Mary McGee

Mary McGee (née Connor; December 12, 1936 – November 27, 2024) was an American motorsport racing pioneer.

[3] She then moved to Iowa to live with her grandparents during World War II, as Alaska was considered to be at risk of a Japanese invasion.

The Tiger Cub didn't always start, so she traded it for a Honda C110 that she used to commute to her job as a parts manager at Flint British Motors.

In 1960, while she was racing a Porsche Spyder in Santa Barbara, California, the car's owner, Czech race-car icon Vasek Polak, suggested to McGee's husband that she should ride a motorcycle to improve her car-racing skills.

McGee was already known to be an expert car racer, but the American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) wanted to be sure she could also perform on two wheels, so they told her she'd first have to attend a try-out.

She passed the audition and became the first woman to road race and hold a FIM license in the United States – on a 125 Honda CB92 wearing her pink polka-dot helmet.

Her rite of passage came several months later in 1963 when Harris and other celebrity racers convinced her to enter a desert race, an AMA District 37 Enduro in Jawbone Canyon, California.

The men promised McGee that the event would be easy, but she recalls it being anything but as she was exhausted and cold in the snow that fell.

I carried Percodan in case of injury because you’d have to ride injured to get to someplace where someone has a car to get to Ensenada or La Paz to a clinic or back to the States.

[8] In 2000, after moving to Northern Nevada and meeting old motorcycle friends, she bought a 1974 250cc Husqvarna and started entering the women's class in vintage motocross events.

[11][12] In August 2012, the AMA International Women & Motorcycling Conference asked McGee to be the guest speaker.

[18] The film was directed by Haley Watson and executive produced by Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot.