VIDEO: Champ Car's Katherine Legge walks away from 160 mph crash
With less than 5 laps left in Sunday's Grand Prix of Road America, Champ Car driver Katherine Legge lost part of her rear wing heading into a high-speed turn, crashing into the wall and then flying into the air. Although the car disintegrated around her, the 25-year-old rookie walked away from the crash with only bruises on her knees to show for it. She even walked out of the medical trailer to smile and wave to the fans and provided this interview to let everybody know she'll be just fine.
In the video she says that she was relieved when she saw the engine break away from the rest of the car during the accident because she knew any potential fire would follow the motor and not her. This shows that she remembers most of the accident, which is even more incredible. She does admit at one point, "I think I had my eyes closed for most of it." Legge, who was driving a pink race car to support breast cancer awareness, seemed remarkably unshaken after the crash, apparently still planning on attending the Champ Car Atlantic Series championship banquet in nearby Kohler on Monday night. "Just a bit of bruising, which won't look good in my dress," Legge joked.
Series fans might remember that Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta sustained serious head injuries while testing at Road America last month. His car collided with a deer that had somehow managed to leap an 8-foot fence and had run onto the track. The safety team was taking extra care because of that incident. Da Matta, by the way, was able to fly back home to Miami on Friday.
[Source: Speed, Sydney Morning Herald]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
fizzandpop 8:46PM (9/26/2006)
Nice pun.
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andybee 8:50PM (9/26/2006)
It was pretty shocking when it happened. I thought she was going the same way as Moore and Krossnoff, but luckily the Lola did the job. Truly amazing attitude just a short time after the event when she gave the interview to Speed. Having seen her race in the UK and in Atlantics, shes special, but IMHO she was pushed into Champ car a year early.
One lucky girl!
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Steven 1:44PM (9/27/2006)
Looked like a repeat of Greg Moore's crash at Fontana. Glad she made it. Notice there's virtually no run-off area at that corner...
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Tim 9:45PM (9/26/2006)
pretty crazy, i agree. glad it was not worse
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jared 9:44PM (9/26/2006)
I was at the race standing in one of the vendors' tents after the crash watching the tv while they cleaned up. There was an uproar of cheers and applause when we found out thay she had given a smile and a thumbs-up shortly there after. I was surprised that she was even awake let alone responsive. I was about 15 or 20 minutes later that we seen her walking around.
It's amazing how those cars can hold together and keep the driver safe while creating such a spectacular crash.
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Shawn 10:42PM (9/26/2006)
What a girl! And what an accident. It's definitely such a miracle that she came out of it with minor bruises.
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slicecom 10:45PM (9/26/2006)
#3: "Looked like a repeat of Greg Moore's crash at Fontana. Glad she made it. Notice there's virtually no run-off area at that corner..."
It may have looked similar but they were really nothing alike. Greg Moore went into the wall upside down and his helmet was the first thing to make contact with the wall. Fortunatly Legge's car did not get airborne before the inital impact. Glad she walked away!
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DPC car videos 11:06PM (9/26/2006)
She is a very lucky person, that crash looked like no one would survive.
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RWD fan 11:20PM (9/26/2006)
Women drivers, go figure....
/Just kidding, I swear, don't get too ticked ladies!
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Stoneman 11:30PM (9/26/2006)
Lucky lady. It could have been alot worse.
Though, look at Richard Hammond, who out did her by 100+ mph...he's in rough shape.
Stoneman
http://www.stonemanautoreview.com
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show cars 8:31AM (9/27/2006)
It's not about luck. All these cars are very safety.
http://www.auto-power-girl.com/
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Peter 9:41AM (9/27/2006)
Tough girl.
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champcarfan 9:43AM (9/27/2006)
#4 I was there too. It got unnervingly quite at the track after the shunt. Thank God she was OK. She is a great driver and one that has actually won races.
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Snot 9:59AM (9/27/2006)
Folks, there was no luck and no "miracle" here. Just damned good design and use of top-quality safety gear.
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gkz 11:13AM (9/27/2006)
14 is right. modern racecars are remarkably safe. you don't have to look very far into the past to get to a point where that would not have been a survivable crash.
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johdaxx 3:12PM (9/27/2006)
At the end of her mini-interview the announcer asked the typical 'so, is this going to slow you down at all?' question, and she replied she'd get right back in and finish the race if they could fix the car fast enough. 'Uh nooo...' the interviewer said.
Definitely big thumbs up to a tough racer. I'm a fan now!
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