Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Evening With A Legend: Lyn St. James

Transcript

Evening With A Legend: Lyn St. James · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Evening with the Legend is a series of presentations exclusive to
• 0:03
  Legends of the Famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, giving us an opportunity
• 0:07
  to bring a piece of Le Mans to you.
• 0:09
  By sharing stories and highlights of the big event, you get a chance
• 0:13
  to become part of the Legend of Le Mans, with guests from different
• 0:16
  eras of over 100 years of racing.
• 0:34
  Tonight, we have an opportunity to bring a piece of Le Mans to you,
• 0:38
  sharing in the legend of Le Mans with guests from different eras
• 0:41
  of over a hundred years of racing.
• 0:43
  And as your host, I'm delighted to introduce Lynn St.
• 0:47
  James, who's had an illustrious career and is one of the most successful
• 0:51
  female race car drivers in history.
• 0:53
  She would take home titles in races like the 12 Hours of Sebring,
• 0:56
  the 24 Hours of Rolex, and the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring.
• 0:59
  And during that time, she would attempt the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice
• 1:04
  at a pivotal time in Le Mans history.
• 1:06
  Later, in 1992, the mold wasn't just broken, it was shattered.
• 1:11
  And at the age of 45, proving that neither gender nor age in motorsports matters,
• 1:16
  she entered the Indianapolis 500 and earned the title of Rookie of the Year.
• 1:20
  And she's here tonight to share her Le Mans journey with us.
• 1:23
  With you.
• 1:24
  And with that, I'm crew chief Eric from the motoring podcast network, welcoming
• 1:27
  everyone to this evening with a legend.
• 1:29
  So Lynn, welcome to the show.
• 1:31
  Well, thank you very much.
• 1:32
  And I'm coming to you from Indianapolis.
• 1:34
  I'm from another historical race in the history of motorsports, but it's great
• 1:37
  to be here and to talk about Le Mans.
• 1:39
  To catch up on all the things I described in the introduction, if you
• 1:43
  don't know about Lynn's epic journey in motorsports, you can actually return
• 1:46
  to BreakFix episode number 142, which was released at On September the 6th
• 1:50
  of 2022, so you can get caught up, but we're going to jump forward to 1989.
• 1:56
  So Lynn talk us through your road to Lamar.
• 1:59
  You were known for having year by year contracts.
• 2:02
  So how did you strike a deal for a seat at Lamar?
• 2:05
  Wasn't easy.
• 2:05
  It was like a dream.
• 2:07
  If someday I thought if I could even just go to Lamar and then
• 2:09
  obviously race at Lamar, and it really wasn't part of my Ford deal at all.
• 2:13
  So in other words, it was under contract in 1988 and a few years
• 2:17
  before that, obviously, but.
• 2:18
  In 1988, I was under contract as a racer for Ford Motor Company.
• 2:21
  Ford wasn't doing any primary sponsorships or funding or
• 2:25
  anything at Le Mans at that time.
• 2:26
  They really had no interest in even having the conversation.
• 2:31
  I was going to have to go outside of that and do this independently.
• 2:33
  And even though I was under contract to race for them.
• 2:36
  So a friend of mine who has been very, very instrumental actually,
• 2:39
  and helpful in my career and also many other drivers careers is John
• 2:43
  Gorslein from the Gorslein company.
• 2:45
  He handles a lot of insurance issues for race car drivers and professional
• 2:48
  athletes and high wealth individuals.
• 2:50
  He'd heard me going on and on and on about, I got to go to Le Mans.
• 2:53
  I want to go to Le Mans.
• 2:54
  From what I know, he reached out to Gordon Spice.
• 2:57
  Gordon Spice obviously is legendary at Le Mans, legendary with the Spice chassis
• 3:00
  that he has been building and competing.
• 3:02
  And so I guess he was receptive, but then the dialogue was okay.
• 3:06
  Well, where are we going to find the funding?
• 3:08
  Well, in 1988, I actually had sponsorship from a company called DeRolt, which On
• 3:13
  my Trans Am cars and then my IMSA GT cars, interestingly enough, they were
• 3:18
  interested in not just international exposure, but international distribution.
• 3:22
  They had a fuel attitude that was very unique at the time, and they wanted
• 3:26
  to have international distribution.
• 3:28
  And so they became very interested in wanting to sponsor and put together
• 3:32
  a package to race at Le Mans.
• 3:33
  Really, I mean, it was timing.
• 3:35
  It was.
• 3:35
  Having somebody help me to be able to reach out to the right people.
• 3:38
  And actually we put together, not only the funding to race over there, but also
• 3:43
  put together a whole activation reception and all kinds of things for DRALT for
• 3:48
  their fuels and so that they could meet the right people and, and all of that.
• 3:52
  It was a matter of months, months and months of conversations
• 3:55
  and figuring it out.
• 3:56
  And finally, word was, yes, and we had a deal and we got busy preparing all of
• 4:00
  the details that had to be worked out.
• 4:02
  On our previous get together.
• 4:03
  If you jump back into that other episode, you mentioned two previous evening
• 4:08
  with a legend guests, Jim Busby and Doc Bundy, you talked about walking
• 4:12
  down the paddock together at Pocono and discussing the cars and learning from
• 4:16
  Jim and working with Doc over time.
• 4:19
  So with their experience at Lamont, did that help draw you in?
• 4:22
  Did they help influence your journey?
• 4:24
  Did they give you any tips?
• 4:25
  No, no, no, no.
• 4:26
  I never had a conversation with either of them about that, but
• 4:29
  knowing them and, and, you know, knowing Hulbert and Derrick Bell.
• 4:34
  And I mean, I knew these drivers that raced at Le Mans.
• 4:37
  I mean, I followed racing as much as I did it, you know what I mean?
• 4:40
  And so I was a very aware of Le Mans and I studied and read everything.
• 4:45
  I mean, it was just interesting.
• 4:46
  Some drivers really that went there, Didn't like it all that much.
• 4:49
  I mean, it wasn't always on there.
• 4:50
  I mean, but it was also, if you are a professional race car driver,
• 4:53
  whether you're Formula One, whether you're IndyCar, whether you're sports
• 4:56
  cars, Le Mans is on your radar.
• 4:58
  I mean, Le Mans is one of those races that at some point in
• 5:01
  time, you definitely want to do.
• 5:02
  And in fact, if you're an engineer, if you're a crew chief, if you're a team
• 5:05
  owner, I mean, it is one of those.
• 5:07
  Iconic races that I think everybody wants to do, and everybody
• 5:10
  wants to go to, even as a fan.
• 5:12
  I didn't need any encouragement.
• 5:14
  I just needed the access and that I needed to find the financial support.
• 5:19
  And I mean, the timing turned out to be ideal, obviously coming off
• 5:22
  of having success at Daytona in 87.
• 5:25
  And I mean, my endurance racing career was starting to gain.
• 5:28
  You know, respectability at Sebring, at Daytona, at Watkins Glen.
• 5:32
  And so when you're known to be a good endurance racer and a good teammate in an
• 5:37
  endurance race, then that helps when you are then talking to people on the other
• 5:41
  side of the pond about this opportunity.
• 5:43
  So I didn't really get any tips about the driving that I recall.
• 5:47
  No, the best advice I got was literally from Gordon and Ray.
• 5:51
  When I got over there, I mean, they were.
• 5:53
  incredibly helpful.
• 5:54
  You know, I had some friends, John Mecham, who had been a successful
• 5:58
  team owner at Indy, and we had become very dear friends in the 80s.
• 6:01
  He actually came over and there was like this positive energy in a circle
• 6:05
  around me that, that just really helped.
• 6:07
  I am, I'm, Such a good listener and I wean information from people,
• 6:11
  even when they don't know that they're actually giving the advice.
• 6:14
  So, you know, it's just the way I operate.
• 6:16
  I mean, I'm always hungry for something that I can put into my bag of knowledge.
• 6:21
  If I don't have it personally, then how can I get it from somebody else?
• 6:24
  Your story parallels a lot of other American drivers.
• 6:28
  Going to Lamar during this period, they're sort of like drinking from the fire hose.
• 6:32
  First time there, I learned the track on my first outlap during practice,
• 6:36
  or I'm in a new car on a new track.
• 6:38
  So what was it like going to Lamar?
• 6:40
  Did you have this sort of idea or illusion in your head or fantasy
• 6:43
  of what it was going to be like?
• 6:44
  Did that glass ceiling break when you got there?
• 6:46
  What was that initial experience like?
• 6:48
  Let's face it.
• 6:48
  We saw the movie, right?
• 6:50
  And we didn't have simulators at all of the visuals that are available now.
• 6:53
  First of all, it helped that I had prototype experience that I braced with
• 6:56
  the Ford Argo prototype in 84, and that I had had the prototype, the GTP cars.
• 7:01
  So I had some downforce, high speed experience, but this is a long course.
• 7:07
  The other good news was that I went over there early because we had to do
• 7:10
  a lot of activation for DeWalt's fuel, you know, so we had these parties and
• 7:13
  things and meetings that had been set up.
• 7:15
  And so I did do a little bit of driving and.
• 7:18
  Talking to the drivers that I knew when I got over there, Brian Redmond.
• 7:22
  I mean, Brian Redmond is like an encyclopedia.
• 7:24
  I recall, I think I actually got some laps in a rental car because I remember the
• 7:28
  Porsche curves was really hard for me.
• 7:30
  And before I ever even got in the race car and to just get
• 7:32
  the timing, I'm a rhythm driver.
• 7:34
  I really look for a rhythm and a racetrack and Le Mans is a little tough
• 7:38
  because you've got two racetracks.
• 7:40
  You've got the backside where you've got the long straightaway, but
• 7:42
  obviously before the chicanes and you have a more of the high speed.
• 7:45
  Corners until you get to the cake at the end of the straightaway.
• 7:48
  And then you've got a real series of corners.
• 7:50
  So there's almost like two different racetracks to me
• 7:53
  and from a rhythm standpoint.
• 7:54
  And I had a hard time with Indianapolis corner and Porsche curves.
• 7:57
  So I just broke it down bit by bit.
• 8:00
  And when I was struggling, I would talk to any of the drivers that I knew that.
• 8:04
  And I knew, unfortunately, a number of, as I said, a number of drivers that
• 8:07
  were my contemporaries, I'm going to call them, meaning they were American
• 8:10
  and they knew who the hell I was.
• 8:11
  And I would just pick their brains.
• 8:13
  You talked about getting there the first time, getting oriented with the track.
• 8:16
  But what was it like culturally at Le Mans being not the first, but one of
• 8:21
  very few, especially American women to grace Le Mans, what was that like?
• 8:26
  Were you met with any sort of opposition?
• 8:28
  Well, you know, it's funny because my first time out of the country was
• 8:30
  actually when I raced the 24 hours of Nurburgring, which was about a decade
• 8:33
  earlier, I did get a lot of strange.
• 8:36
  I don't know, resistance, maybe, I mean, they called me an Amazon woman when they
• 8:40
  were interviewing me and I did get a real sense of cultural resistance and
• 8:44
  discrimination about nobody would really believe that I was doing what I was doing.
• 8:48
  But that was 10 years before that.
• 8:50
  That was in Germany.
• 8:51
  In France, I didn't really get that sense of an attitude about it.
• 8:55
  In the 80s, we're talking a whole decade later, the 80s where things were starting
• 8:58
  to open up a little bit, even in France.
• 9:00
  The only comparison I could make, the first time I went to the Indianapolis
• 9:05
  500 in 1992 as a driver, the best way I'd describe that is it was like Christmas
• 9:10
  every day because every day I'd go to that track and I'm like, I am an
• 9:14
  Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a race car driver because I'd come there as a fan,
• 9:17
  but now I'm there as a race car driver.
• 9:19
  At Le Mans, when I was there, and I hadn't done Indy yet,
• 9:22
  this was like the highlight.
• 9:23
  This was like the top of the mountain.
• 9:25
  I am at the 24 hours of Le Mans as a race car driver.
• 9:28
  I'm not here as a tourist or as a fan or as a spectator.
• 9:31
  My feet were on the ground, but I had this sort of elevated, my sensories
• 9:36
  were just absolutely at the very top.
• 9:38
  Which means that if there was probably a lot of stuff going on, that I was
• 9:42
  probably pretty oblivious to it.
• 9:43
  I was just so proud to be there and then so determined to learn
• 9:47
  that course and drive well.
• 9:49
  I just let a lot of stuff probably roll off me.
• 9:51
  I tend to operate that way.
• 9:52
  When I'm doing something that I really want to do and I really am committed to
• 9:56
  doing it really well, I stay so focused.
• 9:58
  I only allow things in that are going to contribute to that success.
• 10:02
  The other stuff, sometimes I don't even hear it.
• 10:04
  It's like, if you don't have anything positive to say, or you don't have
• 10:07
  anything you want to say to help me, just get out of my face, get away from me.
• 10:10
  Well, we'll put a pin in it and come back to that because this theme continues
• 10:14
  throughout your career and then your subsequent career after that, let's go
• 10:18
  back to 1989 because it's a special year.
• 10:20
  And you actually alluded to this.
• 10:21
  Because it was the last of quote unquote, the good old days, meaning free chicane,
• 10:26
  pre reconstruction of the pits, pre new pit lane, all those kinds of things.
• 10:30
  Why is that important to Lamont's history?
• 10:32
  1989?
• 10:33
  I didn't know that it was all going to change.
• 10:35
  I mean, I was just there experiencing it, like watching the movie.
• 10:38
  And I mean, it was everything authentically the way
• 10:41
  you'd always seen it.
• 10:41
  I think the thing that was the most appalling to me was when
• 10:44
  we would come down pit lane.
• 10:46
  Is how many people were in pit lane?
• 10:48
  I was used to racing over here in the U S where, I mean, you were restricted.
• 10:51
  There were a certain number of people allowed over the wall.
• 10:53
  And you only, if you were getting ready for your car to
• 10:55
  come in the pits, that was it.
• 10:56
  I mean, the rest of the time the pits are clear and there, it just seemed like I
• 10:59
  kept seeing from kneecaps down because, you know, from the prototype, it was
• 11:03
  like, I just kept seeing all these legs, you know, and these people, and I'm like,
• 11:06
  what are these people doing in the pits?
