G.
02-15-06, 03:46 PM
Harsh, but fair.
Who pays this shill?? :laugh:
from speedtv
MILLER: Will Legge be Champ Car's Valentine?
Written by: Robin Miller
Indianapolis, IN – 2/15/2006 Being Kevin Kalkhoven's protege has helped Legge, but she knows results against the stopwatch will be mandatory if she is to jump up to the big leagues.
The irony of Katherine Legge's announcement being on Valentine's Day wasn't lost on some of us. Since "for better or worse" is a phrase that directly applies to both situations.
That would seem to be the best description for Legge's move to Champ Cars in 2006. To just about everyone with any racing acumen, the 25-year-old Brit is being rushed into the bigs because she lacks high speed experience, if not seat time in general.
But Kevin Kalkhoven believes the time is right and his vote is the only one that really counts in this deal.
The co-owner of Champ Car and PKV Racing gave Legge an audition, then a ride in Atlantics last year and now he's giving her the opportunity every racer strives for -- at least two years to prover her worth.
"We don't expect miracles and that's why we've committed to at least two years for Katherine," said Kalkhoven at Tuesday night's press conference which also unveiled the new Atlantic chassis and several new teams.
"Obviously, if she's a disaster and gets a lot of DNFs or crashes all the time, we'll get rid of her. But I don't think that's going to happen. She's done everything we asked of her in testing and was quite impressive.
"And she didn't get this ride because she's a woman, she got this ride because she's a very competent driver who won races in Atlantics."
Kalkhoven was careful not to use the D (Danica) word, yet the inference cannot be overlooked, nor can the truth.
Because, if Danica Patrick hadn't put open wheel racing back on the national media map last year at Indianapolis, Katherine Legge would surely be preparing for her second full season of competition in the re-stoked Atlantic series.
Now it's hard to question Kalkhoven's business savvy, but the self-made multi-millionaire is still pretty new at the racing business and possibly doesn't understand why Patrick spiked the Q Rating in North America.
In no particular order, she's a fiesty, sexy, AMERICAN, woman racer who just happened to be leading the Indy 500 with 10 laps left on national television in the ONLY open wheel race in this country that counts with advertisers and still gets an audience better than the Westminster Dog Show.
And, despite the fact she was groomed for road racing, no woman has ever been more prepared for Indy cars than Patrick (who was already racing in Europe at age 16) and she's got 10 times the experience and seat time of Legge.
Katherine is tired of hearing it, but the fact also remains the Atlantic field she beat three times in 2005 doesn't compare to the depth of talent that Patrick went against in 2003 and 2004.
Which is not to say that Legge doesn't have promise, talent or moxie because she does. "I've never seen anybody more determined," said Jimmy Vasser, who will be Katherine's eyes and ears during her rookie season. "She did very well in her last test, which was a full race distance, and she showed she's got the speed.
"Obviously, it's going to be challening for her, but I'm going to do everything I can to help."
You can't help but feel Vasser is playing the good soldier in this deal because the 1996 CART champion had some strong runs last year and would have likely opted to stay in the cockpit knowing what he does now.
And, knowing Jim McGee, who can make a walk through quicksand sound like a good time, the veteran team manager will be publicly supportive and privately concerned this is too much, too soon for Legge.
It's a daunting assignment for any rookie, going from 250 to 750 horsepower and lining up against Tracy, Bourdais, Junqueira, Wilson and Allmendinger. And, it remains to be seen if a woman can hang with the boys on those physically-demanding road courses and street circuits in the muscle cars.
On the positive side, Katherine is very much like Danica in that she can't be patronized. She knows when she's driven well and when she hasn't and she's her own toughest critic. She's also plenty aggressive and possesses that drive chip which is necessary to survive and succeed in this very cut-throat world.
Still, it just makes sense she needed at least another year in Atlantics and it's expecting way too much for her to be anything but hopelessly out-classed in 2006. It's possible she could surprise everyone, like she did in 2005, and make us old schoolers eat our words.
Yet the reality is that she won't sell tickets or create headlines by running 16th. But, unlike the three women who tried Champ Cars before her, Katherine does have two major things on her side.
