Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, Ind.) — Katherine Legge has been around long enough in racing that folks in motorsports know how to pronounce her last name.
It’s “Leg.” Not “Leg-EEE.”
They know how to pronounce her name because she has built a resume over the last 20 years, racing primarily in sports cars, along with 47 career INDYCAR starts. She also has dabbled in NASCAR, with 19 national series starts. She has been an Acura factory driver in sports cars (including four victories) and has run nearly three full INDYCAR seasons. She has a couple of Formula E starts as well.
The 45-year-old native of England has built a reputation as a capable, versatile racer who doesn’t have much fear. It is what will allow her to hopefully become the sixth driver ever to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coke 600 this Sunday when — if it all works out — she’ll compete at both tracks in the same day.
But who is Katherine Legge? What makes her like you and me and what makes her different? She sat down with me for a chat during the Indy 500 qualifying rain delay on Saturday.
Who is Katherine Legge?
Legge: Katherine is an English girl who has assimilated into the United States of America. A race-car driver, an adventure junkie, a foodie. And probably has a little bit of a screw loose and chases the highs of doing adventurous things.
How would your friends describe you?
My friends would describe me as having no filter, direct, fun, silly. I’m silly sometimes. Adventurous and particular about some things. And they’d probably say something about my dog, Barley.
What type of dog?
He’s a mutt. I’ve always taken her with me, but this year obviously I didn’t take her with me, and so now I miss her dearly. And Conor [Daly] has his new pet within the RV lot, so I am getting my animal repair … There’s rather a lot to be mentioned for emotional help animals. I informed [former. driver] Sarah [Fisher] the opposite day that she’s my emotional help teammate as a result of I haven’t got my pet with me. However they make an enormous distinction, even to my dad. My dad even mentioned, “I miss Barley as a result of it is good to have the ability to return to the bus after which simply stroll her round for 5 minutes and decompress and calm down, and he or she’s all the time comfortable to see you.” She does not care the place I qualify.
What’s the most adventurous factor you have performed exterior of racing?
Outdoors of racing, I’ve performed the standard loopy stuff. I’d say inside racing, you’ve bought Pikes Peak, proper? That’s fairly loopy. I’ve skydived, I’ve mountain biked down massive hills. I’ve performed an Ironman [triathlon]. I’ve traveled to actually cool, attention-grabbing locations. I try to do issues that scare me or that make me really feel alive. So I’d say if anyone says, “Hey, what do you concentrate on doing this?,” Then I’d say, “I am in.”
Is there something you have ever mentioned no to?
I do not know that I’d bungee leap as a result of I am petrified of heights. Anyone must push me, after which I’d wish to do it. However that is in all probability about it.
So far as being a foodie, what meals do you miss essentially the most once you’re within the U.S.?
England just isn’t famend for its delicacies. Nevertheless, now we have actually good pies and issues … like shepherd’s pie, sausage pie, sausage rolls, that sort of factor. However I actually miss chocolate-covered pop-ups.
Will Buxton all the time rails that U.S. chocolate just isn’t chocolate?
It’s not chocolate. However English chocolate is not chocolate, both, which is admittedly disappointing. It needs to be like back-in-the-day English chocolate. Signal me up.
Most not too long ago, you might have been doing numerous endurance racing. Are you an enormous fan of the 24-hour races and do you’re keen on getting out and in and getting an hour of sleep? Or is that troublesome for you?
I really like endurance racing. I really like sports-car racing on the whole. It provides one other component, with having totally different teammates, totally different technique, totally different planning. You get to drive actually cool automobiles. I am used to this sleep deprivation. I’m a management freak, so I am not used to going to sleep and letting the others take over with out worrying about what they’re doing. I’ve bought a radio, I am unable to sleep. It is a complete course of. I really feel most comfy and assured, really, with sports-car racing as a result of it has been the bread and butter of my profession. I’ve spent a decade doing both prototypes or GT racing, and I am fairly good at it. I’d say I might leap in a type of automobiles tomorrow and really feel proper at house and know what I am doing 99 % of the time.
Do you’re keen on racing due to the pace, due to the competitors, since you love cars? What’s it that brings you to this occupation?