• 11:08
  And of course the pits were narrow.
• 11:10
  And, you know, as you come out onto the track, it was pretty cowboyish,
• 11:13
  pretty old school, you know, but it's like, okay, this is what it is, kiddo.
• 11:18
  So figure it out and make it work.
• 11:20
  It wasn't until, you know, I left, I mean, it wasn't until after the race and I come
• 11:24
  back to the United States and then I read about all the changes that were made.
• 11:28
  And then of course, when I went back in 91, I didn't even feel
• 11:31
  like I was at the same place.
• 11:32
  Huge building.
• 11:33
  I don't even know what to call it.
• 11:34
  The structure where the pits are underneath, you know, with all of the
• 11:38
  hospitality, I guess, of meetings.
• 11:39
  I mean, it became a very stoic, harsh, cold, beautiful building.
• 11:45
  And then of course, very professional with the pit lane.
• 11:47
  And then the way the victory stand comes out over the track.
• 11:50
  I mean, the whole thing was extraordinary.
• 11:52
  You know, the old way in 89, I mean, behind the pits where everybody
• 11:56
  walks to get to the other pits or do you have to go through to get out?
• 11:59
  It was so narrow.
• 12:01
  And I mean, it was kind of damp and kind of smelly.
• 12:04
  And I mean, it was like being in the locker room, but it was fantastic.
• 12:08
  I mean, none of that is a complaint, but I didn't understand it until after
• 12:12
  the fact, I was really experiencing something I would know that I would
• 12:16
  never be able to experience again, you know, because it was changed.
• 12:19
  What's also important about that time is LeMans was still carrying the tradition
• 12:23
  of being one of the fastest tracks.
• 12:25
  On the planet outside of made the Nürburgring in terms of
• 12:27
  full length straightaways.
• 12:28
  And you are no stranger to doing 200 plus mile an hour at this
• 12:32
  point, but speeds down the Molson in excess of 230 miles an hour.
• 12:37
  So what was that like in the Ford powered spice GTP?
• 12:40
  I mean, you're in this, it's a brand new car to you.
• 12:42
  So walk us through that.
• 12:43
  You know, it was a brand new car.
• 12:45
  You're right.
• 12:45
  But.
• 12:45
  The car worked, wasn't wandering, you know, I mean, it was
• 12:48
  actually set up really well.
• 12:50
  I'm sort of numb to the numbers of speed.
• 12:53
  I feel like it's all relevant.
• 12:55
  And it's just, you're always trying to go as fast as you can.
• 12:58
  And yet I remember talking to Hurley Haywood in particular saying to
• 13:01
  me, yeah, but what if a tiger goes?
• 13:03
  When you're going 230 miles, I said, Hurley, why are you thinking about that?
• 13:06
  I mean, you know, it's like, don't think about that.
• 13:09
  Speed is a number and it is a desire to go as fast as the car is going to go.
• 13:15
  And what's beautiful about Le Mans, first of all, that Mulsanne
• 13:18
  straight's not really straight.
• 13:19
  You've still got It's movement there and then crown of the road is really weird.
• 13:24
  You know, it's like when I ran at Talladega, which was really just before
• 13:27
  that, that I remember asking Bill Elliot, like, Hey, could you show me the line?
• 13:30
  And he goes, I'm going to show you where not to go.
• 13:32
  And so I kind of felt that way at Lamal, particularly on the Mulsine
• 13:35
  straight, because you can get caught into thinking it's just, let's
• 13:38
  go down the middle of the road.
• 13:39
  And so you really have to pay attention.
• 13:41
  And again, weed information from Ray Bellum and.
• 13:44
  Wayne Taylor and my co drivers and my teammates and really look at where
• 13:49
  not to be on the racetrack so that you're not darting around because
• 13:52
  you've also got traffic, but where you do not want to place your car.
• 13:55
  And of course, having downforce, I had a responsive car.
• 13:58
  I wasn't like floating and trying to figure out how to manage it.
• 14:01
  My recollection, it was a good ride.
• 14:03
  And this
• 14:03
  was during the ground effects era too.
• 14:05
  Was this your first ground effects car?
• 14:06
  No, the GTP car that I'd had, the Ford Mustang Grove, it had some
• 14:10
  ground effects and not as much, but sort of the Argo that I had.
• 14:13
  So I'd had some experience with that.
• 14:15
  So you mentioned your teammates, Gordon Spice, Ray Bellum and Wayne Taylor, who's
• 14:19
  still involved in endurance racing today.
• 14:21
  What were they like to work with and drive with back in 1989?
• 14:25
  Everyone's got their own personality, a lot of different
• 14:28
  characters hanging out together.
• 14:29
  Ray and Gordon were so laid back cause they'd done them all so many times.
• 14:34
  I mean, and so to them, this was just another year of doing them all.
• 14:37
  I mean, I was like, so hungry to be, contribute and be on the track and all.
• 14:42
  I mean, they kept, you know, you go out, you go out.
• 14:44
  I got a lot, actually a lot of seat time.
• 14:46
  And of course, didn't know until it was over that Gordon had decided to retire.
• 14:49
  I mean, after that race, unfortunately the engine went and we broke, I
• 14:52
  think 16 hours in, but he had already decided that he was going to retire.
• 14:56
  He was very helpful, but at the same time, just very laid back.
• 14:59
  It's hard to explain, but I've not been around racers that were that
• 15:02
  sort of casual about everything.
• 15:03
  Wayne, on the other hand, I'm not sure if this was the first
• 15:06
  time Wayne had done the law.
• 15:07
  I haven't talked to him about that, so I don't recall,
• 15:10
  because he seemed pretty wired.
• 15:11
  I remember the one challenge that he had and I got a kick out of
• 15:14
  this because he's a little guy.
• 15:16
  One of the tests that we all had to do was to be able to take the
• 15:19
  bonnet off for having access.
• 15:20
  Now that's at the back of the car because that's a big, big piece.
• 15:23
  And so we all had to be able to unlatch it and do it that we needed to have
• 15:28
  access to get to where the engine was.
• 15:29
  The other guys were pretty big, so they were able to do it no problem.
• 15:32
  And Wayne was struggling and I'm thinking, holy crap, if he's
• 15:35
  struggling, what am I going to do?
• 15:36
  He just about got it and got it okay.
• 15:39
  I was last, I was so lucky because I just had a little puff of wind at the end
• 15:43
  that just caught it and helped me, you know, I was a nervous wreck about that.
• 15:46
  And so was Wayne.
• 15:47
  That was one of those that it was kind of nice to see somebody else
• 15:50
  struggling about something that I was having a hard time with.
• 15:52
  And the other two guys, they were from other countries,
• 15:55
  European from other countries.
• 15:56
  And, you know, they were kind of typically nice, but arrogant.
• 16:00
  Yeah.
• 16:01
  You know, not positive or negative.
• 16:02
  Well, the reason I bring up your teammates is because one of the themes
• 16:06
  that comes up with every guest, and this is true of endurance racing in
• 16:10
  general, is the concept of mechanical sympathy and with different drivers
• 16:13
  behind the wheel of the car for different lengths of stints and things like that.
