In her career she won 18 world cup races, 9 each in slalom and giant slalom. Twice she won the discipline world cup in giant slalom (1981, 1983) and once the crystal ball for her victory in the slalom classification. Her greatest success was - as the first US American - winning the overall World Cup in 1983.
At the 1985 World Championships in Santa Caterina , McKinney won bronze in combination, as well as two years later at the 1987 World Championships in Crans-Montana . In the 1987/88 season she fell out for a long time due to a broken leg in the preparatory training, but she was US slalom champion shortly before the Olympic Games in Calgary . At the 1989 World Championships in Vail , she was then world champion in combination and bronze medalist in slalom. In 1980, 1984 and 1988 she took part in slalom and giant slalom at the Winter Olympics, but only crossed the finish line once, finishing fourth in the 1984 giant slalom in Sarajevo .
After another broken leg (her third) in mid-October 1989 during a training session in Saas Fee , she dropped out for the following season. Failing to recover from this injury, she officially announced her resignation in November 1990.
Tamara McKinney won the overall World Cup in the 1982/83 season. There are also three victories in discipline ratings (twice giant slalom, once slalom).