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SPEED™ Quotes: Lyn St. James Concerning Danica Patrick And Women in Racing
Lyn St. James discusses Danica Patrick and women in racing on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain...
Megan Englehart  |  Posted February 22, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Dave Despain, the popular host of Wind Tunnel on SPEED. (Image: SPEED)
MY SPEED is devoted to the passionate fans who celebrate motorcycles, motorsports and the automotive lifestyle.

LYN ST. JAMES DISCUSSES DANICA PATRICK AND WOMEN IN RACING ON WIND TUNNEL WITH DAVE DESPAIN

St. James: “When Danica came through when she was 14 ... She was really extraordinary as far as her talent and she probably was one of the youngest that I’ve ever seen that I took through.”

Lyn St. James, former sports car, Champ car and IndyCar Series driver, was Dave Despain’s guest Sunday night on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain on SPEED. St. James, who runs the Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation, lent her perspective concerning Danica Patrick’s stock car venture and the challenges women drivers face. Before her foray into professional racing, Patrick participated in St. James’ program two times during her teenage years.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Despain: Women have been prominent in racing for years … you all convinced me that by now, 2010, there would be so many women not just driving race cars but winning races and winning championships that we wouldn’t even notice this anymore. Clearly, that is not what has happened with the obvious exception of drag racing. You tell me how you feel about the progress in general of women racers.

St. James: Well, the progress has been good, not as good as I wish it had been and as you just commented. It’s not for the lack of talent but there’s only so many top seats available in just about any type of racing, even drag racing, although more have been successful there. There are only so many seats. There’s a lot of guys vying for those seats. We just don’t have the depth yet. For every guy that’s out there, there are 10, 20 that are as good as that driver. For every female driver that maybe gets an opportunity like Danica, there’s not 10 or 20 that can take those seats. There are maybe a handful, I would say, that are as talented but maybe don’t have as much experience. It’s that grassroots level that we still have to have more experience, more depth of good opportunities with good rides so that when they get the good ride at the top level, they’re ready. I’m not about advocacy as much as I’m about training. I do my driver development program – I started it 15 years ago and it’s mostly off-track training and some physical fitness, mental preparation, media training, all the stuff you’ve got to know to be ready when you do get that opportunity. Danica came through our program when she was 14 and came back when she was 16 and we’ve had over 250 drivers coming from 38 states and five countries. So, I’m working on the behind-the-scenes stuff trying to make the drivers aware of what they need to know and how they need to prepare themselves for success.


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