A day before Thanksgiving, the motor racing world lost one of its most significant trailblazers. Mary McGee, or “Motorcycle Mary,” died at 87 years old last Wednesday. The Alaskan native was a pioneer in car and motorcycle racing, opening up new territory not only for women — but also for anyone trying to push the boundaries of endurance sports.
On Thanksgiving, a day after her passing, ESPN dropped the documentary, Motorcycle Mary, chronicling the exploits of this undersung hero of mid-20th-century racing. When the octogenarian pulls out the ring from her 2018 induction into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, you know this documentary is going to be a fun ride.
“There’s an inscription, and it says, ‘Drinks gas, spits nails,’” McGee says with a grin worthy of a Steve McQueen action film.
After an early career in car racing, McGee became the first American woman to race motorcycles. Confronting sexism and personal tragedy, she then pulled off a feat no man or woman had before: soloing the grueling Baja 500 on a motorcycle.
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
“The core of the story is about isolation and how Mary navigated a male-dominated world in the 1950s and ’60s,” documentary director Haley Watson says in the intro.
Don’t miss this moving documentary about one of America’s lesser-known mavericks of the open road.
Runtime: 23 minutes
