February 18, 2025 • 13 mins
On this episode of Throttle Therapy, Katherine heads to Daytona to compete in the ARCA race. She shares her excitement and anticipation for her first stock car race on a major speedway, and the following disappointment after getting tagged in a crash and ending her race early on the fourth lap. Luckily, she came out of the crash without a scratch and is ready to race another day.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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. Sorry nights, Catherine Legg. These
(00:21):
sports car Spets list has competed in the Rowacks twenty
four many many times. Here in Daytona makes her first
start on the Oval. The World Center of Racing lines
up alongside Coding Genesis.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Romawa, Bama. Hello you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We are live from Daytona, the racetrack, not the beach
in Florida, and we are almost all the way through
the weekend, but we have the most important part coming up,
which is obviously the race. So far, we've done the practice,
we've done the qualifying, or not done the qualifying as
the case maybe, and we are looking forward to race
(01:00):
day and about half an hour here, I'm going to
head out and do driver introductions and get ready to
do my first ever stock car race on a super speedway.
The team have been phenomenal, like I can't thank them
enough for the introduction and integration that's happened. Like I
literally turned up at the beginning of the weekend like
(01:21):
a deer in the headlights, and had no idea where
I was going, what I was doing, what's expected of me.
I hadn't really drafted that much before, and so they
taught me through everything. They gave me a great car.
The car is fast, it's comfortable, and so we got
rained out on the first day, which kind of freaked
me out a little bit because I'm thinking, oh, no,
(01:42):
we're not going to have any practice. How am I
going to go into the race without any practice? But luckily,
instead of qualifying, they let us practice and then they qualified.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Us on owners points, which means.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
That I'm starting p nine on the bottom, which I
think is an important thing to say, because I think
my stratag you for the race will be ride around
on the bomb in the pack for as long as possible,
trying to stay out of trouble and learn as much
as I can for the end of the race. I
think we're competitive. I think it was great in practice
(02:12):
that we got to run with a bunch of other
Chevrolets and try and make friends and see, you know
what the draft's like, what's popping out of the draft, like,
how are we going to do the restarts, Like, there's
so many things that I don't know that I don't
know yet, and so it's all going to be a
bit new. I will absolutely say that I came in
(02:33):
from practice and my hands were shaking like a leaf
because it's just so much focus and driving that close
to somebody is completely alien. Like you think you're close
and your spot says you're a car.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
With off off of the guy in front. You're like, no,
I'm not. I'm like right there. It's like you gotta
get closer.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I got to get closer, And so I'm literally touching
the guy in front.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And there's an art form to that as well.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So if you're going to push somebody what they call
bump drafting, you have to make sure that you're slightly
off center to the right or completely dead center. And
you can only do it on the back straight. You
can't do it through the corners or on the trioval.
And so all of these little nuances of learning and
being a good drafter. You know, I want to work
(03:22):
with my guys on my pack well, and I want
to be reliable and I want them to know that
they can trust me, so we can all work together
to get to the front. So there's so many things
that I need to learn, you know, like dragging the
brakes to bring yourself back to the car behind you
because you need him to push you going forward. So
there's all these things that watching the race, you wouldn't
(03:43):
necessarily think you need to know, but you absolutely need
to know. And I am sure there are other things
that I absolutely need to know that I do not
know yet, and I'm hoping that I get to know
those early on in the race without incident. So having
watched there, having watched the truck race and obviously past
(04:06):
ARCA races, I am.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Feeling like I've prepared. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I've got a good friend, Andy Lally, who's done a
bunch of stock car racing. We watched a couple of
the races as well, and I picked his brains. I
bumped into Bubba Wallace, who was amazing and spent ten
minutes kind of talking me through some stuff too, And
so I feel I feel good. I feel nervous because
I have to consciously think about everything that I'm gonna do,
(04:34):
and some of these guys are really good. Okay, So
I know it's ARKA and it's not a cup car,
but there are still some really good guys in this
and I want to make a good impression, and so
I want to go out and make everybody proud and
make myself proud and do the best job that I
know that I can do. And there's a lot of
pressure that comes with that, but also a lot of
like conscious thinking instead of driving. Like if I'm driving
(04:58):
a sports car, I don't really have to think about it,
Like my subconscious just kicks in. I don't think about
the pit stops. I don't think about what gear I
need to be in for a restart. I don't think
about how the rules work or coming down pit lane.
