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SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Danica Patrick questions are less frequent now. The novelty factor - and Katherine Legge really hates that phrase, by the way - has begun to wear off.
Yet there still are occasional reminders that Legge is, well, different. And that a female race-car driver remains the exception, not the rule.
One came this month before a race in Toronto when a tabloid newspaper published a cover photo of Legge wearing not a fire-proof driving suit, but rather an elegant white dress. (No picture of a male driver in a tux, though.)
Another was earlier this year when Champ Car drivers made a publicity stop in San Jose. Mario Dominguez was talking street-race strategy and about what it takes to pass "a guy."
Legge, at the other end of the dais, leaned into her microphone and added: "Or girl."
Paul Tracy interjected that Legge was "a little touchy." And Dominguez amended his statement, saying: "OK, how about passing somebody?"
Legge was OK with that. But it was a revealing moment about the paradox she faces in her rookie season in the Champ Car series. Legge, 26, is not afraid to remind everyone that she's a woman. But at the same time she's hoping that it doesn't really matter.
Heading into this weekend's San Jose Grand Prix, the results have been mixed for Legge as she negotiates a steep learning curve. She's disappointed to be 14th in the standings but, at least publicly, Legge has earned the respect of competitors.
"I get along very well with most of the other drivers, although maybe not Mario `Look into My Blue Eyes' Dominguez because he's very chauvinistic," said Legge, who is from England. "They just treat me like any other driver. I haven't been given any different treatment."
It would be naive to believe that Champ Car doesn't hope Legge (pronounced "Leg") will be its answer to Danica Mania. But after getting past the fact that they're both women, Legge and Patrick - who don't know each other - have little in common.
The idea that Legge, who has a dry British sense of humor, would do a suggestive FHM magazine photo shoot - which Patrick did - is unlikely. Another difference: Legge has major North American open-wheel racing victories to her credit, unlike Patrick.
She won three races in the developmental Atlantic Series last year, including at San Jose.
And Legge appears only marginally interested in celebrity. She's more focused on getting faster.
"She's a smart lady and a great racer," said Kevin Kalkhoven, Champ Car's chief who also co-owns Legge's PKV Racing team. "She doesn't get fazed by references to Danica or anything. She is going to make her own way and be very successful."
Legge, who started racing go-karts at 9, ended up in this country after realizing she would never have the money to reach the rarefied air of Formula One. When Legge heard Kalkhoven was in London on business, she arranged a brief meeting.
"I basically knocked on his door and asked what I had to do to be racing in Atlantics," Legge said. "He gave me some advice. Then his daughter told him that he needed to give this girl a try, and he gave a test in Phoenix."
She did well enough that Kalkhoven agreed to sponsor her for the first six Atlantic races last year. Then Legge won the first event in Long Beach - a huge milestone because she was believed to be the first woman to win any major open-wheel race in the world since 1980.
"So it went from there," Legge said.
After finishing third in the season points race, she moved on this season to Champ Car as only the fourth woman to race on the series. Legge has done some good things - leading for 10 green-flag laps at Milwaukee (the first woman ever to do so) before finishing sixth. But she also had hoped to be in the standings' top 10.
"I'm not meeting my expectations in a lot of ways, but this is hard," she said. "If it were easy, everybody would be doing it."
One problem is that she has struggled in qualifying. She then starts the race near the back of the field, and it's tough to pass on narrow courses - such as San Jose's.
"Getting one fast lap in qualifying has been difficult," Kalkhoven said. "But that will come with practice. Once she gets into the flow of a race, she's very, very good."
Legge, who is tutored by Morgan Hill, Calif., native Jimmy Vasser, another PKV co-owner, thought she would be a quick learner. She reminds herself that mistakes are to be expected - as long as she doesn't repeat them.
"When you're a rookie, it's the same for everyone," added her friend A.J. Allmendinger. "You're not viewed as a guy or a girl. She's done a good job, but this series is difficult and all rookies find out about that. We all went through it."
Still, Legge is one of Champ Car's most popular drivers. She's often besieged by autograph-seekers at the track, and sometimes it all can be overwhelming. That includes the media attention, although she deftly handles the inevitable girl-racer questions.
She'll say the car doesn't know if the driver is a man or woman. Fellow Brit Justin Wilson chuckles at another of her stock responses when she's asked how it's different being a female driver.
"Katherine will say, `I don't know because I've never been male,"" Wilson said.
But Legge knows when those women-in-racing questions will end.
"When we start winning more," she said. "Until then, it will still be a novelty."
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(c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
