Legge Shows She Has a Driving Ambition

Billie Jean King said she wanted more women’s stories in the newspaper, and you know what a nag she can be -- because she’s a woman, of course, and now that I have your attention, please put down all sharp objects.

I wouldn’t want you to break a nail.

Give me a break. I decided to give it a try, write about a woman, and probably waste a column. The important thing, of course, was to proceed with an open mind.

So I ignored the obvious topic Tuesday, the Clippers trading for a guy who wants to play for the Clippers, which is shocking news, and instead sat down with some girl who races cars.

Now how’s that for a combination of turnoffs -- a race car driver who happens to be a woman, who isn’t Danica Patrick, and you’ve not only never heard of her, this one doesn’t appear to be interested in posing for any cheesecake shots.

I still don’t know how to pronounce Katherine’s last name. I know it’s Legge, but she’s from England and I missed half of what she said because I couldn’t understand what she was saying. So I don’t know if it’s pronounced “Leggy,” or “Leg?”

The kid’s 25, younger than both of my daughters, and I really don’t care to hear what they have to say, but here I was expected to write down everything this English girl had to say, and I couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

I’m here, though, because I trust Steve Brener, at times the best PR guy in town, and at other times ... never mind.

Brener told me there was going to be a major announcement Tuesday night involving “Leggy,” or “Leg,” or whatever her name is, Champ Car, PKV Racing, and a bunch of other things I really don’t care about.

It seems “Leggy,” or “Leg,” is some kind of racing phenom, the real deal, the winner the first time out a year ago in Atlantics -- don’t ask me -- and shocking the racing world with a victory in Long Beach to win Southern California’s top 2005 racing moment of the year award, although I don’t ever recall getting the chance to vote. I believe I could have lived a very happy life, though, never knowing any of that.

But Brener said I was getting a big scoop on the announcement that the kid was moving from the minors up to Champ Car racing, riding for PKV Racing, the co-owner, Kevin Kalkhoven, putting down a ton of money on a woman with two days of experience in the bigger and faster cars. Oh boy, a Champ Car scoop.

Now I fear for every man, woman and child when one of my daughters drives to the grocery store, and this kid from England, who is used to driving on the wrong side of the road, is going to drive 200 mph, already bumping a guy out of the way in Long Beach to win.

They tell me, though, that this kid is something. OK, so Brener told me that, and last weekend he said Bob Baffert’s horses would win both big races, and one of them is still walking toward the finish line.

It’s a fact, though, that the kid won three races in her rookie season, and at the same level of racing that Patrick raced on for three years, while never winning once.

I could explain how Patrick and the kid could tangle one day, but then I’d be writing a story about two women, and I’ve got limits.

“Leggy,” or “Leg,” meanwhile, will make her Champ Car debut in the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April, and to use a racing term, which shows you what writing a story about a woman has done to me, the folks at PKV Racing will be delighted if the kid just finishes the race “with all four wheels.”

I’ll be delighted, meanwhile, to get back to writing about the Lakers, giving me the chance again to spend some warm, fuzzy moments with Phil Jackson. Or Jeanie Buss, if it will make Billie Jean happy.

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RAN INTO Kenny Lofton at the Clipper game. He said, it’s true, he technically still hasn’t signed his contract with the Dodgers, but it’s not unusual and it’s no problem. I told him I was worried the McCourts had run out of money, and he laughed. I told him that the Screaming Meanie had been in court earlier in the day in Massachusetts dealing with a lawsuit suggesting the McCourts hadn’t paid their bills.

And apparently they have another case on March 6. Lofton seemed more interested in talking at that point.

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I ALSO noticed Terrell Owens at Staples Center for the second straight night. Obviously he has found the perfect home -- a city without an NFL team.

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PAMELA ANDERSON is boycotting the Kentucky Derby, which is sponsored by the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, because she feels chickens are abused in KFC’s processing plants. I hope the fact I have a brother-in-law who is some kind of executive in the corporation that owns KFC doesn’t affect my relationship with Pam.

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CLIPPER COACH Mike Dunleavy “emphatically and totally” denied burying Chris Wilcox during his tenure with the team, and I’m hoping during the All-Star break Dunleavy will get the chance to recover from his recent bout of amnesia.

“He gave his best at times,” Elton Brand said of Wilcox, “but maybe not all the time,” which says it best about the guy’s inconsistent play.

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I MENTIONED Tuesday that Avengers’ owner Casey Wasserman played golf with Tiger Woods and President Clinton, which got me to thinking. If you had the chance to ride four hours in a cart with a partner, would you select: Woods, Clinton or Wasserman?

Keep in mind Woods and Clinton can’t get you Avenger tickets.

*k

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.