June 24, 2025 • 12 mins
On this episode of Throttle Therapy, Katherine checks in following the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. She shares her disappointment at not being able to attempt the front wheel drive record after windy conditions forced the race to be shortened. She also looks ahead to her next race in Atlanta for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. A la amigas I guess
(00:22):
is my new phrase after Mexico after learning some new words.
Still have not recovered from Mexico City. My dad and
I both got sick when we were there and had
tummy troubles, and I also had like sore eyes, and
my eyes were really dry and sore and itchy, and
I didn't know why. I thought maybe it was an allergy,
(00:44):
and I'm literally not allergic to anything. I'm super hardy,
and so I don't know what that was. It's literally
only just cleared up now, so it's been a week
and I'm still I still have tummy troubles. My dad also,
we're trying to do the non no drug route, you know,
no antibiotics because it's really bad for you a gut microbiome,
(01:06):
but may have to resort to it before Atlanta because
we have the Atlanta Race in Exfinity this week, which
I'm very much looking forward to. I've made sure that
I've kept my fluid levels up, my electrolytes and everything else,
but I cannot still be sick for that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's been too long.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So I had an eventful week in Colorado where I
couldn't go too far from a bathroom, but still managed
to do a lot of really cool stuff. So before
we get onto Pike's Peak and the enormity of that task,
we did some really neat Colorado type activities. My friend
(01:45):
Kara Chrystolic, who has also been on the podcast, came
into town to support me for the Pike's Peak run,
and so.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
We did a bunch of hiking.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
We went to Seven Falls, which is one of the
most glorious places on the planet. It is actually by
recommendation of one of my crew, Gabe. He used to
live in Colorado Springs and so gave us some really
really good tips, one of them being because I said
I was going to go run at the Garden of
(02:18):
the Gods and he's like, have you been to Seven Folds?
And I said, no, I don't know what that is.
He said, it's definitely worth going. So basically you go
to the Broadmoor Hotel and you get a shuttle from
there to this Seven Falls Park, which is maintained meticulously
by them, and you walk maybe a mile up this
paved pathway that is beautifully manicured flowers in the middle
(02:43):
of great big cliffs, and there's some cute little restaurant
there in a gift shop and some stairs that you
walk up to look over the I.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Mean, it's breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Honestly, if you live anywhere near Colorado, this would be
one of my number one places to go. It's waterfalls,
seven of them, I guess I wasn't counting, and two
viewing platforms. So it was also a zipline, but I
don't think that was operational when we went. And then
we did this hike to the top of the cliffs,
and so we were there a few hours and it
was honestly very memorable.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It reminded me a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Of Switzerland just because of the landscape. It was very
rugged and aggressive and very cool. We also hiked up
Manitu Incline, which is twenty seven hundred and eighty three
steps I think somewhere in that region I maybe ten
steps out, which is really really tough. And we did that.
Few of my team car and my dad. My dad,
(03:41):
even though he was sick and he was almost on
death's door coming out of Mexico. He's like, yeah, I'll
do it with you, guys. He's a machine. So we
all took our time getting up there. We all did
it at different times, but that was a very cool
experience to get to the top and then you take
the path down. But the view there is also stunning.
So we had a lot of funn color, We had
a lot of great food. And the reason we get
(04:03):
to do this is because of the schedule and the
way that it's laid out. So Pike's Peak Highway is
a public road. People go up to the pillgate and
they pay their eighteen dollars I think it is, and
they get to drive to the summit to the peak,
and there is a gift shop and a restaurant and
(04:25):
a summit center for one of a better term, and
actually a railway that connects the summit with Manitou Springs
where the inclin was, so it's all kind of relatively
in the same area. Well, because it's a public road,
they obviously can't have race cars going up and down
it all day while the public are on it, although
that would make it more interesting and I don't think
(04:47):
the majority of people would agree with me, so they
close it from the early hours. It was probably closed
from the night before, and we go up in the
early hour. So we go up there at like three,
three thirty in the morning, depending on which section we're in,
because pikes Peak is split into three separate sections. As
soon as the sun comes up, we go testing on
(05:07):
that section, and so then they delay the opening of
the road to the public until we are done and
off the mountain, which means we are done and off
the mountain at Lake between nine and ten we're down again.
So my work days this week have been from three
thirty in the morning until like ten am, which is
great because we get to go and do all those
(05:29):
cool things that I just said, But also I am
absolutely exhausted, even though I've been going to bed at
seven pm. It is long days and it's a lot
of stress. There is absolutely no stress like driving up
Pike's Peak. The consequences of you making a mistake, something
(05:57):
going wrong on the car, or coming around a corner
and seeing a bear or a maramp or a sheep
or whatever it may be. I think that happens, and
you go off a cliff. There's three thousand foot drop
in some places, there's some rocks, there's some trees, there's
some whatever. However, but it is honestly the most adrenaline
(06:21):
inducing thing I've ever done, and I've done some crazy stuff.
