"I'm the best girl race car driver you'll ever see": Katherine Legge recalls her childhood letter to IndyCar legend Lyn St. James

IndyCar driver Katherine Legge was featured on the latest episode of the Throttle Therapy podcast along with former open-wheel racing series driver Lyn St. James. Legge, who drove for Dale Coyne Racing in 2024, recalled her first meeting with the IndyCar legend and detailed how a letter helped with it.

Legge revealed how St. James worked with an Indy Lights (now Indy NXT) team in the early 2000s, as the IndyCar legend prepared for a shootout to find the best female drivers. Legge, who was in Britain at the time, expressed her desire to participate in the shootout and wrote a letter to St. James.

Katherine Legge detailed the contents of the letter and reflected on how she made it to the US, as she said:

“When you were doing a shootout for the IndyLight series back in the day, I think it was like 2004... You were helping run a team in IndyLights and you wanted to find the next female race car driver star. (4:47 onwards)

“So I read about this in England. I read about this and so I reached out to Lyn St. James and I said, ‘Hi, my name is Katherine Legge. I'm the best girl race car driver you'll ever see, ever. Can I come and be a part of your shootout, please?’ I got an email back saying, never heard of you and I said, okay, can I come and watch then? I bought my helmet and I got on a plane and I showed up.”

Lyn St. James participated in 16 IndyCar races during her career (11 CART and 5 IRL) and was the first woman to win the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award. Lyn also participated in Endurance races, which included a couple of class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Katherine Legge most recently raced for Dale Coyne Racing in the IndyCar series for the 2024 season as a part-time entry. The Brit also made her stock car debut at the Shriners Children's 500 held at the Phoenix Raceway.

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Katherine Legge’s miserable NASCAR debut at Phoenix Raceway

Katherine Legge became the first woman since Danica Patrick to race in the NASCAR Cup Series as Patrick retired at the end of the 2018 racing season. However, the weekend didn't go to plan for the Brit, as many came out after the race to question NASCAR's decision to let Legge race despite having no prior stock car experience.

Legge was the slowest car out on track in qualifying and on race day. Daniel Suarez, who was set to lap Legge, got involved in a crash with the Brit as the 44-year-old spun around in the high lane and collected Suarez.

The Trackhouse Racing driver came out after the race and slammed NASCAR for their driver approval process, as his race was compromised because of Legge, who made a rookie mistake.