• 16:17
  Not all of you drive the same, although you try to practice and get a rhythm
• 16:20
  down and try to get lap times down.
• 16:22
  So did mechanical sympathy.
• 16:24
  Maybe play into the demise of the spice car.
• 16:27
  I don't think so because I'm not aware if it was, because those are conversations
• 16:31
  that too, when one driver's driving, the other two drivers who aren't driving
• 16:35
  could have that conversation as they follow somebody, they've noticed that,
• 16:38
  you know, something is now been abused.
• 16:41
  Or is not functioning very well and could have been abused.
• 16:44
  So that conversation usually happens from the two drivers that
• 16:47
  are out of the cockpit, while the other driver's in the cockpit.
• 16:50
  And I don't recall that conversation having it with either with Ray or Gordon.
• 16:54
  And the other car, even though we were all teammates, when it came to the race, I
• 16:58
  mean, it was kind of like two independent programs because the crews, they help each
• 17:01
  other, but they were really assigned and kept to the car that they were running.
• 17:04
  So as we close out 89, one of the other big themes about driving at
• 17:08
  Lamar is how variable it can be.
• 17:10
  And there's the sentiment that Lamar chooses its winner, right?
• 17:13
  If you believe in that sort of superstition, but.
• 17:15
  The weather is a big to do.
• 17:17
  Like you said, the crown of the road, the cars, all the different
• 17:19
  tires, the different drivers.
• 17:20
  So when you put all that together, when you walked away from Lamont, the end
• 17:24
  of 89, what did you feel was the most challenging part of driving the 24?
• 17:28
  Really?
• 17:28
  The most challenging was.
• 17:31
  accepting that we didn't, because the car was running so well the majority of
• 17:35
  the time, and it didn't just blow up.
• 17:37
  I wasn't in the car.
• 17:38
  I think Ray was in the car, because the car is still running.
• 17:40
  So I was trying to catch up.
• 17:41
  Okay.
• 17:42
  I probably just rested.
• 17:43
  And cause I went over to Gordon and I'm like, okay, you know,
• 17:45
  and then he goes, we're done.
• 17:47
  And I'm like, what do you mean we're done?
• 17:48
  He said, you know, the engine's gone down and I don't even know
• 17:51
  what actually had broke, but I mean, it was just, we're done.
• 17:54
  And I think the most challenging was Accepting that and, and walking
• 17:58
  away feeling fantastic because I'd raced Le Mans, but at the same time,
• 18:01
  the air is out of the balloon of, Oh my God, we didn't make it to the
• 18:05
  end when we were, we made it so far.
• 18:08
  And you know, the only other time, and I had a very similar at Sebring
• 18:10
  when I was at a 935, it's the first time I'd raced a 935 turbo and just
• 18:14
  the turbo went, but the engine was still running and I'm out there.
• 18:18
  And I remember Jim Bell was my crew chief and he's on the.
• 18:20
  Radio and he goes, Lynn, you know, bring it in.
• 18:22
  We're done.
• 18:23
  I'm like, what do you mean?
• 18:23
  We're done.
• 18:24
  The car is still running.
• 18:25
  Fix it.
• 18:25
  You've got to be able to find a way to fix it.
• 18:28
  Accepting defeat, particularly when the car is still mechanically running, even
• 18:32
  though it may not be mechanically sound enough to continue in an endurance race.
• 18:36
  Accepting defeat is, is one of the hardest things.
• 18:39
  It's really hard.
• 18:40
  It's hard to walk away after everything going so well, after all the fulfillment
• 18:44
  of a dream and all the excitement.
• 18:46
  You don't want to have a bad taste in your mouth at the end.
• 18:48
  At the same time, that's just the hardest, is dealing with that and
• 18:50
  trying to go back to, oh yeah, but we did this, and oh yeah, but we did
• 18:54
  that, you know, so it was that defeat.
• 18:56
  That segues us right into 1991.
• 18:59
  And to quote you for the last time we got together, you It's the one you don't like
• 19:03
  to talk about and for very good reason.
• 19:05
  So let's set the stage.
• 19:07
  For those that don't know, you return with an all Pink Spice GTP car.
• 19:10
  At this point, Ford powered, but this time it's an all female team and you partnered
• 19:15
  with Desiree Wilson and Kathy Mueller.
• 19:17
  Talk about this return to Lama.
• 19:18
  As we mentioned before, Lama had changed.
• 19:20
  Suddenly you get there, brand new buildings, brand new pit.
• 19:23
  They've got Chicanes on the mall Sun.
• 19:25
  It's like a reboot.
• 19:26
  So walk us through 1991 and the return.
• 19:29
  Everything was.
• 19:31
  Before we even got there.
• 19:32
  So, I mean, it was intriguing.
• 19:34
  Yes.
• 19:35
  Pink car, all female, Spice, Cosworth.
• 19:38
  So that was the good part.
• 19:39
  I got to go to Japan.
• 19:41
  I'd never been to Japan.
• 19:42
  So I got to go to Tokyo.
• 19:43
  That's where they made the announcement.
• 19:45
  So there was this woman, Tabika was her first name.
• 19:48
  She had put the deal together.
• 19:50
  And so there were a lot of things.
• 19:52
  Quoted, said, written down.
• 19:54
  There were a lot of statements made about this effort and I knew Desiree.
• 19:59
  So I was like, this'll be perfect.
• 20:00
  Really fantastic.
• 20:01
  So it was going to be Desiree, myself and Tomika.
• 20:04
  So then we go to this racetrack in Japan, not Suzuki.
• 20:08
  It was one that I'd never heard of.
• 20:09
  It's actually a beautiful racetrack too.
• 20:11
  I mean, it was, it was stunning.
• 20:12
  And so the car was there.
• 20:13
  We were going to just test, all get acclimated to the car and to the team.
• 20:17
  And everything was wrong.
• 20:19
  Car barely ran, you know, we were having incredible troubles.
• 20:22
  It became very obvious that everything that was said and presented
• 20:26
  was not necessarily happening.
• 20:27
  You know, it wasn't necessarily real, but you know, you want to be
• 20:30
  optimistic and you want this to work.
• 20:32
  So, you know, our radar was up like, I don't know about this.
• 20:35
  Hope that works out.
• 20:36
  So this was months in advance of going to Le Mans when we went to Japan.
• 20:40
  So, we show up at Le Mans, now we see, I see at least, all of the, oh my God, this
• 20:46
  is all different, you know, and I see all this part of it, but it was a different
• 20:49
  crew than that were with the car in Japan.
• 20:53
  The car was a disaster.
• 20:54
  I mean, the car was not prepared for Le Mans.
• 20:57
  They had said it had raced in some other race.
• 21:00
  Whatever it was, it was still had the setup for that race as opposed
• 21:03
  to being set up for Le Mans.
• 21:04
  And I just remember since I had, the most recent person had been to
• 21:08
  Le Mans, I took the car out first.
• 21:10
  I mean, I wasn't at race speed at all.
• 21:12
  At the end of the Mulsanne Straight, I went for the brakes
• 21:14
  and the brake pedal fell off.
