First All-Women Racing Team Set at Indy in ’16

Katherine Legge Named as the Driver for Historic Brickyard Run

Lucille Dust/AR1.com

Grace Autosport, the first all-female IndyCar Series racing team, announced their plans today to compete in 100th the running of the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. From team owner to race engineers to aerodynamicists to the driver to marketing and public relations directors, the women of Grace Autosport will be on the grid for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" on May 29, 2016.

Grace Autosport will spearhead a one-of-a-kind racing program with a focused educational initiative, which looks to create and inspire future champions and leaders in motorsport. The goal of this pioneering all-female racing team is not only to empower women in motorsport, but to encourage a new generation of women to pursue careers in STEM (science/technology/engineering/math). Grace also hopes its program and platform attracts a new fan base to IndyCar racing and the Indianapolis 500 race, the largest sporting event in the world.

L to R: Grace Autosports Team Principal Beth Paretta and race driver Katherine Legge launch an all-female Indy 500 team

"The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the scene for many automotive firsts," said Grace Team Principal, Beth Paretta of The Paretta Company and former motorsports director for SRT Motorsports/Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. "It makes it so special to have the opportunity to launch our team here. For us, true success will be measured by how many girls and women we can encourage to pursue a STEM career. Having said that, we are here to win and our goal is within 10 years to make sure a woman's face will grace the BorgWarner trophy."

Katherine Legge, a two-time Indy 500 competitor, has been named as the inaugural driver. Her firsts as a female racer has spanned single-seater and sports car racing. The native Brit's diverse racing history includes British Formula Fords, Toyota Atlantics, Champ Car/IndyCar, IMSA sports cars, DTM and Formula E racing.

"I am very proud to be a part of this new and exciting team. To me it's more than just racing, it's the start of something much bigger; a movement within the sport," said Legge. "This is something I've been very passionate about for a very long time. Racing is my life-long passion and the drive to compete in the Indy 500 has been there since the very beginning. Being able to combine my enthusiasm for racing with the goal of empowering young women to pursue STEM subjects is a dream come true. It will be interesting to see it all unfold from the beginning and I have no doubt we will be successful."

Additional team members include: Catherine Crawford, aerodynamicist, principal of Crawford Composites and one of the few women around the globe supervising a race team, which she currently does in the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship; Lauren Elkins, motorsports engineer, track support technician and data analysis manager, who brings multiple years in IndyCar and sports car racing to the team; Jessica Rowe, a junior design engineer with a variety of race experience, both at track and in the design office; and Barbara Burns, a skilled motorsport professional specializing in communications, public relations, event management and media training for young professional athletes and drivers.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]"It is wonderful to see an inspirational team with such an impressive depth of experience and knowledge," said Michele Mouton, President of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. "The fact the team is led by women in many of the key roles showcases the fact everyone can have a place in motorsport. Equality is there. Young women should be encouraged to seek the opportunities; this team again demonstrates that gender does not have to be a barrier in relation to success in all areas of racing."

Indianapolis 500 Press Conference

Katherine Legge, Beth Paretta

Grace Autosport Team Announcement

May 15, 2015

MODERATOR: Welcome to the Economaki Press Conference Room. Getting set for the 99th Indianapolis 500. We're obviously looking forward to a year from now.

Welcome. We are here today to make a very special announcement about a new IndyCar team that will compete at next year's 100th Indianapolis 500. Sitting to my left is team principal Beth Paretta and the team's driver, no stranger to Indianapolis, Katherine Legge.

BETH PARETTA: Hello and welcome. And thank you for being with us today and thank you to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and thank you to IndyCar for allowing us this time to make a very special announcement.

We are here to announce a brand-new team, a plan, a vision and a goal. For the first time ever in 2016 at the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, we will have a team driven by women. From team owner to race engineer to aerodynamicist marketing, PR and driver, each of the core team roles will be led by women.

Why do we want to do this? To create and inspire current and future racing champions, to get girls and young women excited about careers in STEM, and hopefully to bring new fans to racing — girls, women, and families. The time has come for a real initiative to support women in all roles within the field of racing. We have started to assemble a team of women, but this is just the beginning.

We will create an environment that will welcome and train engineers, mechanics, and crew. We will push to work hard and be competitive. So what is STEM? STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. There is a critical need in this country for engineers. For instance, many major automotive manufacturers, engineers are retiring at a faster rate than are being hired in. This is serious issue for many companies. These companies know this and know the value of a balanced workforce, of the value of having women on their team.

They are trying to actively recruit female engineering students, but we know that they will have an easier time doing this when programs like this exist. Why? Because we know the best way to get young women into STEM careers is to begin that process much earlier.

Just like it happened with each of us. By seeing someone else before you, a role model, someone to aspire to. How do you plant the seed or spark their interest, to captivate young people's imagination? By showing them and telling them that they, too, can be part of this with hard work and dedication. This is a very visible campaign for women's empowerment. Motor racing is one of the few sports where men and women can compete side by side and win.

