Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame Ceremony

Katherine Legge’s diverse racing career has been distinguished by broken records and broken barriers. The British born Legge competes full or part time in IMSA SportsCar, NASCAR Infinity Series as well as INDYCAR. It was in INDYCAR that she became, in 2023, the Indianapolis 500’s fastest female qualifier in the 107-year history of that historic race. In 2017, she delivered to Acura NSX its first victory worldwide at the Detroit Grand Prix. Legge moved to the United States in 2005 and, that year, became the first woman to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America when she won the Toyota Atlantic Championship season opener in Long Beach. Racing for Polestar Motor Racing, Legge would go on to notch series wins at Edmonton and San Jose that season. She followed that by besting F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen’s long-standing lap record in Formula Renault which led to her becoming just the second woman offered a F1 test. Though she has enjoyed exceptional success–winning three championships, six races, along with 15 podium results–in her professional driving career, she has also pushed to spread that success around. In May 2015, Legge joined the Grace Autosport project, an all-female team that, with the support of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission, set out to promote technology and engineering as a career for young women. It’s something she continues to pursue in her non-racing life, especially as a Girl Scouts STEM Ambassador.

Milestone victories and historic firsts born of an aggressive driving style have distinguished the career of Takuma “Taku” Sato. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first Japanese-born winner of the race in 2017 and, with his win in 2020, just the 20th driver to win the iconic race more than once. Given all his accomplishments, including winning the 2013 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach–another first for a Japanese driver–it’s incredible that Sato didn’t start his car racing career until he was age 19. It was then that he first took up kart racing. In the span of just six years, he was racing in Formula One as part of the Honda-powered Jordan, BAR and Super Aguri team, scoring a podium finish at the 2004 United States Grand Prix. His career has not only been notable for its success but a hard-charging style best exemplified by his motto: “No attack, no chance.” That style likely came about from Sato’s time as one of his country’s top racing cyclists, becoming a national cycling champion while still in high school. Sato, who splits his time between residences in Indiana and Japan, still uses cycling as part of his fitness regimen.