Observe for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 had but to start out after I first spoke to Katherine Legge about her fourth try at competing within the Best Spectacle in Racing. In 2023, Legge was the primary retirement within the occasion. Once I requested why she needed to return again in 2024, her reply was easy: Redemption.
“I didn’t wish to exit like that,” Legge stated, referring to a mistake throughout her first pit cease that led her to finally retire from the occasion. “I would like folks to recollect me for what I’m really able to fairly than the catastrophe of final 12 months’s race.”
Regardless of admitting that she nonetheless felt like a “rookie” due to 2023’s early exit, Legge was optimistic. Her No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda can be emblazoned with an e.l.f. Cosmetics partnership — a partnership that quickly expanded to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 108th operating of the Indy 500. In response to Legge, she “needed to see what she may obtain” with such an “iconic model.”
On the observe, sadly, there was little achievement to be discovered. The engine in her race automotive failed on the twenty third lap. Legge was one among three Honda drivers to retire from the race in a puff of disappointing smoke. She was scored in twenty ninth place.
And but Katherine Legge nonetheless has a lot to be pleased with in 2024. She discovered some redemption; it simply wasn’t on the race observe. It got here within the type of her sponsorship with e.l.f. Cosmetics.
In 1977, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway may very effectively have been the Annapurna Mountain for Janet Guthrie.
Sure, she had already accomplished step one of racing in Indianapolis the 12 months earlier than: She had entered. She had accomplished rookie orientation. She had practiced. She had pressured the denizens of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to just accept a lady of their midst, understanding full effectively that it had taken a courtroom case 5 years earlier than to lastly enable some ladies the chance to be allowed within the pit lane and storage space. It was nonetheless a shock to see a lady driving, and when Guthrie’s automotive succumbed to a slew of mechanical gremlins earlier than she had an opportunity to qualify, it seemingly proved to her doubters that girls actually shouldn’t compete within the Indy 500. When she arrived in 1977, she wasn’t simply representing her personal driving expertise; she was representing all ladies in every single place.
It’s straightforward to see Guthrie’s accomplishment as a private one, nevertheless it’s simply as straightforward to map her success onto all ladies. When Janet Guthrie certified for the 1977 Indianapolis 500, she proved that she was able to the feat, sure. She additionally proved that, with the correct expertise and the correct backing, any girl may tackle the problem of the Speedway. However what we are inclined to neglect is that, in her barrier-breaking 12 months, Guthrie completed in twenty ninth after a damaged timing gear ended her day on lap 27.
Why? As a result of the field rating outcome issues far lower than the cultural influence. Janet Guthrie had overcome the chances. She had ignored heckling from followers asking her to indicate them their chest. She had battled an enormous quantity of damaging press that questioned her talents, as if she hadn’t been racing for over a decade by the point she first tried her hand at Indy. She had heard her rivals converse poorly about her talent. And with a functioning automotive at her disposal, she was capable of silence the criticism — at the least for some time. Janet Guthrie had proved that girls can race Indy automobiles, too.
The 108th operating of the Indianapolis 500 was Katherine Legge’s fourth-ever shot on the Best Spectacle in Racing. The now-43-year-old British driver had her first two makes an attempt in 2012 and 2013, with Dragon Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, respectively. After that got here a decade-long break the place Legge discovered success within the sports activities automotive realm — however open-wheel racing remained Legge’s old flame.
“I used to be a really fortunate younger girl in that I discovered one thing that I used to be obsessed with at a younger age and that was go-karting,” Legge advised Jalopnik again in 2022. “I had mother and father that supported it — particularly my dad. “I used to be daddy’s little woman. I used to be an adrenaline junkie. We’d journey throughout Europe and go to totally different race tracks. And it was enjoyable, nevertheless it additionally gave me a spotlight, a ardour, and a objective.”
