Three INDYCAR SERIES Icons Elected Into Motorsports Hall of Fame

INDYCAR SERIES veterans Lyn St. James, Gary Bettenhausen and Harry Hartz were among the 2027 Induction Class announced by the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) on Friday, April 17 during a ceremony at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

St. James, Bettenhausen and the rest of the Class of 2027 will be formally inducted into the MSHFA in March 2027 at a ceremony at the museum located at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Bettenhausen was elected in the Open Wheel category, while St. James earned induction in the At Large category and Hartz in the Historic category. Other Class of 2027 members: Ron Capps (Drag Racing), Rob Dyson (Sports Cars), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Stock Cars), Herb Fishel (Business), Steve Hinton (Aviation), Angelle Sampey (Motorcycles) and Robert Yates (Stock Cars).

An unknowing representative of the Class of 2027 was St. James, who attended the press conference as the co-founder and past president of WIMNA (Women In Motorsports North America) but instead found herself as one of the announced inductees. MSHFA President Daren Lucas, INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles and IMSA President John Doonan combined to surprise St. James – the first woman to win Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1992 – with the news and then invited her to join them at the podium and head table.

St. James (photo, top) built on the work of inductees Janet Guthrie, Denise McCluggage and others to open doors for women at the highest levels of American racing. St. James won numerous sports car events, including IMSA GTO victories at Sebring in 1990 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 1987 and 1990. She also competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

She made 16 INDYCAR SERIES starts, with a career-best finish of eighth in 1996 at Walt Disney World. She qualified sixth for the 1994 Indy 500 (224.154 mph) and was the first woman to lap an oval at over 200 mph in 1985, later improving her women’s closed course speed record to 227.32 mph. One of the foremost female drivers of her era and an inspiration to others, St. James was named one of the Sports Illustrated Top 100 Women Athletes of the Century.

Bettenhausen (photo, above), son of 1997 inductee Tony Bettenhausen, was one of the greatest sprint car drivers of his generation and dominated the 1972 Indianapolis 500, leading 138 laps before engine failure sidelined him with 24 remaining, handing victory to Penske teammate Mark Donohue. Bettenhausen was also fastest qualifier for the 1991 Indianapolis 500.

“Gary B” scored four INDYCAR SERIES wins despite rarely being in a top car. His best Indy 500 finish was third in 1980. He won the 1969 and ’71 USAC Sprint Car titles before a 1974 crash badly damaged his left arm. He eventually recovered enough to capture the 1980 and 1983 USAC Silver Crown championships.

Hartz (photo, above) won the Indy 500 twice as an owner and finished second three times as a driver. He also won the AAA national championship as a driver (1926) and owner (1930). Hartz began as a riding mechanic before moving behind the wheel full-time with a Duesenberg in 1922.

At Indy, Hartz collected top-four finishes five straight years (1922-26), placing second in 1922, ’23 and ’26. He won the 1926 AAA national championship by a wide margin, taking five of 19 races. His biggest was a 300-miler on the Atlantic City board track at a world-record 134.091 mph. He retired from driving after a 1927 accident sidelined him for two years but returned to motorsports building the Miller-powered, front-wheel drive cars Billy Arnold (1930) and Fred Frame (1932) drove to Indy 500 wins.