I just know, like instinctively no, because that's muscle memory
that I've built year after year after year, whereas this
(05:19):
everything is new. So my conscious mind is thinking about it,
and my conscious mind does not work as fast or
efficiently as my subconscious mind. So I'm like desperately trying
to program it as best as they can. And when
you're doing that, by the way, you need to do
it like building a house on solid foundations, So you
need the right information and you need to do it
(05:42):
properly and strong in the right way, so that you're
not getting things wrong and having to relearn them, because
that's a lot harder than just learning them right the.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
First time over.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So that's why it's so important that you have such
a great team and such a great spotter, and I
have both luckily. So I'm nervous, but I'm feeling relaxed
also in one way that if I do what these
guys tell me to do and I don't make any mistakes,
I think we're going to be in the top ten
at the end of the race. And that's going to
be key for our sponsors and for our plans moving forward,
(06:16):
and for my self confidence and my reputation and everything too,
which is all important. So again, I don't know where
we go for driver intros. I don't know who I
wave at or what I do. So it's all new,
and I'm excited. I'm really really excited. I woke up
this morning with like a renewed sense of biggor about racing.
(06:39):
I've been racing for twenty years professionally, and when something
new comes along and it's a new challenge and it's
something that's really fun like this, Like I've had a
big grin on my face the whole time, and when
it's something really fun, I think it makes you want
it more and so you put a lot more effort
and thought and behind the scenes work.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't know how else to describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It's just all the preparation and the commercial side and
everything that goes into putting a car on track is
not to be sniffed out. Like, I don't think people
understand how hard it is to commercially get all the
pieces together for the teams and the drivers and everybody
to make this happen. And so I'm very grateful to
everybody behind the scenes for putting this car and track,
(07:28):
making this happen. And I do not undervalue that in
any way, shape or form. And I am hoping to
make everybody, everybody proud and hoping to have a great
day here.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So you have to make friends on.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The racetrack to get people to work with you, drafting wise,
because if you have a run and you pop out
and you're like, I'm going past people, but nobody goes
with you, you will drop like a stone to the back
of the field.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So I was told to make friends.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
As an adult, I struggle to make friends in general,
and I'm pretty shy and reserved. I don't go around
talking to people that I don't know very often, and
so I have made a couple of friends. But it's
also like, Okay, Elio and I know each other from
IndyCar and so I'm like, hey, will you work with me?
And he said absolutely, and so we've I've got a
couple of built in friends. And Amber she's another girl
(08:24):
in a very male dominated sport, and so she said
she would work with me too. And I guess I'm
hoping that my spots will make friends for me and
my driving will make friends and they'll respect what I'm.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Doing and then maybe work with me towards the end
of the race. So we shall see.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So I'm sitting here after I got changed and kind
of had time to digest a little bit of what
happened out there, and it's.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Still so gutted.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I'm just so disappointed because the team, the SPS guys,
gave me such a good car, and.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You know, we had a plan and we were just
sticking to it.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
We're just chilling on the bottom, We're being super conservative
and I went low to avoid the people wrecking on
the high side, and I just I got tagged and
there was not much.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I could do.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And I asked, literally everybody, like my spot at people
watching it, other drivers, is there anything I could do
because I want to learn from the experience, and they
all said no. So I don't know what to take
from it, apart from sometimes it's just carnage and then
you get taken out. But in every form of racing,
if you have a wreck, hit another car or the
wall or whatever, they will take you to the infield
(09:46):
medical center and they will check out all your vitals
and make sure you don't have concussion or anything. That's
like you don't notice that you have because you have
so much adrenaline cursing through your veins. You know, when
I wrecked in France in twenty twenty, I literally couldn't
tell that my legs were broken because you have so
much adrenaline. You're like, I'm fine, You're trying to get out,
(10:07):
like it's uh, it's crazy what adrenaline will do. So
they need to make sure that you're fine, and they're
really good, like the safety crews at the racetracks are
really really good.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The cars are really safe.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I mean, that was a hell of a lick and
I walk away from it, So the guys have a
lot of a lot of rebuilding to do. You know,
I was ready to get this spare car out of
the holler and go racing, but unfortunately we're not allowed