Where else can we showcase the most exciting example of engineering and technology but at 230 miles per hour on the greatest stage in the world? Our success will lead to their success.

This team will be active off the track with community outreach, visiting schools, and telling our stories. Not everyone dreams of growing up to be a racing driver. But racing we know is a team sport, and we will tell the story of the team, in addition to the driver, the key roles that work together to get the car onto the grid. By showcasing a team, we will attract new fans and any initiative to reach new fans is good for all. If it introduces and inspires young women to seek STEM careers, then we are already winning.

How will we do it? We will create a welcoming environment and actively recruit the brightest and best. We will train and coach and encourage and work hard day in and day out to be competitive and to win. This is a long-term plan. The start is the Indy 500.

We have some of the initial team here today. First next to me, we are happy to announce that Katherine Legge will be our driver for the 100th running of the Indy 500, an experienced driver in many forms of racing, including two Indy 500s. We'll come back to Katherine in a few minutes for some words.

To my left, please meet our initial team members Catherine Crawford, an aerodynamicist and principal of Crawford Composites and race team engineer. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience managing and engineering a race car of all types.

Next to her is Jessica Rowe, our design engineer, who has a mechanical engineering degree and has been gaining her motorsports experience in sports car racing.

And finally, Barbara Burns, a skilled and knowledgeable motorsports professional who grew up in racing and traveled the globe representing motorsports clients. She will lead our communications and public relations.

We're also very pleased to announce that we have gained the full support of the FIA, Women in Motorsport Commission. In fact, Vicki O'Connor, committee member of the FIA, is here with us. Where is Vicki? There she is. Thank you, Vicki.

We have had discussions with technical partners and institutional partners, but I will say that it's too early to share any more information about that yet. Those announcements will follow.

So why this team and why now? Gender inclusion is an important issue. Since the Indianapolis 500 began, there have only been eleven different women who have competed, women like Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James. For their hard work, for their challenging days, we say thank you. Without them, there would be no today.

Lyn St. James is here with us today as well and will help to find and cultivate talented women drivers. For that, too, Lyn, we thank you.

The Brickyard has been the site of a lot of firsts, and now we are adding to that list. But ultimately we know racing is about being competitive and winning. We will put the team together to get there. We will work hard to compete at the highest level, and our goal is that by the end of the decade a woman's face will grace the Borg-Warner Trophy.

So a team and an initiative needs a name. Well, I sort of already told you, but here it is again: (Video shown to the press conference.)

Thank you.

MODERATOR: What an exciting concept and significant that it will begin in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Katherine, obviously you've had experience here and we've seen women in various roles over the years here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But now we're talking about putting all of that together in one team. That's very significant.

KATHERINE LEGGE: Absolutely, and something I'm extremely proud to be a part of. I think Beth said it all. It's going to be a new initiative from the point of view there's been female drivers before, there's been female engineers. I actually worked with Catherine in 2012 at Indy, but there's never been a team of all women. What we're trying to do is make it a positive thing, get rid of the stigma of being a woman in motorsport and make it something that everybody is very proud of. It's going to be very successful. So I'm very much looking forward to the challenge to seeing it from the beginning, from an idea, kind of turn out and bloom into something very special.

MODERATOR: Very good.

Ready for some questions?

PARETTA: Sure.

Q: Ladies, do you have any sponsorship lined up yet? And are you anticipating working with just women-aimed sponsors or are you working with sponsors across the board?

PARETTA: Thank you. We do have a sponsor in place, but we're not ready to make that announcement yet. But like anything, because we do want the team to grow beyond the Indy 500, we will be talking to more sponsors and growing that side because, of course, none of this happens without money.

But as much as we really think that a woman-owned company or a company that sort of shares the needs and initiatives, especially towards recruiting STEM initiatives for women, may be most likely to want to work with us, but the reality is we will talk to anyone who would be happy to partner with us on the grid.

LEGGE: I think it's important to say, also, in no way is this us being feminists. We know we're aware we need the support of men and we're not being exclusive. We're just trying to be equal opportunity and in a positive way.

Q: I have a couple of questions for you. Are you setting up the team totally new from the ground or you will start a corporation that is an existing IndyCar team with female members?

Number two, you said this is just the beginning, so you want to spread out in other categories in motor racing?

And number three, you said you get support from the FIA; what does this support look like?

PARETTA: Great questions, all. First, the first question was, are we starting on our own or in conjunction with a team? Likely we will have a team partner, and we've had a few of those conversations already, and some of those will continue to get nothing. Too soon to announce where that is going.

But the reality is we're going to work with — try to build a team as we can and get them trained up. We have a year now, so we're hitting the ground running. This all starts today and tomorrow, so we have 365 days to put it together. But it will likely be in conjunction with another team.