• 21:16
  I mean, the pedal just fell off, it was rattling down on
• 21:19
  the, you know, on the floor.
• 21:21
  And I was livid on the radio, and of course, the entire crew were
• 21:25
  all Japanese, nobody spoke English.
• 21:27
  And so they're like rattling, and finally Desiree gets on the radio, Boo!
• 21:30
  You have a problem with the brake?
• 21:32
  I said, expletive, you know, The brake pedal fell off, you know, I said, I
• 21:36
  will try to get it back to the pits.
• 21:38
  So I got back.
• 21:39
  And I mean, that is what the start of our first out there.
• 21:42
  There were some crew guys and team members from another Spice
• 21:45
  team who had worked with me when I was with the Spice two years ago.
• 21:50
  And they came over and tried to help.
• 21:52
  And they told us everything is wrong with that car.
• 21:54
  The suspension is wrong.
• 21:55
  The shock is wrong.
• 21:56
  Everything.
• 21:57
  And they let us know, we would help you if we could, but we can't because
• 22:00
  that car is so off and so wrong.
• 22:02
  And then the ACO or the Lamal people would not approve Tameka's license.
• 22:09
  So now she's being told she can't get in the car.
• 22:13
  So now we only have two drivers.
• 22:14
  And so that's when it was really mostly Desiree put our heads together.
• 22:18
  Trying to figure out who could we get to replace Tameka.
• 22:20
  And that's what we called Kathy Mueller.
• 22:22
  And so Kathy Mueller, cause she lives in Europe.
• 22:25
  So she was able to come out and join the team so that we could still fulfill.
• 22:29
  There were all kinds of conversations that they weren't even going to
• 22:32
  let us on the track and that they weren't even going to let us run.
• 22:34
  Desiree's husband was there, Alan.
• 22:36
  And he was, you know, everybody was just, it was total chaos.
• 22:40
  Total chaos.
• 22:41
  And Desiree, God bless her, would not give up.
• 22:44
  I mean, she would constantly, at one point I saw her, literally with
• 22:49
  her hand, with this little Japanese guy and she had him, she had him off
• 22:53
  the ground and his feet were going like this because she was so mad.
• 22:55
  She was like, you know, trying to get him to do whatever it
• 22:57
  was that needed on the car.
• 22:58
  So, I mean, Desiree just really, to me, was very, very committed to trying
• 23:02
  to figure out how to make the car run.
• 23:04
  And they did let us start at the back.
• 23:06
  Neil says, In 91, Desiree crashed the race car in practice, which
• 23:10
  forced the team to switch to a spare car, but then she crashed in
• 23:13
  the race and caused the retirement.
• 23:15
  How were things between the two of you?
• 23:17
  Knowing all this went down,
• 23:19
  Desiree is one of the most talented race car drivers that I know.
• 23:22
  I've known her a long time, raced against her, raced with her.
• 23:24
  My criticism of her is that she doesn't understand the limits of the car.
• 23:29
  She drives the car like it's perfect and she's going to drive the wheels off
• 23:32
  of it and doesn't understand sometimes the car's just not ready to do all that.
• 23:37
  She was so dedicated to make this thing work.
• 23:39
  I do not at all.
• 23:40
  Criticize or angry.
• 23:42
  I mean, I think it's amazing that she did as much driving and as much, she tried
• 23:46
  to get as much out of the car as she did, because I mean, we were definitely
• 23:49
  behind the eight ball the whole weekend.
• 23:51
  I just say, God bless her for working so hard.
• 23:53
  It was just everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.
• 23:56
  And that's when you just have a really bad pit in your stomach of saying, this
• 23:59
  is not the way you want to race at all.
• 24:01
  And you certainly don't want to race an endurance race.
• 24:03
  This way, when the car is volatile and not mechanically sound, I
• 24:07
  could go on and on about it.
• 24:08
  I don't even remember all the details.
• 24:10
  As I said, it's one that I have practically tried to erase on paper.
• 24:13
  Yes, I was there.
• 24:14
  It is not one of the better races in my entire racing career.
• 24:18
  No, but there's a point to us bringing it up and it's part of one of your
• 24:22
  quotes, which is there are more failures.
• 24:24
  Then successes in motor sports.
• 24:26
  And so I think 1991 was a learning experience for you.
• 24:29
  So what did you walk away from in 91?
• 24:32
  What did you take away from that?
• 24:33
  Despite all the tragedy and the chaos and the calamity of this car.
• 24:37
  Thank you for reminding me of my quotes.
• 24:39
  Cause it is failures.
• 24:40
  We're going to have a lot of failures.
• 24:41
  You learn more from failures, but it's what you do next.
• 24:44
  It's what you learn, but it's also what you do next.
• 24:46
  For me, I was at the same time working on my indie program, but I
• 24:50
  think it was not being so vulnerable.
• 24:53
  I mean, what I learned was.
• 24:54
  You know, no matter how much you want to do something, you know, how much,
• 24:57
  how badly you want to do something is that you just use your brain and
• 25:01
  when they, I mean, literally after Japan, I should have bowed out.
• 25:04
  I just said, I'm sorry, this is, this is not right.
• 25:07
  So I'm not going to do it.
• 25:08
  Racers are the most optimistic people in the entire world.
• 25:10
  And many times your optimism will overcome bad stuff.
• 25:13
  But I think it was more of a Lynn, you know, when you really know and see
• 25:18
  something then use your brain and use your instincts and don't be that vulnerable.
• 25:21
  Don't allow yourself to be that vulnerable because.
• 25:24
  Once we got there, I mean, other than the experience of seeing Le Bon in its
• 25:27
  current, revised, upgraded state, there was nothing else good that came out of it.
• 25:32
  There was no like, oh, well, you know, at least we accomplished this,
• 25:35
  or at least we accomplished that now.
• 25:36
  I mean, so I think it's just learn to trust your instincts
• 25:39
  and don't be vulnerable.
• 25:41
  Allow somebody to pull the wool over your eyes.
• 25:42
  Looking back at 1991 from a different trajectory, it was also
• 25:47
  a revolutionary year at Le Mans.
• 25:49
  Not just because of the course design, but there is a car that
• 25:52
  graced the stage that has really never been reproduced ever again.
• 25:56
  And this is the infamous Mazda 787B quad rotor GTP car.
• 26:01
  What was that like?
• 26:02
  What were your thoughts seeing this basically one of
• 26:05
  a kind LMP car out on track?
• 26:07
  That was cool.
• 26:08
  I mean, it was killing our ears.
• 26:09
  It was exciting.
• 26:10
  You know, I'd forgotten about that, to be honest.
• 26:12
  I mean, I had actually raced an RX 7 at the 24 Hours of Daytona many years
• 26:15
  before, like a decade, I think, before.
• 26:17
  And so to see that sort of, One off have success.
• 26:21
  This is why we do always want to be optimistic because even the
• 26:24
  things that you think are going to work, you know, sometimes can work.
• 26:27
  I mean, it was ear piercing.
• 26:28
  It really was.
• 26:29
  It was a beautiful demonstration of a commitment.
• 26:31
  And that's where you come to that thought of that you brought up earlier.
