Katherine Legge Exposes the Ugly Side of NASCAR’s “Boys’ Club”

Female racer Katherine Legge has revealed that issues with sexism she faced within NASCAR and IndyCar over the years.

Katherine Legge Exposes the Ugly Side of NASCAR’s “Boys’ Club”

Katherine Legge (via on3.com)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

British racer Katherine Legge one of the few successful veteran female racers still active in the motorsport and 2025 was another milestone year for her. At the age of 45 she made her NASCAR Cup Series debut and it didn’t go as planned for her. She also experienced the ugly side of the sport in the tough racing season.

In her latest episode of her Throttle Therapy podcast, Katherine Legge shared some tough moments from her time in NASCAR including the sexism she experienced. One of those was the boy’s club feeling in the sport, where she felt like he isn’t taking seriously as people often get in touch with sponsor’s or representatives instead of getting in touch with directly.

I’m still learning. I’ve got people who don’t call me directly; they’ll call my sponsor or whoever and talk to them, because it’s still a boys’ club to them. I want to be taken seriously, like talk to me. I’m the one doing the deal.

Katherine Legge said via Throttle Therapy with Katherine Legge podcast.

In the same conversation she recalled her time in the IndyCar series that lasted a few years of part-time appearance, where someone associated with the sport tried to sabotage her deals. The individual told her main sponsor that she is difficult to work with, which according to he is an absolute lie.

When I was at a conference for Droplight, one of my main sponsors, they said somebody had told them in the IndyCar paddock that I was difficult to deal with. Difficult? I don’t think that I’m difficult.

Katherine Legge added.

Katherine Legge exposed the double standard in perception of female racers’ aggression

In the same conversation, the star driver highlighted how the narratives are different when a male and female driver races. She pointed out that she is often called the b-word when she is pulling off aggressive blocks on her rivals while at the same time her male counterparts get praised for it, calling it passion or dedication.

Katherine Legge
Katherine Legge (Via @IndyCar/X)

Then it got me thinking, okay. As a woman, if you’re hard, then you’re a b—-. If you’re a bloke and you’re driving around in a race car, you’re just dedicated, and you know what you want.

Katherine Legge asserted.

She might be hinting at the Phoenix regular season race that saw her heavy huge incident involving the current Spire Motorsports driver Daniel Suarez. The veteran racer called out that the sanctioning body for allowing Legge race, claiming she has very limited experience in the stock car racing. It was the veteran female racers maiden Cup series race.

It wasn’t right from Suarez to make that assertion, considering Legge had decades of experience in other prominent racing series’ such as Formula E, IMSA, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, A Grand Prix, LeMans and IndyCar, alongside many. She also had made selective appearances in the Xfinity Series and ARCA before making her Cup debut with Live Fast Motorsports.

She proved some doubters wrong scoring top-20 finishes in the No:78 Chevy at the Chicago Street Race and at Indy. But at the same time her outings in the Xfinity Series that year with Jordan Anderson Racing were lacklustre, as from seven events she had two DNQ and the best finish of P32 at Texas.

The 2025 season was honestly underwhelming for a racer with the amount of experience as Legge as some of the criticism that came her way regarding lack of pace was to an extend valid. But she also was at the receiving end of some unfair criticism and abuse, that the sport needs to address as well.

Also Read: Mark Martin Is “Totally Furious” NASCAR Chat Leaks Insulting Richard Childress