At 43, Katherine Legge Is The Only Female Driver At This Year's Indy 500
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Professional race car driver Katherine Legge, is hitting the track over Memorial Day weekend to compete as the only female in the 108th Indianapolis 500 race.
This will be the fourth time in the 43-year-old's career that she'll be on the grid for the Indy 500. In 2012, she raced at the competition and finished in 22nd, her personal best. This year, she'll have the chance to improve her time while continuing to make history.
After the British race car driver qualified for the big race on Sunday, she shared a series of pictures from the Last Chance Qualifying round on Instagram. In the first image, she's all smiles in her white and pink racing suit. The next two pictures are of her racing in her iconic pink car.
"Rolling off 31st in our pretty in pink @elfcosmetics @hondaracing_us @dalecoyneracing machine. T’was a stressful day but we collectively (as a team) put her in the field," she wrote.
There's no doubt Katherine will be making headlines leading up to the big race on Sunday in her iconic car and uniform. Ahead, get to know everything about the athlete including her career highlights and what she likes to do when she's not racing.
Katherine is originally from the U.K. and started racing when she was 9 years old.
Katherine was born in Guilford, Surrey. She got her first taste behind the wheel on a family vacation when she went go-karting with her dad and uncle, she told Forbes. She's been hooked ever since.
“He bought me a cart that Christmas when I was nine,” she recalls. “I loved it. It gave me a purpose in life and kept me out of trouble; it gave me a focus.” She began competing in local races and qualified for the national championship.
Katherine posted a throwback IG of herself in a go-cart holding a trophy and captioned it: "I still remember my first experience of motor sport!"
“I didn't realize it at the time,” she told Forbes, “but racing teaches you about STEM because it's all science, technology, engineering and math. I thought I didn't like science as a kid, but then I realized actually everything I did was science-based.”
She started driving in NASCAR in 2018.
She competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with four starts for JD Motorsports in 2018. In July 2023, Katherine returned to the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Road America after a five-year haitus. This time, she signed a four-year deal to drive for GreenLight Racing.
Katherine been racing professionally for more than two decades.
She has competed in virtually every racing genre out there, from NASCAR to IMSA to IndyCar and the Indy 500. She's even been behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car.
Some of her career highlights are, according to Historic Racing:
Became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America
Voted RACER magazine's Most Promising Road Racer by fans around the world
Became the first female to receive British Racing Drivers Club "Rising Star" accolade
Received the prestigious Women Racing Drivers Club Susan JP Jamieson award for fastest lap speed. She earned the title as Fastest Female Racer in the UK.
In 2009 she became the ninth woman to qualify for the Indy 500
She has made two Formula E starts in her career, both in the 2014-15 season
In 2018, she made four starts in NASCAR's Xfinity Series
In 2023, she had the fastest one-lap qualification lap with 231.627 mph
She had the fasted four-lap qualification average at 231.070 mph in 2023
In 2024, she became the first woman inducted into Long Beach Grand Prix Walk of Fame
She’s the first driver to be sponsored by a beauty brand.
Katherine's return to the Indy 500 race is in partnership with e.l.f Cosmetics, making her the first driver to be sponsored by a beauty brand.
In April, the partnership was announced, and the brand said they decided to join the motorsports space alongside Dale Coyne Racing because of the "positivity, inclusivity, and accessibility,"of Katherine's driving force.
"I'm honored to be back at the 500 to represent such a groundbreaking and historic effort," Katherine said, per Dale Coyne Racing. “When I was nine years old, I decided I wanted to be a race car driver, and I never would have dreamed a beauty brand would one day be my primary sponsor in the Indy 500. Together with DCR, Honda, and e.l.f., we will truly empower women who are breaking barriers, pushing boundaries, and testing the limits by giving them the confidence and a path towards realizing their dreams, whatever they may be!”
e.l.f. shared their excitement ahead of the race over the weekend on Instagram. "🏁 Ready, set, let’s e.l.f.ing GO! 🏁 We’re backing the ONLY female driver in the #Indy500, @katherineracing! We’ll be cheering her the e.l.f. on as she tears up the track at @indianapolismotorspeedway this Sunday. 🏎️💨 Will you be watching? 👀. Stay tuned for coverage all weekend long! 💖," the caption read.
She’ll be in 31st position on the Indy 500 starting grid.
This weekend, Katherine will be in the 31st spot on the grid. During the Last Chance Qualifying on Sunday, she secured the fastest time with a 230.092 average speed, per Planet F1.
Despite bumping the wall towards the end of her qualifying run, she finished on top. "NO LIFTING. Katherine Legge finishes her qualifying run in the most thrilling way," IndyCar on NBC posted on Instagram.
She will drive the number 51 e.l.f Cosmetics car sponsored by Dayle Coyne Racing Dallara with 51 as her number, Indianapolis Motor Speedway's website states.
Katherine calls two countries home.
She currently splits her time between Syresham in Northamptonshire, England, and Indianapolis in America, according to Historic Racing. Her IG bio quips, "Still retaining a modicum of a British accent despite being quite Americanized. Lover of tea and biscuits."
Is Katherine Legge married?
Katherine is not married and she does not have a husband.
However, she used to be engaged to German race car driver, Peter Terting, according to Indy Car. They started dating in 2010 and split in 2012, per SportsBrief.
She’s vegan.
Katherine hasn't eaten meat in nearly decade, according to Yahoo. A friend showed her a video of factory farm animals and then took her out for a "really good" vegan dinner. She stopped eating meat on the spot, and went fully vegan soon after that.
“It's is easy to be vegan when you're at home,” she says. On the road, she's found a crew of vegan racers.
Katherine's net worth is estimated to be in the low millions.
Reports estimate that she earns an annual salary of $300,000, and her net worth is $3 million, per SportsBrief. In comparison, IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward just inked a salary extension that will pay him more than $4 million per year starting in 2026, per NBC Sports.
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