• 26:35
  Is that somehow the universe.
• 26:37
  Decides who's going to win a race.
• 26:38
  That's how it happened.
• 26:39
  You know, I think that their hard work or preparation, they earned that.
• 26:43
  But I think there was a little bit of the universe interception saying, yeah.
• 26:46
  And it was definitely a pivotal moment for Mazda and put
• 26:48
  Mazda motorsports on the map.
• 26:50
  And some mutual friends of ours have often expressed that that is the turning point.
• 26:54
  And it starts there at Le Mans.
• 26:56
  I mean, obviously that car ran prior to that, but that's 787B.
• 26:59
  That has translated into a legacy for Mazda that is absolutely incredible.
• 27:03
  It is great to watch, you know, what Mazda has done.
• 27:05
  And obviously a dear friend of mine is John Doonan.
• 27:08
  He really was in charge of a lot of that after that.
• 27:10
  I don't think he was involved in that project.
• 27:12
  I don't know, but I don't, I've never talked to John about that.
• 27:14
  I should.
• 27:15
  It was definitely a tipping point for them to really embrace that Mazda could
• 27:19
  go racing and sell more cars and sell more products and make a statement
• 27:23
  and be successful in motorsports.
• 27:25
  Well, as we transition into our last segment here, I was holding off on an
• 27:29
  audience question on purpose because it leads us into a deeper conversation
• 27:33
  about what you're doing today.
• 27:35
  May pose the question that reads, what were the advantages and or
• 27:39
  disadvantages of being a female racer amongst the majority of male colleagues?
• 27:44
  99.
• 27:44
  9 percent of it is really no advantage.
• 27:46
  You know, the only advantage If you want to call it an advantage
• 27:50
  is you do get more eyeballs.
• 27:51
  You know, you do get more people paying attention to you, observing
• 27:55
  you, but I don't know if I'd call that even an advantage unless
• 27:58
  you can use it to your advantage.
• 28:00
  If you can use that to your advantage in a positive way, meaning help a sponsor
• 28:04
  get more exposure or actually encourage.
• 28:08
  others to show that somebody other than a male can do this.
• 28:11
  You know, you can justify some positivity out of that.
• 28:14
  I can't see where I can say I've experienced an advantage.
• 28:18
  I can't.
• 28:18
  And maybe I'm missing something that I would if I, but I can't, I just
• 28:21
  can't say, oh yeah, there's this disadvantage, there's this advantage.
• 28:24
  But you have to look for how to make it work.
• 28:27
  And how to make it work for everybody, not just for you.
• 28:30
  You know, when you are the minority or the odd one out, whatever you want to
• 28:34
  call it, first of all, get used to it.
• 28:36
  If it makes you uncomfortable, then, you know, you better figure that out.
• 28:40
  Who wants to spend a lot of time being uncomfortable if you're
• 28:42
  really pursuing your passion?
• 28:43
  Become comfortable with it.
• 28:45
  Get over it.
• 28:46
  If it does bug you somehow, just figure out how to manage it and
• 28:48
  get over it, but then look for the positivity that you can make with it.
• 28:53
  And the reason I chose this as our transition point is because thinking
• 28:56
  about 1991, despite everything we've already highlighted and
• 29:01
  revolutionary things that were going on in motorsport because of Mazda.
• 29:04
  There's a younger generation of petrol heads of enthusiasts and of
• 29:08
  upcoming racers, looking at what you're doing at Lamont, despite success or
• 29:12
  failure and going, there's some team of all female drivers at Lamont.
• 29:17
  So it wasn't an all female team.
• 29:19
  We're not talking about, you know, the Beth Paretta indie
• 29:21
  team and things like that.
• 29:21
  This was on a smaller scale and you guys were struggling and
• 29:25
  trying to make the car work.
• 29:26
  Again, there's this audience watching from different angles, taking everything.
• 29:29
  And like you said, learning without really trying to learn.
• 29:32
  So I'm wondering, did 91 sort of open the door for what didn't really happen
• 29:38
  again for 30 years, where teams like the iron dames stepped into the paddock.
• 29:43
  And now you have all female teams running at Lamont.
• 29:45
  So do you feel like inadvertently you created this paradigm where
• 29:49
  people went, I can see myself there because I see Lynn there.
• 29:53
  If we had been successful, yeah, but fortunately Desiree was already a
• 29:57
  respected race car driver, you know, so nobody put, Oh my God, the girls,
• 30:00
  they can't drive a freaking car.
• 30:02
  You know what I mean?
• 30:03
  So we didn't have to deal with that because I was a respected race car driver.
• 30:06
  Kathy Mueller would, you know, she was a respected race car driver.
• 30:09
  So the three of us were there carrying something that we
• 30:12
  just made the best effort.
• 30:14
  So the racers.
• 30:15
  The real people in the sport, I think, looked at it as, God, those gals tried.
• 30:19
  If you talk to some of the crew that were around, I thought we just never gave up.
• 30:23
  You know, and I think there was some respect that gets earned when
• 30:25
  you, when you approach it that way.
• 30:27
  If I ever tried to figure out what the outside is thinking, you know, meaning
• 30:30
  the fans and the media and the people that I, I haven't had this opportunity
• 30:34
  to have a conversation with, I would go crazy trying to figure out what people.
• 30:38
  Are thinking.
• 30:38
  And so, I don't know.
• 30:39
  I'm sure what you said, there's some people that looked at it.
• 30:42
  I've talked to Deborah Mayer, but I, I don't even think
• 30:44
  she knew that we did that.
• 30:45
  I would be very surprised that she knew that that even existed.
• 30:48
  I don't wanna get ahead of us to say that that opened up the eyes for others.
• 30:52
  And because it would be too easy to criticize.
• 30:54
  It'd be too easy to, I don't know, to say, well, they couldn't do it.
• 30:57
  They didn't do it.
• 30:58
  They didn't do, they didn't get it done.
• 30:59
  And unless you, people are motivated by what didn't happen, that they're gonna
• 31:02
  prove that it can, and, and I don't know.
• 31:04
  It's outta my league of understanding.
• 31:07
  But it did open the doors for WMNA, Women in Motorsports North America,
• 31:11
  which is an organization that you co founded a couple of years back.
• 31:14
  And your charter is to help to prepare more women in all sorts
• 31:18
  of positions, not just driving, to become part of, let's just say in
• 31:21
  this context, the Le Mans story.
• 31:23
  So tell us a little bit about WMNA and what you're working on.
• 31:26
  Yeah, but wait a minute to prepare them to never ever get yourself in a position
• 31:30
  to do that, be smarter and better.
• 31:33
  So you'd never get yourself into that position.
• 31:37
  If anything, maybe that did have a lasting don't, you know, don't
• 31:40
  people anyway, so go ahead.
• 31:41
  Sorry.
• 31:42
  Tell our audience who may not be familiar with.
• 31:45
  WMNA, what it's all about, what you're working on, progress you've
• 31:48
  made in the last couple of years.
• 31:49
  WMNA is Women in Motorsports North America, and we are a not for
• 31:53
  profit that I founded with Beth Perretta and about 40 other people
• 31:56
  in the industry in motorsports.
