As It Happens
Mary McGee, a pioneering racer and the first woman in the U.S. to race a motorcycle, has died at the age of 87.
McGee, the 1st woman in the U.S. to race motorcycles, has died at the age of 87
Sheena Goodyear · CBC Radio
· Posted: Dec 06, 2024 6:21 PM EST | Last Updated: December 6
Mary McGee, a pioneering race car and motorcycle driver, has died at the age of 87. (Breakwater Studios/The Associated Press)
As It Happens6:59’Motorcycle’ Mary McGee, pioneering racer, dies at 87
Mary McGee’s motto in life was: Always say yes.
That’s how she ended up driving race cars in the ’50s when women were expected to stay home and raise kids.
It’s also how she became the first woman to compete in motorcycle races in the U.S., and the first person of any gender to complete the gruelling Baja 500 motorsport race across the Mexican desert solo.
The pioneering racer died on Nov. 27 due to complications from a stroke at her home in Gardnerville, Nev. She was 87. The very next day, Motorcycle Mary, a documentary about her life and legacy, was released.
Haley Watson, the film’s director, says spending the last 2 ½ years with McGee had a “tremendous impact” on her.
“Mary’s approach to life was so much of: You know what, why not? Why not try things? Why not participate? And she really, really believed that,” Watson told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
“That was probably one of the biggest lessons that I took away from her.”
‘Mary was truly fearless’Born in Juneau, Alaska, during the Second World War, McGee and her older brother Jim were sent to Iowa to live with their grandparents.
Jim grew up to be a race-car driver. The first time McGee watched him race, she was enthralled.
When Jim suggested she take his car for a ride, she thought he was just kidding. But she took him up on the offer nonetheless.
“It scared the piss out of me. I tell you, I wanted to wet my pants, I was so scared,” she said in Motorcycle Mary.
But McGee was hooked.
“After that, my motto was always say yes. If someone asks you to go somewhere to do something? Yes.”
McGee was the first woman in the U.S. to race motorcycles. (Mary McGee/Breakwater Studios)When race car team owner Vasek Polak asked her to drive one of his Porsche Spyders, she said yes. When he later suggested she try motorcycles, she said yes again.
When actor and racing enthusiast Steve McQueen encouraged her to sign up for the Baja 500, an Mexican off-road race on the Baja California Peninsula, not only did she do it, she made history in 1975 for being the first person to complete the race solo.
She was inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2018.
“Mary was truly fearless,” Watson said. “So much of her life was not letting people stand in the way of what she really, really loved to do.”
McGee was inspired by her brother, Jim, to take up racecar driving. (Mary McGee/Breakwater Studios)McGee faced a lot of adversity and isolation in the male-dominated field of racing, Watson says. In the doc, she said the other racers didn’t know quite what to make of her.
“I wasn’t their sister. I wasn’t their mother. I wasn’t their girlfriend. So, what do they do?” McGee said.
But Watson says McGee never let it get her down.
“I don’t think she had the luxury to be able to be angry with people or show emotions to react to that. I think she knew that wouldn’t have helped her maintain her racing status on the track,” she said.
“She really had to figure out a way to quickly let go of negativity, which I think is such a talent.”
McGee at the Baja 500 in 1975, where she became the first person to complete the race solo. (Mary McGee/Breakwater Studios)Jim was killed in a crash while racing in 1964.
McGee blamed the accident on the car, not her brother’s driving skills. It was a huge blow for McGee, Watson said.
“He really opened a lot of doors for her,” Watson said. “He was an incredible racer.”
‘Inspired generations of athletes’McGee’s family issued a statement on Facebook lauding her “resilience, grace, and optimism.”
“Her unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” the statement reads.
“She was a historic athlete and a motorsports pioneer who embraced life’s challenges, cared deeply for others, and made time to brighten the lives of those around her.”
Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, an executive producer on Motorcycle Mary, said McGee’s “grit and unshakable determination” continue to inspire him.
“Her legacy will live on as a trailblazer in the world of motorsports and beyond,” he wrote on Instagram.
Motorcyle Mary premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in June. From left to right, producer Rachel Greenwald, editor Cody Wilson, McGee, and director Haley Watson. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images/Tribeca Festiva)Watson says McGee didn’t get the credit she deserved in the heyday of her racing career. When she completed the Baja 500, the race’s Iron Man trophy was awarded to a man who finished behind her.
“I’m so happy that we’ve been able to celebrate her now,” Watson said.
McGee died one day before the film was released publicly on ESPN’s YouTube Channel. But she was there for its premier at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.
“Since the film came out, she was able to see so much of her life reflected and received so much positivity,” Watson said.
“It just speaks to, I think, the power of validation and recognition for people, because she was so elated and I feel like she had a new energy that I had not seen.”
But long before she received her laurels, McGee was living her life to the fullest, saying yes to every opportunity, and refusing to let the haters get her down.
Describing what life was like when she was racing, McGee said: “The view on women still was they’re second class. They need to stay home and cook and raise the kids. They’re not supposed to be out having fun with us guys.
“But I didn’t pay any attention to it because I was having too much fun.”
WATCH | Motorcycle Mary:
With files from The Associated Press
