The new Femme Fatale: Katherine Legge, IndyCar, and the future of women in racing

Not many people pay attention to IndyCar. To be honest, it’s about as low on my radar as MMA fighting, deep-sea fishing, or those running shoes with the toes. Every once in a while however, I find myself inching back to racing news, sneaking a bit of excitement here and there for a sport that I could probably only have a 30-minute conversation about. Regardless, there is something about it that makes me come back for more. This is one of those moments.

Three days ago, Katherine Legge (pronounced “leg”) signed a two-year contract with a one-year option with Dragon Racing, a team created and owned by Jay Penske, son of the famed Roger Penske, a name recognizable even to less than avid fans. Legge will become a teammate to four-time Champ Car World Series winner Sebastien Bourdais, and only the second female with a full-time IndyCar deal (Anna Beatriz and Pippan Mann are still rookies).

While this is big news for IndyCar, Legge isn’t the type of athlete harboring a harrowing story of triumph, defeat, heartache, injury, or overcoming harsh obstacles of the odds or elements. Legge grew up with a quiet life, is a middle-aged woman from Guildford, England, and is newly engaged, looking to find the healthy balance between her personal life and her career. This is precisely why I love her.

While this is not at all to disparage those who have conquered great obstacles, Legge is truly a motivation for the every-day woman – a product of pure passion driven by a relentless bout of curiosity and confidence that many women strive to obtain but often lose, finding refuge in the ordinary, the routine. Not Katherine.

Legge has a decorated career, starting off early by becoming the first female to earn a pole in a Zetec race. She then became the first woman to win a Toyota Atlantic Championship race in 2005, the first woman to compete full time in the Champ Car World Series in 2006, the first woman to lead a lap in that series, and the first woman to earn the British Racing Drivers’ Club “Rising Star” award.

Where Legge was once a quasi-household name back in 2008 at the height of the “rivalry” with Danica Patrick, and the “fight” for the title of “queen” of the IndyCar Series, she was slowly inching out of the spotlight. Cheers to quotation mark frenzy. Legge’s rise to stardom soon fell to the wayside with the onset of the merger between Champ Car and the Indy Racing League to form the Series, a change with increased politics she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle. Legge left the United States and joined the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), focusing her career on European racing.

Not soon after, despite major changes to her personal life and the comfort of touring car, Legge felt the itch to come back to the States to try her hand for the second time at open wheel racing (which is far more badass. Just saying), focusing her training on an appearance in the 2012 Indy 500, a dream she’s had since she was seven.

So why is her career so interesting to me?

Every so often a story about a woman making major strides in the sports industry surfaces, motivating and forcing the world, even for a second, to take notice that gender equality is becoming more and more prominent, breaking the mold of the ever-present gentleman’s roundtable. What is particularly great about Legge is her ability to not only participate in, but also dictate her position and place in a sport so inherently “male” it’s almost irresponsible. While this is not to say that there are no female professional athletes, racing is the most incestuous and dynastic sport in America, solely carried by the image of the everyday working male – the influence of the boy-next-door.

Not only has Legge continued the trend of female drivers in America, she has focused her brand on The Accessible Woman; Legge doesn’t need suggestive GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials to get noticed (yes, Danica’s driving has improved astronomically since the start, but would she have been noticed with poor driving if not for her ad campaigns?) – she lets her driving speak for her.

Legge has also become an advocate for young girls looking to create a name for themselves in and out of racing, joining TrueCar racing to sponsor a new campaign to empower women.

Having returned to the U.S., Legge has already met a few setbacks and was forced to understand that the transition wasn’t going to be simple telling IndyCar.com, “I thought I’d come back and was sure I would get a ride. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be.  There have been a lot of people I respect that have given me advice to the contrary because they didn’t know it was going to be possible.”

Legge’s story is a truly powerful one, especially on a personal level for me – a young woman trying to create an image and brand for herself in an industry swimming with men, double-breasted Armani suits, bench pressing and gender stereotypes. No matter the expectations, women like Legge feel that change, though tough, is coming and will do everything in their power to not let gender be a question – one of the hardest ideas to ever overcome.

“The only way we can do that is compete with the guys, and the only way you can compete with the guys is if you’re given the opportunity on a level playing field. It should stand as an example that you can do anything you put your mind to and not be limited by anything.”

Legge has it right: keep your head down to the track and stay humble. Male or female, the rest will come.