Legge honed her craft within the karting world for practically a decade earlier than shifting up the open-wheel ladder by way of Method Three, Method Renault and Method Ford. She was the primary girl to win the “Rising Star” award from the British Racing Drivers Membership — a feat she earned by besting Kimi Raikkonen’s lap document in a Zetec race. Then, in 2004, she confirmed up at Cosworth’s UK workplace, refusing to depart till she met with boss Kevin Kalkhoven. Her persistence and drive impressed a person who had initially meant to shoo her from the premises; as a substitute, she was provided an opportunity to show herself in America’s Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Legge’s open-wheel alternatives quickly morphed into seats in sports activities automobiles after a number of years in Champ Automotive and IndyCar; she drove the inimitable three-wheeled DeltaWing earlier than securing her first GTD class victory with Mike Shank Racing in 2017.
However her shot on the 2024 Indianapolis 500 appeared to be her finest one but due to e.l.f. Cosmetics. The make-up and skincare model first teamed up with Legge in 2023 earlier than opting to develop its partnership along with her in 2024. Reasonably than being a minor sponsor, e.l.f. turned Legge’s main companion, with its pink-and-black branding adorning her Dale Coyne Honda. The corporate then expanded its sponsorship to incorporate the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a complete, in addition to the 108th Indy 500.
Capping off the affair was a groundbreaking e.l.f. activation in IMS’ infield. There, a lady DJ carried out all day lengthy whereas followers of all types may earn free merchandise (starting from some much-needed sunscreen to vivid purple lip-plumping gloss), endure a fast makeover, be taught concerning the historical past of girls within the Indy 500, and take house some unique e.l.f./Legge swag, together with scarves, hats, and magnets.
It was an activation in contrast to something I’ve seen at a race observe earlier than. I’ve attended races all over the world, and it’s extraordinarily uncommon to search out something designed to attraction to ladies. I’ve seen a number of merch tents, and I’ve heard of occasions like Le Mans placing collectively some particular zones the place the male race followers may go away their wives. I had by no means seen a sponsor end up so profoundly, and I definitely by no means anticipated a make-up model to supply the best and most welcoming stand on the Indianapolis 500. Younger women posed with Katherine Legge’s displayed driving swimsuit. Little boys went wild for the e.l.f./Legge hats. Grownup ladies requested skilled make-up artists to indicate them how you can use blush and highlighter. Grown males requested if they might swap their free lip balm pattern for one thing extra thrilling, as a result of that they had a younger woman at house who was experimenting with make-up for the primary time.
It’s troublesome to quantify precisely how vital that activation can be in the way forward for motorsport, however to me, it felt enormous. The e.l.f. activation represented a seismic shift within the motorsport world, in how we cannot simply attraction to feminine followers, however draw them into the game in an genuine means. If I’m completely trustworthy, it felt like the beginning of a female-forward racing revolution.
When Katherine Legge completed her interview after retiring from the race, she thanked the gang and waved. Numerous folks — women and men alike — rose to their ft to applaud her, as a result of this 12 months, it was much less about her efficiency. As a substitute, it was concerning the influence that she and her main sponsor made on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In 1978, Janet Guthrie took one other stab on the Indianapolis 500. She arrived on the Speedway disguising a damaged wrist with a purpose to strive her luck with a Wildcat chassis outfitted with a DGS, a last-ditch effort at conserving the aged Offenhauser engines aggressive. She certified a shocking fifteenth, outranking legends like Bobby Unser and A. J. Foyt. Guthrie and her damaged wrist held on till the checkered flag fell. She had completed ninth — one of the best end for a girl on the Indy 500 till Danica Patrick’s fourth place in 2005.
That ninth-place end hasn’t fairly permeated our recollections in the identical means as Guthrie’s first try on the 500, as a result of by 1978, Guthrie had already made a huge effect on the American motorsport zeitgeist. The actual fact that Guthrie certified for one of the vital difficult races on this planet meant she’d made a mark that even a private success like a high 10 couldn’t rewrite. She had already pressured tradition to alter.
Once we look again on Katherine Legge’s 2024 Indy 500, I don’t assume the outcome will matter fairly as a lot as her influence. Legge introduced e.l.f. Cosmetics to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the model used its leverage to carve out a cushty, well-thought-out area for girls within the midst of a male-dominated world. Her final ending place absolutely received’t be the non-public outcome she needed, however she will — and will — be pleased with the change she dropped at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And who is aware of — possibly subsequent 12 months, Legge will do her finest Janet Guthrie impression and cap off her cultural influence with a career-best end. If anybody can do it, it’s Katherine Legge.
