Katherine Legge On Chili Bowl Debut: ‘I Just Love To Race’

Katherine Legge is making her Chili Bowl Nationals debut this week. (Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment photo)

TULSA, Okla. – Why is Indy car and road racing star Katherine Legge pulling out a set of visor tear-offs and making her dirt midget debut during this week’s 39th Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink?

Simple: she’s a racer.

“I love racing. I love racing all types of cars, whether it’s NASCAR, IndyCar, sports cars … I’ve heard talk about this race for so long and I said to myself, ‘Why not, let’s give it a shot?” Legge told Motorsports Hotspot following the recent ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.

Oh yeah, she’s contesting next month’s ARCA season opener at the World Center of Racing, too. But let’s get back to her first foray onto the dirt for now.

Thursday’s Hasty-Bake Qualifying Night counts Legge among its 85 projected entries for the fourth of five preliminary programs that will set the lineups for Saturday’s famed ‘alphabet soup’ main events.

Legge will drive the No. 12 Spike Chassis midget – powered by a Stanton SR-11X engine and backed by Throttle Therapy, the podcast she recently launched through iHeartRadio – for Abacus Racing as she competes inside the SageNet Center for the first time.

If dirt fans recognize that team name, they should, because it’s the organization that has won the USAC Triple Crown of championships (midget, sprint car, and Silver Crown) over the past two years with driver Logan Seavey.

Put simply, it’s a really good team. Abacus’ people know what they’re doing and will give Legge a pristine race car when she hits the fifth-mile, indoor dirt oval Thursday night for her preliminary program.

Katherine Legge in action during Chili Bowl Nationals practice. (Photo Courtesy of Abacus Racing)

But Legge isn’t going in with her expectations through the roof. After all, she’s only ever been to one midget race, let alone competed in one before.

“I’m going to have so much to learn,” she said with a knowing chuckle.

There is a bit of an ironic story behind that lone midget race Legge attended, and she reflected on it briefly because it ties directly into this week’s edition of the Chili Bowl.

“So, the midget race that I went to was at Lanier Raceway because it’s by where I live in Georgia, and there was a girl driving there by the name of Lanie Buice, and I introduced myself to her and we became friends,” Legge explained. “She just turned 18 (in November), so she would have been probably 11 or 12 then. But I saw something in her that was really special. I thought she was really fast, and she had a really good head on her shoulders, so I kept in touch with her. But I saw her name on the entry list for the (ARCA) test and she ended up parked right next to me!

“We reconnected then, and it’s just really cool to see somebody from that world go out to Daytona and me from my world come over as well. But knowing her past experience, I was like, ‘OK, you can pick my brains on all things track racing, but I really need to pick your brains on all things midget racing because I have no idea what I'm doing, literally,” Legge continued.

“I learned what I could from her, and now I’m trying the Chili Bowl. It’s a bit crazy, really, but I’m excited.”

Buice never made a Chili Bowl appearance, so Legge will have a leg up on her longtime friend after this week, but the United Kingdom native isn’t setting any expectations at all for her first time at the Super Bowl of Midget Racing.

“I make no bones about it that I have no ego about this,” tipped Legge. “I think it’s going to make me a better driver, learning how to dirt race, and it should be super fun. But I have no hopes and dreams to do any better than just surviving and not making [a fool] out of myself.

“I just want to go out and race.”

The 44-year-old Legge is a four-time Indianapolis 500 starter, part-time NTT IndyCar Series racer, and past GT Daytona championship runner-up with Michael Shank Racing in IMSA competition.

But she says the challenge of her maiden Chili Bowl voyage might be the most unique thing she’s ever taken on.

“It’s going to be so different, but I’m ready to see what happens and what it’s like,” she affirmed.

Legge isn’t the only driver with substantial Indy car experience in Tulsa this week. Abacus Racing also has NTT IndyCar Series full-timer Santino Ferrucci in their stable this week, making his fifth Chili Bowl attempt in six years. Ferrucci will take part in Friday’s program.

Thursday’s prelim night broadcast begins at 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. local), with every lap of Chili Bowl week able to be streamed live with a FloRacing subscription.