Summit to Explore Automotive Restoration Curriculum in High Schools
April 20, 2016Lyn St. James – Keynote Speaker for Southern Automotive Women’s Forum
May 18, 2016Lyn St. James, Mark Dinsmore and Pete Halsmer are the latest veteran drivers to receive entries in the Indy Legends Pro-Am during the Brickyard Invitational.
All three drivers will once again be on the gird at the Brickyard for the feature event of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association weekend – the Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am.
“All three of these winning drivers will feel right at home with the SVRA I guarantee you,” said SVRA President & CEO Tony Parella. “They have all raced in our previous two Indy Legends Charity Pro-Ams and Lyn and Pete have competed in some of our other events through the years as well.”
St. James, a seven-time starter in the Indianapolis 500 and the event’s rookie of the year in 1992, raced in 15 Indy car races in her career. While many fans know St. James best for her Indianapolis 500 achievements, she is an accomplished road racer and has earned numerous laurels at the wheel of a variety of race cars. She is a two-time competitor in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1989 and ’91). She was even more successful in 62 IMSA GT events, amassing a record of six wins, 17 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes.
Her 1985 GT victory at Watkins Glen remains the only time a woman has scored a win in that series driving solo. She raced in the 12 Hours of Sebring nine times, winning the GTO class in 1990, and was a two-time winner in the GTO Class at the 24 Hours of Daytona. St. James raced in 53 Trans-Am races with seven top-five finishes. She has held 31 international and national closed-circuit speed records and is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.
A two-time starter in the Indianapolis 500, Halsmer competed in 33 Indy car races from 1980 to 1985 with a best finish of second. He had a highly decorated career in sports car racing, winning six Trans Am races, two International Motorsports Ass’n GTO championships and three class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He drove for Jack Roush from 1986 through 1989 enjoying his Trans Am success as well as the 1989 IMSA GTO championship. Halsmer won his second GTO championship in 1991 while driving for Mazda. The following year he was invited to compete in the prestigious IROC series.
Dismore came back from a devastating accident at IMS in 1991 to nearly win the Indianapolis 500 ten years later before gearbox failure dashed his chances. He captured the attention of the American open wheel community in 1990 when he dominated the Toyota Atlantic (Pacific Division) championship, winning eight of ten races on the schedule. Just two years after his devastating injuries at Indianapolis he won overall at the 1993 24 Hours of Daytona driving Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Toyota prototype with Rocky Moran and P.J. Jones.
He returned to Indy car racing in 1996 with Team Menard and eventually became a star driver for Kelley Racing where he won the 1999 Texas Motor Speedway 500 kilometer championship race. Throughout his career he competed in 64 Indy car races and in addition to his victory in Texas he won four pole positions. His success earned him the opportunity to represent Indy car in the elite IROC series in 2000 and 2001.