So eyes are out on stalks. You drive a ninety
five percent, I would say, and leave a margin for error.
I had a couple of big moments. Once I got
a wheel in the gravel when I was breaking and
had to catch it twice. I definitely caught my attention
(06:42):
and definitely slowed me down for a run or two.
But we had some really good tests the car compared
to last year. So basically we did it in like
ten minutes fifty something seconds I think last year, which
was three seconds off the front will drive record. So
we were trying to break the front will drive record.
And so in all the testing, we compared the section
(07:03):
times from this year to last year, and we were
beating the section times by up to six seconds in
the bottom sec day, So we were pretty confident we were
going to smash this record by like ten seconds, which
is a big deal. So the car was had more
power than last year because we got a little bit
more boost. The guys at HRC are really really good.
(07:26):
I love that team so much because I would I
do trust them with my life. And you know, we
tested some different tire compounds, we did some different damping,
we did a bunch of different stuff and made the
car ten seconds faster over a ten and a half
minute left. So we were really we were really looking
forward to race day because I didn't even though it's hotter,
(07:47):
and we never test in the heat of the day
because we were off the mountain by nine. So when
we're racing and it's mid day, for example, and it's
seventy five degrees at the base not forty, makes a
big difference on how the car behaves, how the tires behave,
how they build pressure and temperature, and also how the
engine behaves because the hotter is it sucks power as well.
(08:11):
Even with all of that, we were like pretty confident
we were going to go in at this record, and
race morning rolls around and they call the driver's meeting
an impromptu driver's meeting because there.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Was high winds on the top.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And even then I was thinking, Okay, there's no way
that they're gonna cancel it or anything's gonna go wrong.
They're just gonna wait for the winter die down because
the wind was supposed to die down at eleven o'clock
and they said they can't wait for the winter die
down because they wouldn't get through all the cars because
there were seventy something cars there. So what they did instead,
(08:46):
which apparently happens about a fifth of the time, there's
either snow or ice or fog or like mother and
nature owns that mountain, so about fifth of the time
they shorten the when they shot in the run, it
means we are not going for a record attempt for
frontal drive. And we were in a class it was
(09:07):
called time Attack, but we're not really racing anybody because
there's Porsche's with six seven hundred horse power that we're
up against, so we know we're not gonna be competitive
up the hill with those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We were really only going for the record.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So then it just turned into a really disappointing end
to a month of practice, testing, preparation, learning the learning
the route, watching lots of video, being in Colorado, and
I'm just gutted. I'm gutted for me obviously, like ultimately selfish,
but I'm also really gutted for the team, for the guys,
(09:40):
because they put their heart and soul into it as
much as I did, and they deserved that record as
much as I did. So it's really unfortunate. There's nothing
we can do about it. It's just it was our time.
You know. We did a really good run up the
hill we were They put last year's run on my dash,
so I got, oh my dash, I got a plus
(10:01):
minus delta to last year's time, and we went past
the first section by I think about ten seconds or
twenty seconds or so. So I was looking at the
delta the whole way up and I was up, even
with the heat and everything else, five and a half
seconds on last year, so about halfway up. So we
(10:21):
were right on target to be ten seconds faster than
we were.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So is what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We did not get the record because we didn't get
the opportunity to go for it. But everybody's safe and
it was a very successful Apart from that, it was
a very successful week and one that I'm very grateful
to have had the experience of. And everybody's like, you're
going to be back next year, and I'm not sure
my mom.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Would love me to be back next year.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
She just terrifies her obviously, and they don't know what
my schedule is going to be like next year yet
working on that. But I know that that record has
eluded me, and so I don't like unfinished business.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So watch the space we shall see.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But back now in full preparation mode for Atlanta this
Friday evening. It's going to be a night race, which
is good because it's really hot here and I'm going
to have a bunch of friends who come and support
me for this race. So I'm very much looking forward
to that, not looking forward to not having any testing again.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
We just go straight out and qualifying. I've never been
there before.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I mean I've been there, I've never driven it, I've
never seen it. We have not done this sim there,
so I'm kind of flying blind. I know that my
team Jordan Andersen Racing with bom Marita Watch the sport,
will give me a really good car and hopefully I'll
just keep the throttle all the way down for a
qualifying lamp that Puss is in the show, and then
(11:50):
we can learn.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
As we go.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
As per every other race this year seems to have
been in NASCAR, And yeah, I'm excited to see another
new track and tackle that and get back in the
in Exfinity car and it will be another interesting weekend.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
We'll be back next week with more updates and more overtakes.
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you want to
talk about. It might just be the topic for our
next show. Throttle Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our
executive producer is Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is
Grace Fuse. Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one
(12:33):
podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search
throttle Therapy with Katherine Legg and start listening.
