"There's nothing special about me or her": Katherine Legge and Danica Patrick's 25-year-old interviews resurface

Former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick and 2024 Dale Coyne Racing’s part-time driver Katherine Legge’s 25-year-old interview has resurfaced on X. Motorsport reporter Leigh Diffey reposted it on his account, as he quoted the video and wondered how 25 years flew by.

In 2000, Legge, who is a British citizen, raced in the junior national single-seater racing series Formula Ford Zetec, Avon Junior Zetec, and Formula Ford GB. Danica Patrick, on the other hand, moved to the UK in the late 90s to kickstart her career in European Formula Racing and raced in the British Formula Ford Championship in 2000.

Both Legge and Patrick went on to become professional racing drivers and raced in a multitude of US-based racing series, including IndyCar, NASCAR, and IMSA.

The interview shared by Leigh Diffey took place at the Brands Hatch circuit, where Katherine Legge stepped up from the Zetec junior category to make her Formula Ford Zetec debut. Legge detailed her expectations from the weekend and was questioned whether she would benchmark herself against the other female on the grid, i.e. Danica Patrick. She replied:

“I actually race for the same team as Danica, so we've sort of judged myself against her all season. It's difficult. She's been doing this series since the beginning of the year and I haven't. So, you know, I'm going to judge myself against her just as much as I'm going to judge myself against everybody else. There's nothing special about her or me. We're just drivers.”

Diffey also asked Patrick to reflect on her season, to which she replied:

“Yeah, it's been tough. It's been challenging, you know, but that's the reason why I did this series, is because it is hard, and it's going to pay off in the end, and I'll be a better driver. So I just got to stick it out now."

Katherine Legge, 44, made her NASCAR Cup Series debut at the Shriners Children's 500. Patrick retired from the sport at the end of the 2018 racing season with the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 being her last in the respective racing series.

Danica Patrick on returning to IndyCar for her last race

Danica Patrick started professional open-wheel racing in the IndyCar series before moving to racing in NASCAR. However, the American decided to race in the open-wheel racing series to end her motorsport career and joined as a one-off entry for the 2018 Indy 500.

Speaking about returning to IndyCar after her NASCAR sprint, Patrick said (via IndyCar's official website):

“It’s pretty damn real. Yeah, I’m excited. It scares me a little bit to look at how small that rear wing is, but hey, I’m sure there’s (downforce) grip somewhere – more grip than I’m used to.”

Danica Patrick drove the #13 GoDaddy Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. She started the race in P7, but an incident on Turn 2 forced her to retire on Lap 67.