• 31:58
  And it is about celebrating and elevating and encouraging more women to pursue
• 32:03
  a career in motorsports and then to also be successful in motorsports.
• 32:07
  Because the more successful, then the more motor sports will grow.
• 32:10
  And, you know, we're still figuring out all the ways that we can do that.
• 32:13
  And we can't do it all.
• 32:15
  Part of our goal and mission is to encourage others to actually reach
• 32:19
  out and do things that they can do.
• 32:21
  So you have the PNC, GDASI, they have a scholarship program every year
• 32:25
  that PNC sponsors for engineering.
• 32:27
  I was just supporting them.
• 32:29
  Michelle Della Pena, she had 27 high school girls after applying and they
• 32:33
  had 50 apply in high schools all over the, you know, central Indiana.
• 32:37
  Come out to the track for three days and learn about all the different careers.
• 32:40
  So we're doing a many different things, but our main pillar is to be educational.
• 32:45
  And we do that through our women with drive summit.
• 32:48
  This year will be the fourth year that we're doing the summit and it's taking
• 32:51
  place in Indianapolis in December 9, So spending a couple of days networking.
• 32:57
  Yes, but also doing a deeper dive into the challenges.
• 33:02
  And the successes of what women have experienced in the sport so
• 33:06
  that everybody could do it better.
• 33:07
  Racing is always about doing it better, right?
• 33:10
  Making it go better, making it faster, make it last lasted.
• 33:12
  So we're really just networking.
• 33:15
  We're expanding the knowledge base and we are capturing the knowledge base.
• 33:18
  of people that are out there that are wanting to be in the sport who are
• 33:22
  in the sport and want to help others.
• 33:23
  It's a really exciting time.
• 33:25
  I mean, I've made some efforts in the past decades.
• 33:27
  I can only say that the timing is right.
• 33:29
  Everybody in the industry, racetracks, sanctioning bodies, race teams,
• 33:34
  sponsors, everybody is reaching out and saying, what can we do?
• 33:38
  Or this is what we'd like to do.
• 33:39
  Help us do it.
• 33:40
  The time is now.
• 33:41
  And it's been really exciting just to see it get traction.
• 33:44
  That's what WIM is about.
• 33:45
  Well, Neil writes, Which up and coming female drivers are you
• 33:48
  most excited about right now?
• 33:50
  Well, there's a long list, actually.
• 33:51
  If you're paying any attention, know that Kaylee Bryson just won a USACS
• 33:55
  Silver Crown race last weekend.
• 33:57
  Made history.
• 33:58
  Taylor Ferns is also running in that series, and I've been working with her.
• 34:01
  Mia Lovell, there's Hannah Greenmeier, there's Hannah Grissom, who I've
• 34:05
  been trying to help over the years.
• 34:06
  I mean, there's just, there's so many that are doing really well.
• 34:10
  I'm so encouraged that we're going to have some race winners out there.
• 34:14
  I mean, and that's what, I mean, Jamie Chadwick obviously stood on
• 34:16
  the podium in the next race recently.
• 34:19
  Chloe Chambers has really been improving and doing really well.
• 34:23
  So, I mean, there's just, Quite a few.
• 34:25
  So if one of the younger lady drivers came up to you and say, Lynn, I heard you've
• 34:28
  raced at Lamar, what do you say to them?
• 34:30
  Get as much road racing and endurance racing experience.
• 34:33
  I'll give you an example.
• 34:34
  This series that I am not familiar with.
• 34:37
  I haven't gone to one, but I've, they're like eight hours long and
• 34:40
  they have like two or three races over the course of a race weekend.
• 34:42
  It's kind of more grassroots, but at the same time, it's.
• 34:44
  pretty well prepared cars.
• 34:46
  You know, do a lot of those so that you get a lot of time in the car
• 34:49
  and you're dealing with different co drivers and you're dealing
• 34:51
  with different racing conditions.
• 34:53
  Endurance racing is how you prepare to go to Le Mans to be a good endurance driver.
• 34:58
  You know, start networking and read, read a lot.
• 35:01
  I mean, I used to read a lot of publications and, you know, try to
• 35:03
  stay current about what's happening over there because it changes a lot.
• 35:06
  The politics change, the race teams that are changing.
• 35:09
  Then the other I would say is to try to align as early as you can in your
• 35:13
  career with an OEM, because the OEMs are now really demonstrating and testing
• 35:18
  their products in endurance racing.
• 35:20
  So whether they are racing here in the U S or whether they're racing
• 35:22
  with the world endurance championship or at Le Mans, pay attention to what
• 35:25
  teams are there, what OEMs are there and start letting them know you exist.
• 35:31
  You know, the awareness that you need to have, and the knowledge you
• 35:34
  need to have, and then the awareness that they need to have that you
• 35:37
  exist, and this is your desire.
• 35:38
  It may take two, three, or four years, but you know, you got to
• 35:41
  start somewhere, so start now.
• 35:42
  It's no secret you've had a long standing relationship with Ford Motorsports.
• 35:46
  As we wrap up, I want to get your thoughts on the last time Ford
• 35:50
  won at Le Mans, which was in 2016 with the Ford GT, and now they've
• 35:54
  just introduced the GT3 Mustang.
• 35:56
  So where do you think the future of Ford is at Le Mans?
• 35:59
  Do you think there's a win in the future?
• 36:01
  Do you have hopes for Ford?
• 36:02
  Absolutely.
• 36:03
  I mean, I think they did finally go back and win on, you
• 36:06
  know, that anniversary year.
• 36:08
  And that was important.
• 36:09
  And they always.
• 36:10
  All of them, and Ford for sure, they want to sell product, and they
• 36:14
  want to demonstrate their product in racing, prove it in racing, so
• 36:18
  that people then want to buy it.
• 36:20
  People are smart, and at some point, if your race car is so exotic, and so over
• 36:26
  the top in technology, it doesn't relate to the actual street car, they get excited
• 36:30
  about it, but they're not necessarily going to want to buy the product, I don't
• 36:33
  think, because they're going to go to the races, and they're going to buy tickets,
• 36:37
  and they're going to cheer for you.
• 36:38
  And they may buy the t shirts and the hat and all the other stuff.
• 36:40
  You'd become, you know, Ford race fans and they might buy a Ford product because
• 36:44
  of that, but more than likely, they'll be a lot more likely to buy a Ford product.
• 36:48
  If they see a car very similar to the kind of car that they could buy out
• 36:51
  there racing and successfully racing.
• 36:53
  So, I mean, I saw they raced at Laguna Seca and, you know,
• 36:56
  they're not out of the box.
• 36:57
  They're not winning yet, but they're definitely showing
• 36:59
  that they can be competitive.
• 37:00
  Ford is kind of stepping down, I think you would call it, or back a
• 37:03
  little bit and racing more of the relatable product, relatable to the
• 37:08
  types of the cars they're selling.
• 37:09
  And so Mazda has proven that beautifully.
• 37:11
  Porsche is proving that all the time.
• 37:14
  I mean, their race cars are still real race cars, but they can
• 37:16
  translate much closer to what you would buy to take out on the street.
• 37:20
  In all this time that's passed, you were in the heyday of the GTP class.