to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's one of those procedural things.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And then you get cameras stuck in your face and
you get asked you know what happened, and you haven't
even seen the replay yet, and all you know is
those people coming towards you like.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Arrows.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So I had such a good time over here and
such a renewed vigor for racing and like wanting to
do more stock cars stuff. I just I guess I'm
really just disappointed it didn't last longer and I didn't
learn more from doing it, and I was really looking
forward to a good race and I think we could
have been in with a shot at the end. And
so it's not really even the lack of result that
(11:11):
I'm mourning right now. It's the lack of track time
and the race itself.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I'm very grateful for the opportunity. I'm so torn because
emotionally conflicted in that I had such a blast and
I had such a good time, and I love it
so much, but I'm so disappointed right now.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So and I think if I didn't love it so much,
then I wouldn't be so disappointing it. Oh, it would
be another wreck blah.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I was emotionally invested in this woman, like I really
wanted to do well.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So anyway, you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Can probably hear in my voice, because I am terrible
at poker type things, you can hear every emotion that
I'm that I'm feeling, and so you can probably hear
that I'm disappointed.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
But I'm also very grateful and.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I'm very humbled by the experience, and just thank you
for all the support from the team and from the
sponsors and from the guys around me.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And hopefully we can go.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And do more and get redemption, because I think I
must have been really bad in a previous life to
have this bad luck, you know, like qualifying gets rained
out and then this, and I just I feel like
my luck's going to change soon and it's going to
be possible. Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be
(12:29):
back next week with more updates and more overtakes, and
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 Kapp, and our supervising producer is
Grace Fuce. Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one
(12:52):
podcast network by Heart. 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. Sorry nights, Catherine Legg. These
(00:21):
sports car Spets list has competed in the Rowacks twenty
four many many times. Here in Daytona makes her first
start on the Oval. The World Center of Racing lines
up alongside Coding Genesis.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Romawa, Bama. Hello you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We are live from Daytona, the racetrack, not the beach
in Florida, and we are almost all the way through
the weekend, but we have the most important part coming up,
which is obviously the race. So far, we've done the practice,
we've done the qualifying, or not done the qualifying as
the case maybe, and we are looking forward to race
(01:00):
day and about half an hour here, I'm going to
head out and do driver introductions and get ready to
do my first ever stock car race on a super speedway.
The team have been phenomenal, like I can't thank them
enough for the introduction and integration that's happened. Like I
literally turned up at the beginning of the weekend like
(01:21):
a deer in the headlights, and had no idea where
I was going, what I was doing, what's expected of me.
I hadn't really drafted that much before, and so they
taught me through everything. They gave me a great car.
The car is fast, it's comfortable, and so we got
rained out on the first day, which kind of freaked
me out a little bit because I'm thinking, oh, no,
(01:42):
we're not going to have any practice. How am I
going to go into the race without any practice? But luckily,
instead of qualifying, they let us practice and then they qualified.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Us on owners points, which means.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
That I'm starting p nine on the bottom, which I
think is an important thing to say, because I think
my stratag you for the race will be ride around
on the bomb in the pack for as long as possible,
trying to stay out of trouble and learn as much
as I can for the end of the race. I
think we're competitive. I think it was great in practice
(02:12):
that we got to run with a bunch of other
Chevrolets and try and make friends and see, you know
what the draft's like, what's popping out of the draft, like,
how are we going to do the restarts, Like, there's
so many things that I don't know that I don't
know yet, and so it's all going to be a
bit new. I will absolutely say that I came in
(02:33):
from practice and my hands were shaking like a leaf
because it's just so much focus and driving that close
to somebody is completely alien. Like you think you're close
and your spot says you're a car.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
With off off of the guy in front. You're like, no,
I'm not. I'm like right there. It's like you gotta
get closer.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I got to get closer, And so I'm literally touching
the guy in front.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And there's an art form to that as well.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
So if you're going to push somebody what they call
bump drafting, you have to make sure that you're slightly
off center to the right or completely dead center. And
you can only do it on the back straight. You
can't do it through the corners or on the trioval.
