Legge sat atop a marketing program created by TrueCar that backed female racers, and questioned if and how that advertising plan will continue forward.

“I am not sure where TrueCar and Virgin stand on the ‘Women Empowered Initiative’ moving forward,” she said. “I can tell you that I feel like I have been treated very unfairly in all of this and the last thing I feel at the moment is ‘Empowered’! Scott Painter told the press on numerous occasions that it was a two-year deal with myself and how he believed women could race on an equal footing with the guys.

“I have spent most of this off-season trying to help TrueCar mitigate their costs and bring sponsors onboard with their Initiative, having invested a great deal of my own time, effort and money, so this has come as a huge shock.”

With Legge’s next move involving the courts, finding a solution to this dispute could take months or years.

In the meantime, and without a team or sponsor, Legge’s career is on hold.

“I have fought very hard, every step of my career, to get the opportunities that I have created for myself and I will continue to do so,” she said. “I want to thank everybody for their support during all of this; it has been very tough for me to watch it unfold.”

Having heard Legge’s impassioned side of the story, it’s unknown whether Penske, Painter or the Dragon team will issue a formal response.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.