Follow for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 had but to start out once 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. After I requested why she needed to return again in 2024, her reply was easy: Redemption.
“I didn’t need to exit like that,” Legge mentioned, referring to a mistake throughout her first pit cease that led her to in the end retire from the occasion. “I need folks to recollect me for what I’m truly able to somewhat than the catastrophe of final yr’s race.”
Regardless of admitting that she nonetheless felt like a “rookie” because of 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 working of the Indy 500. In response to Legge, she “needed to see what she might obtain” with such an “iconic model.”
On the monitor, sadly, there was little achievement to be discovered. The engine in her race automotive failed on the twenty third lap. Legge was one in every of 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 monitor. It got here within the type of her sponsorship with e.l.f. Cosmetics.
In 1977, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway might very effectively have been the Annapurna Mountain for Janet Guthrie.
Sure, she had already accomplished step one of racing in Indianapolis the yr earlier than: She had entered. She had accomplished rookie orientation. She had practiced. She had compelled the denizens of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to just accept a girl of their midst, understanding full effectively that it had taken a courtroom case 5 years earlier than to lastly permit some ladies the chance to be allowed within the pit lane and storage space. It was nonetheless a shock to see a girl 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 abilities; she was representing all ladies all over the place.
It’s straightforward to see Guthrie’s accomplishment as a private one, however 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 lady might tackle the problem of the Speedway. However what we are inclined to overlook is that, in her barrier-breaking yr, 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 percentages. She had ignored heckling from followers asking her to point out them their chest. She had battled an enormous quantity of detrimental 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 opponents communicate poorly about her ability. And with a functioning automotive at her disposal, she was in a position to silence the criticism — at the least for some time. Janet Guthrie had proved that girls can race Indy vehicles, too.
The 108th working 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 instructed Jalopnik again in 2022. “I had mother and father that supported it — particularly my dad. “I used to be daddy’s little lady. I used to be an adrenaline junkie. We’d journey throughout Europe and go to completely different race tracks. And it was enjoyable, however 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 transferring up the open-wheel ladder by way of Formulation Three, Formulation Renault and Formulation Ford. She was the primary lady 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 an alternative, she was supplied an opportunity to show herself in America’s Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Legge’s open-wheel alternatives quickly morphed into seats in sports activities vehicles after a couple 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 seemed to be her finest one but because of e.l.f. Cosmetics. The make-up and skincare model first teamed up with Legge in 2023 earlier than opting to broaden its partnership together with her in 2024. Slightly than being a minor sponsor, e.l.f. turned Legge’s major 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 girl DJ carried out all day lengthy whereas followers of all kinds might earn free merchandise (starting from some much-needed sunscreen to shiny crimson lip-plumping gloss), bear a fast makeover, study concerning the historical past of girls within the Indy 500, and take dwelling 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 monitor earlier than. I’ve attended races all over the world, and it’s extraordinarily uncommon to seek out something designed to enchantment to ladies. I’ve seen a couple of merch tents, and I’ve heard of occasions like Le Mans placing collectively some particular zones the place the male race followers might depart 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 ladies posed with Katherine Legge’s displayed driving go well with. Little boys went wild for the e.l.f./Legge hats. Grownup ladies requested skilled make-up artists to point out them learn how to 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 they’d a younger lady at dwelling who was experimenting with make-up for the primary time.
It’s tough to quantify precisely how necessary that activation shall 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 can’t simply enchantment to feminine followers, however draw them into the game in an genuine manner. If I’m fully 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 group and waved. Numerous folks — women and men alike — rose to their toes to applaud her, as a result of this yr, it was much less about her efficiency. As a substitute, it was concerning the influence that she and her major 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 the intention to strive her luck with a Wildcat chassis outfitted with a DGS, a last-ditch effort at retaining 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 — the very 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 reminiscences in the identical manner as Guthrie’s first try on the 500, as a result of by 1978, Guthrie had already made a big impact on the American motorsport zeitgeist. The actual fact that Guthrie certified for one of the vital difficult races on the planet meant she’d made a mark that even a private success like a prime 10 couldn’t rewrite. She had already compelled tradition to vary.
Once we look again on Katherine Legge’s 2024 Indy 500, I don’t suppose 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 certainly received’t be the non-public outcome she needed, however she will — and will — be pleased with the change she delivered to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And who is aware of — perhaps subsequent yr, 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.