And so all of these little nuances of learning and
being a good drafter. You know, I want to work
(03:22):
with my guys on my pack well, and I want
to be reliable and I want them to know that
they can trust me, so we can all work together
to get to the front. So there's so many things
that I need to learn, you know, like dragging the
brakes to bring yourself back to the car behind you
because you need him to push you going forward. So
there's all these things that watching the race, you wouldn't
(03:43):
necessarily think you need to know, but you absolutely need
to know. And I am sure there are other things
that I absolutely need to know that I do not
know yet, and I'm hoping that I get to know
those early on in the race without incident. So having
watched there, having watched the truck race and obviously past
(04:06):
ARCA races, I am.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Feeling like I've prepared. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I've got a good friend, Andy Lally, who's done a
bunch of stock car racing. We watched a couple of
the races as well, and I picked his brains. I
bumped into Bubba Wallace, who was amazing and spent ten
minutes kind of talking me through some stuff too, And
so I feel I feel good. I feel nervous because
I have to consciously think about everything that I'm gonna do,
(04:34):
and some of these guys are really good. Okay, So
I know it's ARKA and it's not a cup car,
but there are still some really good guys in this
and I want to make a good impression, and so
I want to go out and make everybody proud and
make myself proud and do the best job that I
know that I can do. And there's a lot of
pressure that comes with that, but also a lot of
like conscious thinking instead of driving. Like if I'm driving
(04:58):
a sports car, I don't really have to think about it,
Like my subconscious just kicks in. I don't think about
the pit stops. I don't think about what gear I
need to be in for a restart. I don't think
about how the rules work or coming down pit lane.
I just know, like instinctively no, because that's muscle memory
that I've built year after year after year, whereas this
(05:19):
everything is new. So my conscious mind is thinking about it,
and my conscious mind does not work as fast or
efficiently as my subconscious mind. So I'm like desperately trying
to program it as best as they can. And when
you're doing that, by the way, you need to do
it like building a house on solid foundations, So you
need the right information and you need to do it
(05:42):
properly and strong in the right way, so that you're
not getting things wrong and having to relearn them, because
that's a lot harder than just learning them right the.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
First time over.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So that's why it's so important that you have such
a great team and such a great spotter, and I
have both luckily. So I'm nervous, but I'm feeling relaxed
also in one way that if I do what these
guys tell me to do and I don't make any mistakes,
I think we're going to be in the top ten
at the end of the race. And that's going to
be key for our sponsors and for our plans moving forward,
(06:16):
and for my self confidence and my reputation and everything too,
which is all important. So again, I don't know where
we go for driver intros. I don't know who I
wave at or what I do. So it's all new,
and I'm excited. I'm really really excited. I woke up
this morning with like a renewed sense of biggor about racing.
(06:39):
I've been racing for twenty years professionally, and when something
new comes along and it's a new challenge and it's
something that's really fun like this, Like I've had a
big grin on my face the whole time, and when
it's something really fun, I think it makes you want
it more and so you put a lot more effort
and thought and behind the scenes work.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't know how else to describe it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
It's just all the preparation and the commercial side and
everything that goes into putting a car on track is
not to be sniffed out. Like, I don't think people
understand how hard it is to commercially get all the
pieces together for the teams and the drivers and everybody
to make this happen. And so I'm very grateful to
everybody behind the scenes for putting this car and track,
(07:28):
making this happen. And I do not undervalue that in
any way, shape or form. And I am hoping to
make everybody, everybody proud and hoping to have a great
day here.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So you have to make friends on.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The racetrack to get people to work with you, drafting wise,
because if you have a run and you pop out
and you're like, I'm going past people, but nobody goes
with you, you will drop like a stone to the back
of the field.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So I was told to make friends.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
As an adult, I struggle to make friends in general,
and I'm pretty shy and reserved. I don't go around
talking to people that I don't know very often, and
so I have made a couple of friends. But it's
also like, Okay, Elio and I know each other from
IndyCar and so I'm like, hey, will you work with me?
