Historical past is ready to be made on the 2024 Indianapolis 500, however possibly not in the way in which you’d count on. No, it received’t be the primary 500 contested by a girl or particular person of colour. It received’t mark the most important prize purse because the race’s first operating in 1911. Look carefully, and also you’ll see it clearly: Motorsport is for the ladies now.
Extra particularly, check out Katherine Legge’s No. 51 Honda. A look on the entrance, with its pink nostril offset by black wings, might lull you into considering it is a customary Dale Coyne Racing machine — albeit one fielded in partnership with Rick Ware Racing. Learn the phrases on the wing, although. Let your eyes wander again to the black-and-pink sidepods. What you’re is a partnership with e.l.f., the first-ever magnificence model to function a main sponsor in Indy 500 historical past. It’s an indication that the instances are altering.
“Folks see worth in promoting to ladies as a result of the 19-26 feminine demographic is the quickest rising demographic in motorsport,” Legge advised me in an interview earlier this week. “These corporations are saying, ‘hey, we imagine in ladies and what they’re making an attempt to realize, and we’re going to face behind them with make-up, partnerships, no matter it could be.’”
Legge, who has been racing competitively for over twenty years and who transitioned from an open-wheel racing focus to an endurance racing one, started her e.l.f. tie-in in 2023 with a small Indy 500. Her illustration of the model was sufficient to encourage them to make the leap as a main sponsor this 12 months — or, primarily, to half with sufficient cash to get Legge again behind the wheel of an Indy automotive for her newest shot on the Best Spectacle in Racing.
Look past the 2024 Indy 500, although, and also you’ll see one thing shifting on the earth of motorsport demographics. You’ll see that girls are taking part in a better and better position in selections made by race groups, sponsorship teams, and advertising professionals.
Over in Europe, the all-female F1 Academy introduced an unique collection partnership with Charlotte Tilbury, a luxe magnificence model. The sponsor turned out in full drive earlier this month, as a part of F1A’s participation in Method 1’s Miami Grand Prix weekend. Eponymous founder Tilbury was on the monitor, and the corporate introduced celebrities and influencers to the monitor in droves to additional promote a slate of magnificence merchandise with enthusiastic social media posts. F1A hosted panels designed to focus on feminine empowerment in motorsport whereas additionally providing Charlotte Tilbury-loaded makeovers within the paddock.
Maybe much less glamorous is the BikiniZone-sponsored NASCAR Xfinity Collection racer for Natalie Decker, although a sponsor devoted to soothing the itch of ingrown hairs nonetheless represents the significance of the feminine greenback. (Plus, if the male NASCAR followers on the market are thrilled concerning the Dude Wipes sponsorship, I believe it’s about time we discuss some truly useful merchandise for actually anybody on the market who shaves their bikini zone.)
On high of that, Australian racing driver Caitlin Wooden boasts a Barbie livery on her Porsche Dash Problem GB Championship because of sponsorship {dollars} from Mattel. Toni Breidinger carried a Victoria’s Secret sponsorship within the NASCAR Vans Collection.
This isn’t to suggest that these sorts of women-focused sponsorships are brand-new, as a result of they’ve been round for ages. In 1997, Tammy Jo Kirk signed with Lovable, a lingerie firm, to kick off her NASCAR profession. Even Janet Guthrie, who made historical past by turning into the primary girl to race in each the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, was sponsored by Kelly Lady, which, on the time, was an company devoted to putting younger ladies in non permanent workplace jobs. It’s simply that these sponsorships are nonetheless a little bit shocking after outstanding ladies drivers like Danica Patrick turned carefully related to the genderless GoDaddy, even whereas using their standard beauty as advertising instruments.
It additionally feels totally different now, as a result of for the primary time, ladies are literally watching.
That’s additionally clear to Legge; she notes that her look on the 2023 Indianapolis 500 was markedly totally different from her earlier outing a decade earlier, largely as a result of she noticed extra ladies than ever earlier than descending on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“There are far more ladies on the monitor, and far more followers, and far more households than there have been a decade in the past,” Legge advised me. “There’s a large girl-power surge occurring proper now, and it’s one thing I’m so proud to be on the forefront of.”
Legge pointed to the exponential progress and legitimization of girls’s sports activities all throughout the globe, be it ladies’s soccer or the gorgeous talent of Caitlin Clark within the WNBA. Paired with the democratization of previously hostile motorsport collection like Method 1 because of advertising shifts like Netflix’s Drive to Survive docuseries, motorsport is poised to let the rising tides of recognition elevate the ships of its ladies — be they followers, sponsors, drivers, or crew members.
“It’s such a distinct expertise once you’re truly a fan of and use the product [sponsoring you],” Legge stated. “Most ladies use some type of make-up not less than as soon as every week. I’ve actually quick, stubby eyelashes, so I would like a number of mascara.
“It feels extremely genuine, as a result of I can truly converse intelligently concerning the product. It feels extra prefer it’s me on the automotive.”
There’s a lot to be stated about moral consumption, and about completely catering to ladies by way of vogue or magnificence — however there’s no denying the sense of empowerment that comes from seeing a product you use mirrored again at you from the racing world. Possibly I’m not utilizing Hero Cosmetics zits patches as a result of I’m feeling my finest, however I don’t fairly thoughts spending my cash on them after I know they’re bringing motorsport influencers to the race monitor. Possibly I’m not speaking to anybody about BikiniZone, however I can rattling nicely let you know I’ve bought that product earlier than. No, y’all is not going to be granted information of the Victoria’s Secret clothes objects I’ve at dwelling — however, yeah, I’m a girl, and I’ve shopped there.
After all, there are tens of millions of how ladies can present worth to the motorsport world that don’t need to do with their buying energy, however we stay in a society that values our transactions greater than anything. Manufacturers wouldn’t be spending their cash on racing in the event that they didn’t assume they had been going to learn from it, and with ladies making up over $30 trillion of worldwide spending, it is smart that corporations would select to market to ladies in locations they know ladies shall be. Now, for the primary time, ladies are in motorsport — and the businesses that cater to us have adopted go well with.
