Inside story: Katherine Legge’s “dramatic” return to the Indy 500

Legge has endured some unconventional circumstances leading up to her third Indy 500 run, but despite all the drama she remains focused on making the most out of the opportunity that was given to her by the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. 

After an intense qualifying weekend, followed by a dramatic crash in Monday practice with Stefan Wilson – that fractured a vertebra and led to him not being able to compete in the 107th running of the 500 – Legge quips that she will need a vacation after this race is done.

“I think I’ve aged quite a lot this week, I’m not going to lie,” she says. “Getting in on the first day of qualifying and then watching Graham [Rahal, he team-mate] getting knocked out. Trying to find speed, and the team scratching their heads, then with the crash and flying all over the place – it’s been a week.

“I’m pretty resilient, I can definitely switch it off a little bit but I’m definitely going to need some tequila and a vacation after this!”

Legge is determined not to let the pressure that comes along with competing in the Indy 500 affect her and remains focused on the job at hand.

“It's fine, I mean, it's been very dramatic,” Legge told Motorsport.com. “But the pressure is the pressure is the pressure, you know, and obviously we're thinking of Stef [Wilson] and hoping for him to have a quick recovery.

“You just kind of have a responsibility to the team and the partners and the fans to do the best job that I can do. I just kind of put my blinkers on and go out and do that. And I will relax afterwards.”

The 42-year-old British driver says that the fact that she is a female driver doesn’t add any extra pressure for her when she’s in the racecar but does carry added burden when she is dealing with media attention and with fans.

“When I put my helmet on, I don't think about being a female driver or not having been here [for 10 years] I just think about the job that I've got to do on a just get on with it,” she says. “So, I don't think that that comes into play there. It does definitely outside the car with as much media attention and, and the fans, with questions and stuff, but inside the car, no.”

Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

Stressful qualifying and Bump Day 

Earning a spot for the Indy 500 grid is always stressful for any driver competing in the knowledge that not all of them will make the field, and for Legge – as a one-off entry – the journey has been extra dramatic and intense.

The emotional roller coaster began in qualifying, where Legge found herself in a difficult and uncomfortable position of watching her two team-mates, Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey, battle it out for the final spot on the Indy 500 grid.

“It was tough to watch, honestly,” she said. “The first day of qualifying, I was worried that Christian [Lundgaard, her third team-mate] was going to bump me out, right?

“And then the second day of qualifying, watching them all bump each other, was pretty brutal to watch. I mean, you never want to be in that position as a team.

“Honestly, it's just tough to be in that position.”

Despite that, seeing support from her full-time RLL teammates was a positive: “We are all really good friends and supportive of each other. And Graham was supportive of Jack. So, it was really neat to see how everybody handled it, and they're really first class.”

Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Driver's Meeting

Photo by: Brett Farmer / Motorsport Images

Breaking an Indy 500 record as a female driver

Putting aside the hectic nature of qualifying, Legge made Indy 500 history by breaking the record for fastest female driver. And while her qualifying average speed of 231.070mph secured her a spot in the field, she surprisingly says it’s not something she’s particularly proud of. 

Legge carries a label of being the only female driver in the event, when all she wants is to make the most out of this long-awaited opportunity.

“I mean, it's neat to break records, right?” she says. “But I feel embarrassed about it in a way sometimes, because it's like, I still ended up qualifying at the rear.

“Like, we're not fast, and if I’ve done it and we were in the in the top one or two, then it's completely different. I think that we've got to stop maybe singling out the whole fastest female thing. I don't care about fastest female, I care about fastest driver.”

Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, autograph

Photo by: Chris duMond / Motorsport Images

As if staying focused for one of the biggest races in motorsports wasn’t challenging enough for Legge, she also has to juggle a demanding media tour as the only female driver.

“I mean, it is distracting, because it takes time away from me spending it with my engineers,” she says. “And it is a lot, but I also understand that that's why we race, we race for the fans and the partners that we have.

“And it's fun but also, it's exhausting and mentally exhausting. I don't think it takes anything away or distracts you per se. But it takes time away from your time with the engineers and it exhausts you.”

Legge has never lost sight of just how special of an opportunity the Indy 500 is to her career as a racer.

“I mean, it's everything,” she says. “You know, I've been trying... The Indy 500 is the biggest race in the world. And has been one that I've tried been trying to get back at it with a good opportunity with a good car to go fast and win.

“And I've been very fortunate that to have this opportunity, and I'm intend to make the most of it.”