Kathryn M. Lyle
SCCA T2 National Driver
 
Kathy, now known to her
friends as a "mild-mannered CPA," was called
Speedy Gonzalez or Barney Oldfield by her father
when, as a teenager, she drove his brand new
Camaro. Kathy hated to be seen in her mother's
Impala station wagon, but it did have a 396 cubic
inch Corvette engine, which she loved. So maybe
her obsession with racing is her parents' fault!
In college Kathy was more interested in
motorcycles, especially dirt bikes. But soon
after graduation, a close friend bought a D
Production Datsun 2000 and she got her first real
exposure to sports car racing. She started out
serving as a member of the crew. When her friend
moved on, Kathy kept her involvement in racing
the only way she knew how, through working
flagging and communications at SCCA races.
Finally, in 1982, she went to a BMW Club driving
school at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and found
out that driving on a racetrack was just as much
fun as it looked.
From 1982 to 1992 Kathy spent a lot of weekends
at various club driving schools, first as a
student and then as an instructor. Some summers
she taught at over a dozen schools, at tracks all
over the country. She also attended a Skip Barber
3-day competition course.
By 1992 she was ready to try wheel-to-wheel
racing. Kathy and her then husband bought an old
BMW 2002tii and made it into a competitive ITA
car. They won several races over the course of
the three seasons they ran it. In 1995 BMW came
out with the E36 M3, a great car for the street
and the track. Kathy was ready for something new,
and the car was eligible for SSA, so she got her
SCCA National license and went racing at the
National level in an M3.
Her first National race was at Nelson Ledges Road
Course, close to her home. She was nervous but
managed to qualify on the pole. She remembers
that "it was fun after qualifying to observe the
other SSA drivers as they came by my paddock spot
and tried to figure out who I was." In the race,
she dropped back to second place after getting
hit by an SSGT Camaro at the start, but had a
very exciting and competitive race and held on to
the second place spot.
Kathy raced the M3 for four years, going to the
Runoffs twice (1995 and 1998) and finishing third
at the June Sprints in both those years as well.
She rolled the car in 1996 and had to completely
rebuild it, including a new roof, which took both
time and budget away from her 1996 and 1997
seasons.
Since 1999, Kathy has raced a BMW M coupe which
will also run in SCCA's T2 class (which is where
the M3 is now classified, along with Camaros,
Mustangs and a few other makes and models). For
this year she plans a full season of SCCA
National racing, as well as a race or two in the
H Stock class of BMW Club Racing.
She was invited to participate in the Panoz WGGT
Series, and would like to run at least a couple
of those races too, if time and budget permit.
In addition to racing, Kathy tries to lead a
normal life as owner of her own accounting and
business consulting firm. She also has a
150-year-old house with lots of flowerbeds, and
four dogs and a parrot, all of which vie for her
attention.
Racing is still her primary summertime activity,
and a great icebreaker too, with those new
clients who ask, "How did you ever get involved
in racing?"
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