I really like racing due to racing. I’m not an enormous automotive nut. I am unable to let you know what a automotive is simply by the engine noise like numerous these guys can. However I really like racing for the competitors. I adore it for the pace and the adrenaline. I adore it for the truth that you by no means attain the optimum. You are all the time looking when getting out of the automotive the place you are saying, “No one else might have pushed that automotive higher than I did at this time, minimizing all of the errors.” I really like the problem that it’s mentally. I really like the problem that’s with your self. I really like the engineering facet. It’s all-encompassing. It takes over your life. As soon as you have been bitten by the racing bug, I believe you are bitten. I’ve pushed the whole lot in my profession — electrical automobiles, NASCAR, INDYCAR, sports activities automobiles, touring automobiles. I’ve performed Pikes Peak. I’ve performed so many alternative issues that I simply love the racing component of it. It makes you are feeling alive.
I’d suppose being a management freak in racing does not precisely match as a result of it’s important to depend on so many individuals and so many elements which are out of your management.
No, it does not. It does not all the time serve me nicely. I wish to know that I am as ready as I will be. And the whole lot’s been considered and arranged. I am going to offer you an instance all the way down to doing the double, and I am [telling] Clint [my manager], “You’ve got bought the logistics, proper? I do not wish to have to consider the logistics.” However I am unable to assist myself. So at this time I am like trying on the schedule, and I’m like, “How will we do that, and the way will we try this, and the way will we do the opposite?” He is like, “Katherine, you informed me you’d let or not it’s.” And I am unable to.
What do you hope is the legacy of this double?
Actually, I am doing it as a result of it is a actually cool factor to do, and it is sort of like this old-school epic badge of honor that you just get for doing each races in sooner or later. I am not doing it to depart a legacy. Due to e.l.f. [Cosmetics] and their partnership, I believe it’s a legacy in that it is displaying that there usually are not the perceived limitations that you just suppose there are. And you are able to do something that you just put your thoughts to if you would like it sufficient. It could be remiss of me to not take that duty critically, however on the similar time, that is not why I got down to do it. I got down to do it as a result of I like to race. I discovered a newfound love in NASCAR, and to get to do the Indy 500 once more, it is only a dream come true. So if I can tie all these issues in and look again in 10 12 months and go, “Hey, I did that.” Not many individuals get the chance to be the sixth particular person in historical past. That’s actually cool.
Is there something you are feeling that is occurred in your life that drives your ardour for this?
I believe racing was such an integral a part of my life from age 9 [starting in go-karts] with my dad. It was each weekend. It was all I considered. I sleep, I eat, I dream about racing, about having a greater automotive. What would Roger Penske do? All of the totally different parts. As soon as your life has grow to be about that, I believe it is actually onerous to then take into consideration what your life is with out that in it. And I used to be really having a deep, significant dialog with Sarah Fisher the opposite day, and I used to be like, individuals say, “Who’s Katherine Legge?” And also you wish to say “race-car driver” as a result of that is who you might be. And there must be extra to you than that, proper? It is best to have whoever you might be exterior of racing. However actually racing and I are tied collectively on the hip. It is simply been my complete life. I’ve been very fortunate.
Did you ever suppose that you just would not be a driver in racing — like if you wish to be concerned in racing, it isn’t going to be behind the wall?
I’ve considered what I am going to do post-racing. I’ve two parallels, like trails of thought. One is I nonetheless wish to be in racing, and I wish to assist different younger feminine drivers, like [17-year-old prospect] Lanie Buice, for instance, and be a part of GM’s variety initiatives and driving growth. I believe I’d get the identical sort of kicks from doing that as I do from driving. After which the opposite a part of me thinks, will or not it’s too painful to not drive as a result of I wish to drive a lot that I ought to simply get out of all of it collectively? So many individuals have helped me, like Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, Sarah Fisher. You could have the development. I wish to be a part of the subsequent era arising.
Nicely, you can race Automobiles Tour and ARCA with Lanie, the place she is racing now.
Yeah. Trans Am [too].
Lastly, you have pushed within the Indy 500 earlier than. Simply what’s it that makes that race particular for you?
You get requested as a driver — you get requested rather a lot — what it is prefer to drive within the Indy 500. And it is the toughest query to reply as a result of until you have been right here and you have skilled it, it is sort of indescribable. As you drive in, you get goosebumps. The power of the gang … it is just like the place has a persona of its personal. And when you’re on the grid and also you’re driving round, it isn’t like another race on the planet. It is like all of the historical past and tales of the ghosts and like the ability of it.
There are 110 years of historical past to this one.
There are 110 years of historical past. It’s so immense. It will get below your bones.
