Race fans had a wide variety of reactions to news that Katherine Legge will become the first woman to run the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day later this month.
Katherine Legge, 45, from England, will attempt to become not only the first woman to complete the challenging task, but also the second driver to ever complete the entire 1,100-mile distance.
Of the other five drivers to attempt “The Double,” Kyle Larson, John Andretti, Kurt Busch, Robby Gordon, and Tony Stewart, Stewart is the only one to complete every lap of both races in the same day – a feat he accomplished in 2001.
“It’s an exciting time. It’s another groundbreaking thing that I can showcase to the world really that, if you set your mind to things, you can do anything, and you can do things that maybe you never even dreamt of before,” Katherine Legge told USA Today.
Legge will compete in her fifth Indianapolis 500 this year. Her best result was 22nd in 2012. Last year, she finished 29th. She finished 35th at Watkins Glen last week after starting last in 38th. She has competed in eight NASCAR Cup Series events over the past two years. The race at the Glen was the final stop for her to become licensed to compete on NASCAR superspeedways.
“It requires a level of endurance and precision that very few in history have pursued,” Legge continued. “I don’t know whether that makes me crazy or not for wanting to do it.”
Race fans react to Katherine Legge attempting the fabled ‘Double’
While Katherine Legge hasn’t been terribly successful in IndyCar (her best career finish is a 9th at Fontana in 2012) or NASCAR (her best career finish is 17th at last year’s Indianapolis race), she is no stranger to racing and winning. In 2017 and 2018, she won twice each year in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
She has also competed in Champ Car, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, the United SportsCar Championship, Formula E, the European Le Mans Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, ARCA, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and several other series since she began racing in 2000.
Reactions to the news that Katherine Legge will be attempting to race the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day was met with a wide variety of reactions from race fans.
“This is going to be awesome!” the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wrote on X.
“You definitely got to give her credit, even if she’s not driving in the best cars,” another comment read.
“There’s almost no way this doesn’t work out great for her (and her sponsor) cuz the stakes are so low,” someone else wrote. “It’s not like Larson or Stewart where there was a reasonable expectation they might do really well in both races. All she has to do is show up and finish last and it’s great.”
“God please complete more laps than Larson,” one fan begged, echoing many other comments.
“Based on past performance, she’ll be about the first car to drop out of the Indianapolis 500 and that allows her to get to Charlotte in plenty of time for the driver’s meeting,” read another comment that was also similar to many others.