The second question was about — I know. So how to expand? The first expansion certainly would be do a full season in IndyCar. And then in time could it expand? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But I think the wonderful thing about this platform is it can be we can expand all over the world into any series because it's really just — it's an initiative, and it's certainly not unique to this series. But we chose this series because of the platform, because of the stage, because it also has been very welcoming to women in the past. And it's really the biggest message, biggest race in the world.

With regard to the FIA, technical — the support is still sort of being — sort of figuring out exactly, really through scholarship support and with our team, we're going to have interns, that sort of thing. This is a ladder system not just for drivers; we're going to get a ladder where we're going to be trying to cultivate engineers through the ladder, business, marketing, everything. I think in the past there's been focus on sort of one discipline, and we want it to be broader than that.

Q: What kind of cooperation will you have with the FIA?

PARETTA: Too early to talk about at this point.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]MODERATOR: Questions?

I'll ask one. You mentioned the fact that Lyn, you'll work with Lyn, and obviously Lyn for many years has been identifying talented young women in various forms of motorsports. Does this mean that you're looking to get women involved, also, in the ladder series, the road to Indy series? Short-track racing with women participants is not a novelty any more; we've seen them all over the country. Just thoughts about that, how you identify that talent.

LEGGE: For me, that is something I am very passionate about. We've actually got Ila here in the audience, too. I think it's important that we identify the talent, with Lynn's help, obviously, early on and push that because Lyn has really been the only one that's helped any of us throughout the years. I know it's the same for guys, but there hasn't been anybody who you can go to to say, "Hey, what do we do here and what do we do there?" I'm trying to help Ila and be that person. I think that is absolutely one key thing to this project.

What I came in and said to Beth is I want it to be a ladder series, I want to help them address, not only drivers, but any aspect of the team.

MODERATOR: You mentioned all aspects of the team; that is very important. We have a variety of motorsport engineering programs, for example, across the country. Is there going to be an attempt to tie in with programs like that to identify women that want to move in this direction?

LEGGE: Yeah, I've worked with — as I said before, I've worked with Catherine, and she's probably one of the most talented engineers in motorsports; and I think that, through her, we can identify maybe more programs and more talent and nurture that and bring it along. I know that Beth will take over for this question, but I know we're also going to go to universities and other kinds of educational institutions and look for talent there as well.

MODERATOR: Questions?

Q: Can you give some details of how this idea was born in your personal background in motor racing?

PARETTA: Katherine was the STEM ambassador for Girl Scouts.

Tell them what prompted the discussion because you did have totally different reasons and such.

LEGGE: Yeah, really in 2008, I think it was in 2008, it became less about Katherine and more about the bigger picture and my legacy, if you like. I joined the FIA Women in Motorsports Commission, so that opened my eyes to not only America and Europe, which is my experience, but also the rest of the world globally. To be honest, we are so much further forward than a lot of other places. So we have to be grateful for that and that's something that Beth and I are looking at as well. It's eventually going to turn into a global project.

So that opened my eyes. I had worked with Lyn before, and then I became in 2012 the STEM ambassador for Girl Scouts. It's so cool you can inspire these young girls to actually believe that there is different opportunities for them. A lot of young boys come to the racetrack and they're like, "Oh, cool. It's IndyCar, I want to be a driver, I want to be a mechanic, I want to be an engineer." And I'm sure that a lot of the girls come in think the same kind of things, but never do they think that's an opportunity for them because there's nobody doing it. Like me, I was very, very fortunate in the racing world, but I don't know that even when I was go-karting, I ever believed that it was an option. I wanted it to be an option, but because there wasn't anybody doing it, I didn't necessarily think that was for me.

So what we're trying to do is open people's minds. If a young girl wants to be an engineer or race car driver or whatever, there is a possibility and they can pursue that. I don't think they even believe it's an option at the moment.

MODERATOR: A year ago we had an announcement also about a new team and involved the driver who also has had Indianapolis 500 experience, that being Bryan Clauson. I wonder what it was like to make an announcement during a race knowing he had to sit an entire year and watch all these proceedings while he was standing on the sidelines.

Katherine, is this exciting or excruciating or both to be here?

LEGGE: I said to Beth every time I drive in, it gets me in the stomach because I want to be out there with a good car and a good opportunity. I've driven Indy twice, the 500 twice, once in a good car and once in a bad car. There is a whole world of difference. We have a year to get this right. Obviously we will be partnering with people to make sure that it is competitive. And I have every faith that when I have this opportunity next year, it will be the right opportunity, and that's very important. Because you don't want to just compete in the Indy 500 — well, you do, but you also want the chance to win. For me that is exciting. The bit where I have to drive in and seeing everybody else doing it is excruciating.

MODERATOR: Other questions for the group? Are we good?

We look forward to it.

PARETTA: Thank you very much.