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Over the weekend of September 23rd at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Ford’s Warriors in Pink campaign was out in front with specialy built Ford cars and one special driver.

The ChampCar World Series race featured Katherine Legge, driver of the No. 20 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone, is the first female to run full-time in the Champ Car World Series and became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America with her 2005 victory in Long Beach.

To show her support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Katherine Legge traded in her standard red, white and black machine for a “Warriors in Pink – Powered by Ford” paint scheme and decals. Legge sported a custom fire suit, gloves, shoes and helmet that will be signed and auctioned later this year to benefit the Komen Foundation.

Also a featured part of the event were a couple specially built Ford cars including a one-of-a-kind “Warriors in Pink” Shelby GT-500 that was the official pace car of the event, along with a Ford Fusion that served as an official vehicle. Get a good look at the GT-500 pace car, because our bet is that you will see this car again on an auction block in the near future with proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

While the event was meant to be a bright showcase for Ford and Katherine Legge, a near tragic accident almost turned the tables. One moment, Katherine was sailing toward possibly her best finish of the season. The next, she was sailing into the concrete wall, into the air, into the catch fencing and thousands were praying for her life.

Somehow, though, the plucky 26-year-old Brit survived the spectacular and frightening crash Sunday in the waning laps of the Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America — and could even laugh about it less than an hour after it happened. Legge appeared to escape with only bumps and bruises from an accident that looked deadly.

Running a solid sixth with just five laps to go, all hell broke loose for Legge when the rear wing element flew off her No. 20 Bell Micro-PKV Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola as she went through The Kink, one of the high-speed areas of the four-mile Road America circuit. Likely traveling at more than 170 mph, Legge suddenly and without warning had no rear downforce as she raced into the arcing right-hand curve.

The Lola’s rear swung violently around and she plastered the concrete barrier, then was vaulted airborne and into the catch fencing that ripped the machine apart. The engine and rear axle sheared off as they are designed to do, as well as other chassis parts, to dissipate the ferocious energy involved.

Debris littered the race track and the catch fencing was damaged, forcing Champ Car officials to red-flag the event on the 48th of 51 laps. Everyone in the crowd and the paddock held their collective breath as Legge was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Champ Car medical unit at the track. Thoughts of Cristiano da Matta, seriously injured at the same track just seven weeks earlier, surely entered most everyone’s minds.

Yet, within about 10 minutes of entering the med unit, there was Legge on the television broadcast, standing outside the door, waving and smiling. Soon after, she headed to pit lane to visit with her crew and acknowledged a loud round of thankful applause from the grandstands opposite the pits.

“I’m a bit shaken, but I’m OK,” reported Legge, who’ll likely be very sore come Monday. “All my bits are intact, so that just goes to show how strong Champ Cars are.”
Fellow rookie Dan Clarke was the perfect eyewitness to the incident since he was following Legge in a battle for sixth place.