And he said absolutely, and so we've I've got a
couple of built in friends. And Amber she's another girl
(08:24):
in a very male dominated sport, and so she said
she would work with me too. And I guess I'm
hoping that my spots will make friends for me and
my driving will make friends and they'll respect what I'm.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Doing and then maybe work with me towards the end
of the race. So we shall see.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So I'm sitting here after I got changed and kind
of had time to digest a little bit of what
happened out there, and it's.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Still so gutted.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I'm just so disappointed because the team, the SPS guys,
gave me such a good car, and.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
You know, we had a plan and we were just
sticking to it.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
We're just chilling on the bottom, We're being super conservative
and I went low to avoid the people wrecking on
the high side, and I just I got tagged and
there was not much.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I could do.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And I asked, literally everybody, like my spot at people
watching it, other drivers, is there anything I could do
because I want to learn from the experience, and they
all said no. So I don't know what to take
from it, apart from sometimes it's just carnage and then
you get taken out. But in every form of racing,
if you have a wreck, hit another car or the
wall or whatever, they will take you to the infield
(09:46):
medical center and they will check out all your vitals
and make sure you don't have concussion or anything. That's
like you don't notice that you have because you have
so much adrenaline cursing through your veins. You know, when
I wrecked in France in twenty twenty, I literally couldn't
tell that my legs were broken because you have so
much adrenaline. You're like, I'm fine, You're trying to get out,
(10:07):
like it's uh, it's crazy what adrenaline will do. So
they need to make sure that you're fine, and they're
really good, like the safety crews at the racetracks are
really really good.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
The cars are really safe.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
I mean, that was a hell of a lick and
I walk away from it, So the guys have a
lot of a lot of rebuilding to do. You know,
I was ready to get this spare car out of
the holler and go racing, but unfortunately we're not allowed
to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
It's one of those procedural things.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
And then you get cameras stuck in your face and
you get asked you know what happened, and you haven't
even seen the replay yet, and all you know is
those people coming towards you like.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Arrows.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
So I had such a good time over here and
such a renewed vigor for racing and like wanting to
do more stock cars stuff. I just I guess I'm
really just disappointed it didn't last longer and I didn't
learn more from doing it, and I was really looking
forward to a good race and I think we could
have been in with a shot at the end. And
so it's not really even the lack of result that
(11:11):
I'm mourning right now. It's the lack of track time
and the race itself.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I'm very grateful for the opportunity. I'm so torn because
emotionally conflicted in that I had such a blast and
I had such a good time, and I love it
so much, but I'm so disappointed right now.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So and I think if I didn't love it so much,
then I wouldn't be so disappointing it. Oh, it would
be another wreck blah.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
I was emotionally invested in this woman, like I really
wanted to do well.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So anyway, you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Can probably hear in my voice, because I am terrible
at poker type things, you can hear every emotion that
I'm that I'm feeling, and so you can probably hear
that I'm disappointed.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
But I'm also very grateful and.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I'm very humbled by the experience, and just thank you
for all the support from the team and from the
sponsors and from the guys around me.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And hopefully we can go.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And do more and get redemption, because I think I
must have been really bad in a previous life to
have this bad luck, you know, like qualifying gets rained
out and then this, and I just I feel like
my luck's going to change soon and it's going to
be possible. Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be
(12:29):
back next week with more updates and more overtakes, and
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 Kapp, and our supervising producer is
Grace Fuce. Listen to Throttle Therapy on America's number one
(12:52):
podcast network by Heart. Open your free iHeart app and
search throttle Therapy with Katherine Legg and start listening.
Host
Katherine Legge
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.