• 37:25
  It has come full circle again, as of last year.
• 37:29
  Is that exciting?
• 37:30
  Oh yeah.
• 37:30
  Oh yeah.
• 37:31
  The ultimate race cars you could say would be Formula One and IndyCar,
• 37:34
  because you know, you're talking about, but that's open wheel.
• 37:37
  And so to be able to see prototypes with the OEMs involved, most of them,
• 37:41
  it's the engine that are powering it, but it's also all of the engineering
• 37:45
  and technology that's going on.
• 37:46
  being developed of it.
• 37:47
  And let's face it, those cars are fast.
• 37:49
  Those cars, they're like magic.
• 37:51
  And I mean, now to me, they're very complicated with the hybrid.
• 37:54
  And I mean, I remember when we were testing turbos back in the eighties, the
• 37:58
  turbochargers that we were running in the Ford's at that time, they were testing
• 38:02
  it to put those in the street cars.
• 38:04
  Cause I remember when they didn't work, I'm like, So what's wrong?
• 38:06
  And they're like, well, we don't know yet.
• 38:07
  I'm like, you better figure it out.
• 38:09
  Cause you're going to fix it for your street cars.
• 38:10
  So they're kind of testing a lot of that hybrid technology and under heat, under
• 38:14
  vibration, all of the stresses that you put on a race car are much greater than
• 38:19
  you're going to put on a production car.
• 38:21
  And they're sexy.
• 38:21
  I mean, they're exciting.
• 38:22
  And, you know, I think the eighties of the prototypes was one of the
• 38:25
  highlights of motor sports and particularly in sports car racing.
• 38:28
  And we're having another era of that now.
• 38:31
  Well, one other thing before we close this up, we have a special message from one of
• 38:36
  our ACO ambassadors, Margie Smith Husk.
• 38:38
  It's all Margie out there.
• 38:39
  Hi, Lynn.
• 38:40
  I am so glad I get the opportunity to do this.
• 38:43
  I am so proud of you.
• 38:45
  I want you to know that I watched the video that Eric is talking about.
• 38:49
  I thought, well, I'll watch for maybe five minutes and I got to go to bed.
• 38:52
  I couldn't stop until it was done.
• 38:54
  I'm so, so pleased at what you've accomplished through your career.
• 38:58
  and what you're doing for other women in racing.
• 39:01
  It's just mesmerizing.
• 39:03
  I'd really, really like to encourage everyone to listen to your story.
• 39:07
  And I know you've got much more to go and I just want you
• 39:09
  to know, I'm so proud of you.
• 39:11
  Well, thank you.
• 39:11
  Thank you.
• 39:12
  I mean, you were part of that whole process, Carol, with what you did too.
• 39:15
  Thank
• 39:16
  you.
• 39:16
  We were comrades.
• 39:17
  Yes.
• 39:18
  And I remember whenever you wrote that first book and so forth, it was
• 39:21
  just to see where you come and how you fought to get where you are, but
• 39:26
  you deserved everything that you got.
• 39:28
  I know that you'll be doing even more and congratulations on WMNA,
• 39:31
  what you're doing for the women.
• 39:32
  And you're just a legend, ma'am.
• 39:34
  Thank you.
• 39:34
  We got a whole crew doing the WMNA thing now, which I love, you know, I
• 39:38
  don't feel the weight on my shoulders.
• 39:39
  It's like great.
• 39:40
  Now we're out.
• 39:40
  We've got ambassadors and we've got just talent coming out everywhere, volunteers
• 39:44
  and just some wonderful things going on.
• 39:46
  So that's all.
• 39:47
  That's a great, which you're helping too.
• 39:48
  So that's great.
• 39:49
  Thank you.
• 39:49
  And
• 39:50
  best of
• 39:50
  luck in
• 39:50
  everything you do in your future.
• 39:52
  Thank you, darling.
• 39:52
  You
• 39:52
  too.
• 39:53
  With 31 speed records earned over a 20 year span and many wins and
• 39:58
  titles in her logbook, Lynn St.
• 40:00
  James reset more than just metrics in a record book.
• 40:03
  She rebooted the way we look at and think about motorsports.
• 40:07
  And because of her perseverance and accomplishments, she has inspired
• 40:10
  generations of talented women to also get behind the wheel of a race car.
• 40:14
  And her continued efforts to expand and equalize motorsports Sports are
• 40:18
  far from over and we can't thank her enough for all she's done and continues
• 40:22
  to do for the racing world at large.
• 40:24
  To learn more about Lynn, you can visit her website, www.
• 40:28
  lynnstjames.
• 40:29
  com, as well as Wynna's website, www.
• 40:33
  womeninmotorsportsna.
• 40:35
  com.
• 40:35
  And on behalf of everyone here and those listening at home, thank you
• 40:39
  for sharing your story with us.
• 40:41
  We hope you enjoyed this presentation and look forward to even more Evening
• 40:44
  with the Legends throughout the season.
• 40:46
  So with that, Lynn, I can't thank you enough for coming on Evening
• 40:49
  with the Legends, sitting down with me, and I look forward to
• 40:51
  seeing you very soon this season.
• 40:53
  Oh, thank you.
• 40:53
  Thanks so much, Eric, for bringing me back and let me talk about Le Mans.
• 40:56
  It's a really, it was special, special.
• 40:58
  So thank you.
• 40:59
  Thank you.
• 41:11
  This episode has been brought to you by the Automobile Club of the West.
• 41:16
  From the awe inspiring speed demons that have graced the track to the courageous
• 41:20
  drivers who have pushed the limits of endurance, the 24 Hours Le Mans is an
• 41:24
  automotive spectacle like no other.
• 41:26
  For over a century, the 24 Hours Le Mans has urged manufacturers to innovate
• 41:29
  for the benefit of future motorists.
• 41:31
  And it's a celebration of the relentless pursuit of speed and
• 41:34
  excellence in the world of motorsports.
• 41:37
  To learn more about or to become a member of the ACO USA, look no further than www.
• 41:42
  lemans.
• 41:44
  org, click on English in the upper right corner, and then click on the
• 41:47
  ACO members tab for club offers.
• 41:50
  Once you've become a member you can follow all the action on the
• 41:53
  Facebook group ACOUSAMEMBERSCLUB and become part of the legend with future
• 41:58
  Evening with the Legend meetups.
• 42:10
  This episode has been brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports as part
• 42:13
  of our Motoring Podcast Network.
• 42:15
  For more episodes like this, tune in each week for more exciting and educational
• 42:19
  content from organizations like The Exotic Car Marketplace, The Motoring
• 42:22
  Historian, Brake Fix, and many others.
• 42:25
  If you'd like to support Grand Touring Motorsports and the Motoring
• 42:27
  Podcast Network, sign up for one of our many sponsorship tiers at www.
• 42:32
  patreon.
• 42:33
  com forward slash GT Motorsports.
• 42:36
  Please note that the content, opinions, and materials presented and
• 42:39
  expressed in this episode are those of its creator, and this episode has
• 42:42
  been published with their consent.
• 42:44
  If you have any inquiries about this program, please contact the
• 42:47
  creators of this episode via email or social media as mentioned in the
• 42:51
  episode.