as far
as who to study, I mean, you got you know,
Billy Jean again taught me if you don't know your history,
you don't have a future. And when I learned about
hell Nice, who is the Bugatti Queen that is who
(39:34):
blew open. There's a book called The Bugatti Queen, and
when I read that book, that's what I created the
whole traveling exhibit on the history of Women in Racing
because I learned not only about her from the twenties,
but also other women that were racing back then. And
there are some amazing books. They're all on our book list,
by the way, on our website. If you go to
our website Women in Motorsports NA dot com and you
(39:56):
go to recommended reading, I've put all the books on
there that I I've read. We love that we have
an incredible history of women over the years, the decades,
the century. And that's to me. It isn't just I
love the ones about us now. I mean because of
social media, you can learn about Kaylee Brice that you
can learn about Jade I don't know how to pronounce
(40:18):
her last name. You know, you can learn about these
young girls that are out there racing. But there have
been so many interesting women and of course, you know,
Cindy did the three documentaries. Everybody knows Shirley Muldowney, but
not everybody knew Betty's skeleton, and we actually had given
Betty An Award when I had you know, we used
to have our women in the Winter Circle events and
you know, so in Paula Murphy, I mean I had
(40:40):
heard of Paula Murphy, but to be honest, I didn't
know if she was really legit or not hit the
jet she is, So I mean, you know, I think
besides the ones of the today's world, I think we
do need to take a moment in Women's History Month
is the time to do that and reflect back on
the past and do a little homework because because there's
some fascinating stories and I think at least what I
(41:03):
see on Facebook is they're just constantly new people that
I never heard of, he popping up, you know again
from the history. And I tell our young drivers, you
know that they need to know that there were somebody
before them, you know, so that because a lot of
them think they're the first things, that the best thing,
the first thing is that slice bread, you know. And
one that comes to mind that somebody posted recently and
(41:25):
who I broke my heart was Kara Hendrick, who was
an unbelievable you know, she was literally at the Jeff
Gordon era was competitive with the Jeff Gordon in fidgets,
and I think she did some spread car stuben and
midgets and so you know, and then unfortunately, while she
was leading a race and setting records, she was killed
(41:46):
in a crash. So you know, there's some that like
that that just never got you know. And I used
to give a Kara Hendrick Award every year at my
Driver Development because I wanted every young driver that came
through the program Danica Patrick was what are the recipients
of it? I wanted them to know that about her
and that she existed. I also wanted them to know
(42:06):
that you could lose your life doing this, because sometimes
that was sort of not ever wanted to be talking about.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
So do your homework, people, It's exactly why I asked
that question, not just for me selfishly because I love
to read so it gives me ideas too, but everybody
else also, As you said.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
It's very very important, very very important.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Gosh, Lynn, we could talk about so much more, but
I respect and I love the time that we've had today.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
I feel like we covered a lot of.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Ground and a short amount of time, which again kind
of like women is doing. So how about that we
tie it back in? But I appreciate it so much.
Thank you for doing this.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Well, thank you for for inviting me and for asking
me to be on your show, and you know, and
thank you for your career too, And you know you
you're one of those that have just you've been there.
I know you've been there a long time, and you
know you continued to not only survive, but thrive, I think,
and so so keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Thank you. I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
Come a little bolder, girl, Come a little bit bolder.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
I'm working on it a little bit more every year.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Once again, my appreciation to Lynn for coming on the podcast.
We had about a forty five minute window, and I
wanted to jam as much as possible into that as
I could. Lynn is a fantastic speaker, mentor just again
an icon in what she did on the racetrack and
what she's now doing off the racetrack, and I just
really wanted to get her input on the female and
(43:35):
racing landscape. So I appreciate her coming on the show.
I hope that it was an enjoyable conversation for Lynn.
I know I enjoyed it. I thought it was very insightful,
and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. My
appreciation as well to Cindy System for coordinating and sending
my request along to Lynn to do the podcast. I
appreciate you both very much. A couple of websites to
(43:56):
check out go to Lynn Saint James dot com. I
mentioned in the opening of the show. You will find
so much information on Lynn's website, not only her incredibly
jam packed bio which includes what she has done on
the racetrack, but it will show all of the awards
and recognition that she has gotten over the years, from
(44:18):
going to the White House to the many different Hall
of Fames she has been inducted into. There's also information
on there about her being an author, a public speaker,
a coach and mentor the broadcast work that she has
done as well motivational speaking.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
She has a blog on there.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
You can also buy her book that is listed on
there as well. So that's Lynnsaint James dot com. WOMNA
Women in Motorsports North America, which we.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Also talked about. Go to their website.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
Men and women can support WOMNA, you can be involved.
It's a great organization. I said that earlier. I'm a
part of it or I support it. However it works.
I've got my jackets, i got my beanies, I've got
my vest I go to the events in Indianapolis, the
summit at the end of the year, and it's a
fantastic group, everyone working so hard to just make this
(45:10):
a better place for women in motorsports. And again that's
for all disciplines, not just being a race car driver.
That myself, being a media member, pit crew members, public relations, marketing.
The list is endless of how females can be involved
in racing and this group goes a long way and
just helping, network, support, finding opportunities, whatever it may be.
(45:30):
If you want to check that out and support WOMNA,
you can go to Women in Motorsports NA dot com
and once again, just so much information on there from
all the news, education, the events, resources, advocacy networks.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
There's also the Shiro Award.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You can go on and learn about that and make nominations.
So Women in Motorsports NA dot com and Lynnsaint James
dot com are my two pieces of homework that I'm
giving all of you today, all right, So with that,
if you enjoy the conversation, let me know what you think.
I thought it was sosightful one of my favorite conversations.
Lynn is absolutely fantastic. So go to social media you
can interact with me there. My ex handle is at
(46:07):
Kelly crandall. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.
Very easy to find me. I say that every week
because it is true. Please find me on social media.
Let me know what you think. Thank you for clicking, listening, downloading.
Hopefully you have hit the subscribe button or the follow
up button so new episodes will appear in your feed
when they become available. And again, thank you for the support.
So I hope you enjoyed the episode. Appreciate you clicking
(46:29):
and listening. Go support Lynn, go support women in Motorsports
North America, and continue supporting the Racing Writers podcast. And
with that, we'll be back soon with a brand new episode.
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