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. A la amigas I guess
(00:22):
is my new phrase after Mexico after learning some new words.
Still have not recovered from Mexico City. My dad and
I both got sick when we were there and had
tummy troubles, and I also had like sore eyes, and
my eyes were really dry and sore and itchy, and
I didn't know why. I thought maybe it was an allergy,
(00:44):
and I'm literally not allergic to anything. I'm super hardy,
and so I don't know what that was. It's literally
only just cleared up now, so it's been a week
and I'm still I still have tummy troubles. My dad also,
we're trying to do the non no drug route, you know,
no antibiotics because it's really bad for you a gut microbiome,
(01:06):
but may have to resort to it before Atlanta because
we have the Atlanta Race in Exfinity this week, which
I'm very much looking forward to. I've made sure that
I've kept my fluid levels up, my electrolytes and everything else,
but I cannot still be sick for that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
It's been too long.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So I had an eventful week in Colorado where I
couldn't go too far from a bathroom, but still managed
to do a lot of really cool stuff. So before
we get onto Pike's Peak and the enormity of that task,
we did some really neat Colorado type activities. My friend
(01:45):
Kara Chrystolic, who has also been on the podcast, came
into town to support me for the Pike's Peak run,
and so.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
We did a bunch of hiking.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
We went to Seven Falls, which is one of the
most glorious places on the planet. It is actually by
recommendation of one of my crew, Gabe. He used to
live in Colorado Springs and so gave us some really
really good tips, one of them being because I said
I was going to go run at the Garden of
(02:18):
the Gods and he's like, have you been to Seven Folds?
And I said, no, I don't know what that is.
He said, it's definitely worth going. So basically you go
to the Broadmoor Hotel and you get a shuttle from
there to this Seven Falls Park, which is maintained meticulously
by them, and you walk maybe a mile up this
paved pathway that is beautifully manicured flowers in the middle
(02:43):
of great big cliffs, and there's some cute little restaurant
there in a gift shop and some stairs that you
walk up to look over the I.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Mean, it's breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Honestly, if you live anywhere near Colorado, this would be
one of my number one places to go. It's waterfalls,
seven of them, I guess I wasn't counting, and two
viewing platforms. So it was also a zipline, but I
don't think that was operational when we went. And then
we did this hike to the top of the cliffs,
and so we were there a few hours and it
was honestly very memorable.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
It reminded me a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Of Switzerland just because of the landscape. It was very
rugged and aggressive and very cool. We also hiked up
Manitu Incline, which is twenty seven hundred and eighty three
steps I think somewhere in that region I maybe ten
steps out, which is really really tough. And we did that.
Few of my team car and my dad. My dad,
(03:41):
even though he was sick and he was almost on
death's door coming out of Mexico. He's like, yeah, I'll
do it with you, guys. He's a machine. So we
all took our time getting up there. We all did
it at different times, but that was a very cool
experience to get to the top and then you take
the path down. But the view there is also stunning.
So we had a lot of funn color, We had
a lot of great food. And the reason we get
(04:03):
to do this is because of the schedule and the
way that it's laid out. So Pike's Peak Highway is
a public road. People go up to the pillgate and
they pay their eighteen dollars I think it is, and
they get to drive to the summit to the peak,
and there is a gift shop and a restaurant and
(04:25):
a summit center for one of a better term, and
actually a railway that connects the summit with Manitou Springs
where the inclin was, so it's all kind of relatively
in the same area. Well, because it's a public road,
they obviously can't have race cars going up and down
it all day while the public are on it, although
that would make it more interesting and I don't think
(04:47):
the majority of people would agree with me, so they
close it from the early hours. It was probably closed
from the night before, and we go up in the
early hour. So we go up there at like three,
three thirty in the morning, depending on which section we're in,
because pikes Peak is split into three separate sections. As
soon as the sun comes up, we go testing on
(05:07):
that section, and so then they delay the opening of
the road to the public until we are done and
off the mountain, which means we are done and off
the mountain at Lake between nine and ten we're down again.
So my work days this week have been from three
thirty in the morning until like ten am, which is
great because we get to go and do all those
(05:29):
cool things that I just said, But also I am
absolutely exhausted, even though I've been going to bed at
seven pm. It is long days and it's a lot
of stress. There is absolutely no stress like driving up
Pike's Peak. The consequences of you making a mistake, something
(05:57):
going wrong on the car, or coming around a corner
and seeing a bear or a maramp or a sheep
or whatever it may be. I think that happens, and
you go off a cliff. There's three thousand foot drop
in some places, there's some rocks, there's some trees, there's
some whatever. However, but it is honestly the most adrenaline
(06:21):
inducing thing I've ever done, and I've done some crazy stuff.
