How Katherine Legge brought the girl power movemen...

When Katherine Legge noticed the primary render for her pink race automobile, coated in e.l.f. branding, her response was swift. “Oh god, that’s so cliché. Do we have now to do a pink automobile?” she remembers asking her crew. 

The veteran driver, whose expansive resume consists of open-wheel racing, endurance and now NASCAR, had spent most of her profession rigorously sidestepping the ‘feminine driver’ label. In a sport dominated by males, Legge was intentional about building her reputation on grit and efficiency, not her gender. 

“I actually tried to not level out the truth that I used to be a woman and simply be a race automobile driver,” she says.  

However when the sweetness model e.l.f. Cosmetics got here knocking in 2023, the chance to do one thing completely different – and disruptive – emerged. Throughout a go to to New York Metropolis, the 44-year-old Brit discovered herself with a brand new, huge platform and commenced to see her distinctive place in motorsport not as a legal responsibility, however as a energy. Then got here the pink automobile. 

“It was the most effective factor that ever occurred as a result of it began this lady energy motion,” Legge says one yr on. 

On the Indy 500, e.l.f. went huge with a full-scale drone present and a splashy fan activation that painted the paddock within the model’s signature colors. 

“For the primary time, the ladies [in the paddock] felt like they had been seen and validated and that they could possibly be female and put on make-up and nonetheless be a badass,” she says.  

However when her Indy 500 seat fell through the following year, she thought the partnership would possibly too. As a substitute, e.l.f. doubled down.  

“A variety of corporations say they stand for empowering girls… however e.l.f. really 100% stood behind me,” she says. “I’ve by no means felt so empowered.” 

Quite than retreat, the model pivoted to support Legge’s 2025 NASCAR campaign. She’s already made historical past as the primary girl to safe a top-20 end in a Cup Collection race since Danica Patrick in 2017 and hopes e.l.f.’s message of visibility and inclusion will resonate with an entire new fan base. 

Katherine Legge, Chevrolet

Photograph by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Pictures

“Hopefully it has the identical impact that it did at Indy, and it creates this lady energy motion within the NASCAR paddock,” she says, noting the fan base has been slowly “warming up” to her. 

“It’s a piece in progress. And it’s taken a lot onerous work from everybody on my crew.” It goes with out saying that leaping right into a 3,400-pound inventory automobile hasn’t precisely been a stroll within the park. 

“It’s a completely completely different sport… I see the inexperienced flag and it’s like, ‘the place am I?’ I’ve to consciously take into consideration every thing as a result of it would not really feel prefer it’s an extension of me but.” 

From new circuits to heavier equipment, and even a brand new dialect, the training curve has been steep. 

“I’ve to get out of talking in IndyCar language and converse the language of the engineers: like, ‘it’s unfastened,’ ‘it’s tight.’ However a few of them are so Southern that it takes me a minute to compute,” she laughs. 

Katherine Legge, Chevrolet

Photograph by: Logan Riely / Getty Pictures

“I’m positive they assume the very same factor once I’m on the radio with my British accent… [but] my spotter and my crew chief are wonderful and really communicative. It’s been superior.” 

Legge’s outcomes are proof that her information hole is shrinking with each race weekend.  

“I’ve bought this renewed sense of motivation: I’m learning, I’m watching races, I’m taking a look at knowledge. I’m completely dedicated,” she says. “I need to end the place I feel I’m able to ending. If the automobile is able to tenth, I need to end tenth. If it’s able to successful, I need to win.”  

Although she’s all the time prioritised respect from the racing neighborhood over splashy headlines – “proper now, all I would like is respect for making an attempt and going on the market and placing all of it on the road,” she says – Legge is laser targeted on preventing her method to a aggressive automobile that can enable her to problem for wins. And she or he’s assured that her expertise offers her a aggressive edge. 

“Expertise counts for a lot. These younger youngsters [coming into NASCAR] are quick, however they have not made all of the errors, and so they’re not scared but,” she says. “It’s worthwhile to have a wholesome respect for what you are doing. It’s simpler to sluggish any person down than it’s to hurry any person up.” 

Expertise, she argues, doesn’t uninteresting bravery; it directs it. 

Legge’s partnership with e.l.f. underscores how seamlessly her two missions intertwine: win races and widen the motorsport tent. The pink automobile that when made her wince is now a rolling billboard for chance. 

She’s proof that femininity and ferocity should not mutually unique – and that you may present up precisely as you might be and nonetheless “be a badass.”