By TIM YUJI YAMAMOTO, RAFU CONTRIBUTOR
To kick-start the 49th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach week-end, IndyCar drivers Takuma Sato and Katherine Legge were inducted to the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame, located in front of the Long Beach Convention Center on Pine Avenue, on April 18.
They are the 38th and 39th inductees for the 18th annual ceremony. Sato is the first Japanese driver and Legge is the first woman to receive this honor.
Sato greeted those who had gathered and recalled his first career win and the first for a Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race. His victory for A.J. Foyt Racing was at Long Beach back in 2013.
“It was a great weekend,” he said. “Obviously to race here I considered it a privilege … The Long Beach Grand Prix, not just the history but the atmosphere, the turns, and just the connection with history and everything here is the most favorable track with most of the drivers … To have the (No.) 14 car on top of the podium, that was absolutely an honor.”
Sato is also a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first Japanese-born winner of the race in 2017. He won again in 2020.
Legge talked about being back home in England and wanting to break into American racing.
“I thought American racing was where the opportunities were,” she said. “I thought there were more opportunities for women, and I was right.”
She thanked Kim Kalkhoven and her late husband Kevin of Cosworth LTD for getting her a ride in the Toyota Atlantic series.
In 2005, Legge became the first woman to win the Toyota Atlantic Championship season opener in Long Beach. In Indycar last year, she became the Indianapolis 500’s fastest female qualifier in the 107-year history of that historic race.
She has enjoyed exceptional success – winning three championships, six races, along with 15 podium results – her professional driving career.
Legge will be driving the Honda-powered No. 51 car for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing in this year’s Indianapolis 500 and Sato will be driving the Honda-powered No. 75 Amada car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
Sato’s Comments on Indy 500 Sato’s two-day Indianapolis 500 Open test was limited to only 15 laps and none on the second day, being canceled due to rain.
He said “It had been a while to return to RLL (Rahal, Letterman, Lanigan) … Seeing familiar faces and working together smoothly to get the car running … Even with 15 laps, good parts and not, were identified, which makes us able to prepare for the month of May ahead of the race.”
Sato explained that due to the strict limitations of the two-day testing, there won’t be any more opportunities until the practice sessions in May.
I asked Sato how difficult it is only to compete in one race as opposed to racing races during the season.
“Drivers that are racing on a weekly basis (are) making it harder but (with) my long experience with IndyCars, it’s one challenge and to continue racing the Indy 500.”
The basic Dallara chassis hasn’t changed for several seasons, but Sato explained that the less noticeable changes are internal — the transmission gearboxes and other components like the tires’ compounds. The two major engines used are manufactured by Honda and Chevrolet.
Sato is together with the same team engineer from 2020, the year he won his second Indy 500. He finished seventh in the Indy 500 in 2023, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
To date, the 47-year-old Tokyo native has 220 starts in the IndyCar series and this will be his 15th Indianapolis 500. The 108th Indianapolis 500 is on Sunday, May 26.