So eyes are out on stalks. You drive a ninety
five percent, I would say, and leave a margin for error.
I had a couple of big moments. Once I got
a wheel in the gravel when I was breaking and
had to catch it twice. I definitely caught my attention
(06:42):
and definitely slowed me down for a run or two.
But we had some really good tests the car compared
to last year. So basically we did it in like
ten minutes fifty something seconds I think last year, which
was three seconds off the front will drive record. So
we were trying to break the front will drive record.
And so in all the testing, we compared the section
(07:03):
times from this year to last year, and we were
beating the section times by up to six seconds in
the bottom sec day, So we were pretty confident we were
going to smash this record by like ten seconds, which
is a big deal. So the car was had more
power than last year because we got a little bit
more boost. The guys at HRC are really really good.
(07:26):
I love that team so much because I would I
do trust them with my life. And you know, we
tested some different tire compounds, we did some different damping,
we did a bunch of different stuff and made the
car ten seconds faster over a ten and a half
minute left. So we were really we were really looking
forward to race day because I didn't even though it's hotter,
(07:47):
and we never test in the heat of the day
because we were off the mountain by nine. So when
we're racing and it's mid day, for example, and it's
seventy five degrees at the base not forty, makes a
big difference on how the car behaves, how the tires behave,
how they build pressure and temperature, and also how the
engine behaves because the hotter is it sucks power as well.
(08:11):
Even with all of that, we were like pretty confident
we were going to go in at this record, and
race morning rolls around and they call the driver's meeting
an impromptu driver's meeting because there.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Was high winds on the top.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And even then I was thinking, Okay, there's no way
that they're gonna cancel it or anything's gonna go wrong.
They're just gonna wait for the winter die down because
the wind was supposed to die down at eleven o'clock
and they said they can't wait for the winter die
down because they wouldn't get through all the cars because
there were seventy something cars there. So what they did instead,
(08:46):
which apparently happens about a fifth of the time, there's
either snow or ice or fog or like mother and
nature owns that mountain, so about fifth of the time
they shorten the when they shot in the run, it
means we are not going for a record attempt for
frontal drive. And we were in a class it was
(09:07):
called time Attack, but we're not really racing anybody because
there's Porsche's with six seven hundred horse power that we're
up against, so we know we're not gonna be competitive
up the hill with those guys.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We were really only going for the record.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So then it just turned into a really disappointing end
to a month of practice, testing, preparation, learning the learning
the route, watching lots of video, being in Colorado, and
I'm just gutted. I'm gutted for me obviously, like ultimately selfish,
but I'm also really gutted for the team, for the guys,
(09:40):
because they put their heart and soul into it as
much as I did, and they deserved that record as
much as I did. So it's really unfortunate. There's nothing
we can do about it. It's just it was our time.
You know. We did a really good run up the
hill we were They put last year's run on my dash,
so I got, oh my dash, I got a plus
(10:01):
minus delta to last year's time, and we went past
the first section by I think about ten seconds or
twenty seconds or so. So I was looking at the
delta the whole way up and I was up, even
with the heat and everything else, five and a half
seconds on last year, so about halfway up. So we
(10:21):
were right on target to be ten seconds faster than
we were.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So is what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
We did not get the record because we didn't get
the opportunity to go for it. But everybody's safe and
it was a very successful Apart from that, it was
a very successful week and one that I'm very grateful
to have had the experience of. And everybody's like, you're
going to be back next year, and I'm not sure
my mom.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Would love me to be back next year.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
She just terrifies her obviously, and they don't know what
my schedule is going to be like next year yet
working on that. But I know that that record has
eluded me, and so I don't like unfinished business.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So watch the space we shall see.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But back now in full preparation mode for Atlanta this
Friday evening. It's going to be a night race, which
is good because it's really hot here and I'm going
to have a bunch of friends who come and support
me for this race. So I'm very much looking forward
to that, not looking forward to not having any testing again.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
We just go straight out and qualifying. I've never been
there before.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I mean I've been there, I've never driven it, I've
never seen it. We have not done this sim there,
so I'm kind of flying blind. I know that my
team Jordan Andersen Racing with bom Marita Watch the sport,
will give me a really good car and hopefully I'll
just keep the throttle all the way down for a
qualifying lamp that Puss is in the show, and then
(11:50):
we can learn.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
As we go.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
As per every other race this year seems to have
been in NASCAR, And yeah, I'm excited to see another
new track and tackle that and get back in the
in Exfinity car and it will be another interesting weekend.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
We'll be back next week with more updates and more overtakes.
We want to hear from you. Leave us a review
in Apple Podcasts and tell us what you want to
talk about. It might just be the topic for our
next show. Throttle Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our
executive producer is Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is
Grace Fuse. Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one
(12:33):
podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search
throttle Therapy with Katherine Legg and start listening.
Host
Katherine Legge
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