Time and Kalkhoven.
Who pays this shill?? :laugh:
from speedtv
MILLER: Will Legge be Champ Car's Valentine?
Written by: Robin Miller
Indianapolis, IN – 2/15/2006 Being Kevin Kalkhoven's protege has helped Legge, but she knows results against the stopwatch will be mandatory if she is to jump up to the big leagues.
The irony of Katherine Legge's announcement being on Valentine's Day wasn't lost on some of us. Since "for better or worse" is a phrase that directly applies to both situations.
That would seem to be the best description for Legge's move to Champ Cars in 2006. To just about everyone with any racing acumen, the 25-year-old Brit is being rushed into the bigs because she lacks high speed experience, if not seat time in general.
But Kevin Kalkhoven believes the time is right and his vote is the only one that really counts in this deal.
The co-owner of Champ Car and PKV Racing gave Legge an audition, then a ride in Atlantics last year and now he's giving her the opportunity every racer strives for -- at least two years to prover her worth.
"We don't expect miracles and that's why we've committed to at least two years for Katherine," said Kalkhoven at Tuesday night's press conference which also unveiled the new Atlantic chassis and several new teams.
"Obviously, if she's a disaster and gets a lot of DNFs or crashes all the time, we'll get rid of her. But I don't think that's going to happen. She's done everything we asked of her in testing and was quite impressive.
"And she didn't get this ride because she's a woman, she got this ride because she's a very competent driver who won races in Atlantics."
Kalkhoven was careful not to use the D (Danica) word, yet the inference cannot be overlooked, nor can the truth.
Because, if Danica Patrick hadn't put open wheel racing back on the national media map last year at Indianapolis, Katherine Legge would surely be preparing for her second full season of competition in the re-stoked Atlantic series.
Now it's hard to question Kalkhoven's business savvy, but the self-made multi-millionaire is still pretty new at the racing business and possibly doesn't understand why Patrick spiked the Q Rating in North America.
In no particular order, she's a fiesty, sexy, AMERICAN, woman racer who just happened to be leading the Indy 500 with 10 laps left on national television in the ONLY open wheel race in this country that counts with advertisers and still gets an audience better than the Westminster Dog Show.
And, despite the fact she was groomed for road racing, no woman has ever been more prepared for Indy cars than Patrick (who was already racing in Europe at age 16) and she's got 10 times the experience and seat time of Legge.
Katherine is tired of hearing it, but the fact also remains the Atlantic field she beat three times in 2005 doesn't compare to the depth of talent that Patrick went against in 2003 and 2004.
Which is not to say that Legge doesn't have promise, talent or moxie because she does. "I've never seen anybody more determined," said Jimmy Vasser, who will be Katherine's eyes and ears during her rookie season. "She did very well in her last test, which was a full race distance, and she showed she's got the speed.
"Obviously, it's going to be challening for her, but I'm going to do everything I can to help."
You can't help but feel Vasser is playing the good soldier in this deal because the 1996 CART champion had some strong runs last year and would have likely opted to stay in the cockpit knowing what he does now.
And, knowing Jim McGee, who can make a walk through quicksand sound like a good time, the veteran team manager will be publicly supportive and privately concerned this is too much, too soon for Legge.
It's a daunting assignment for any rookie, going from 250 to 750 horsepower and lining up against Tracy, Bourdais, Junqueira, Wilson and Allmendinger. And, it remains to be seen if a woman can hang with the boys on those physically-demanding road courses and street circuits in the muscle cars.
On the positive side, Katherine is very much like Danica in that she can't be patronized. She knows when she's driven well and when she hasn't and she's her own toughest critic. She's also plenty aggressive and possesses that drive chip which is necessary to survive and succeed in this very cut-throat world.
Still, it just makes sense she needed at least another year in Atlantics and it's expecting way too much for her to be anything but hopelessly out-classed in 2006. It's possible she could surprise everyone, like she did in 2005, and make us old schoolers eat our words.
Yet the reality is that she won't sell tickets or create headlines by running 16th. But, unlike the three women who tried Champ Cars before her, Katherine does have two major things on her side.
Time and Kalkhoven.