Slow Baja - Mary McGee Motorsports Pioneer And Baja Racing Legend

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Please enjoy this archive edition of Slow Baja with Mary McGee. The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame just voted McGee into the class of 2023, and I am delighted to share this Slow Baja conversation that originally aired on 1 August 2022. Mary McGee is an American motorsport racing pioneer. She was the first woman to compete in motorcycle road racing and motocross events in the United States. McGee started as a sports car racer in 1957. She drove the finest cars of the period. McGee raced the best of the best, from her first race in a Mercedes Gullwing 300SL to running Porsche Spyders and Ferrari Testa Rossa. After legendary racer and Porsche dealer Vasek Polak suggested she take up motorcycle racing to make her smoother in the car, McGee started road racing bikes in 1960. At a New Year's Eve party in 1963, McGee's pal, actor Steve McQueen said, "McGee, when are you going to get off those pansy road racing bikes and come out to the desert?" A few weeks later, she began riding dirt bikes and racing with McQueen and his stuntman pals. She raced a Datsun 510 in the first NORRA Mexican 1000 in 1967. McGee was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame 2018 and named an FIM Legend for her pioneering motorcycle racing career. Her career accolades are as follows: • Past Pacific Coast Champion SCCA Sports and Formula Cars • First woman US MC/FIM motorcycle race in the US – 1960 • First woman to finish the Baja 1000 in 1968 • First woman to Road Race motorcycles in the US • First woman to race motocross in the US • First woman to compete in International motocross • Only person to ride the Baja 500 solo - 1975 Follow Mary McGee on Facebook here. Learn more about the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame here.

Hello, hello, Ola, como estas, lo, Baja Amigos. Today's heaping dose of gratitude goes out to auto design and racing legend Pete Brock. I recently reached out to Pete to see if he had any stories to share about today's guest, and he immediately called me back, and I'm just touched and humbled that he would take a little time to tell me about Baja racing in its infancy and share some memories of today's guest, Motorsports Pioneer, Mary McGee. Mary began racing sports cars in the early 50s. Tall and gangly, Mary described herself as fast on her feet, fast with her brains, self-conscious and lacking confidence, although she had no problems with confidence in the car.

In 1960, famed racer and Porsche dealer Vasek Polack. In 1960, famed racer and Porsche dealer Vasek Polack suggested that McGee take up road racing motorcycles to make her better and smoother in the car. She became the first woman to hold an F-I-M license in the U.S. and at a New Year's Eve party in 1963, Mary's pal actor and racer Steve McQueen told her, McGee, you got to get off that pansy road racer and come out into the desert.

Soon she was riding and racing with Steve McQueen and his cadre of stuntman friends all over Southern California. In 1967, she raced at Dotson in the very first Mexican 1,000. She continued racing Dotsons with Pete Brock until she switched to motorcycles. And in 1975, she had what she considers the crowning achievement of her career. McGee was the first rider to solo the Baja 500. She's been a Pacific Coast champion of the SCCA.

She's the first woman to race a motorcycle in an FIM sanction event. The first woman to finish the Baja 1000. The first woman to road race a motorcycle. The first woman to race motocross. The only woman to solo the Baja 500. She was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame, named a legend by the FIM at their gala in Monaco, and the American Vintage Dirt Racers Association have created the McGee Cup to award their highest point winner and honor Mary McGee's many contributions to the sport. So without further ado, today's guest, Mary McGee.

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Hey, I want to tell you about your new must-have accessory for your next Baja trip. Benchmark Maps has released a beautiful, beautiful Baja California Road and Recreation Atlas. It's a 72-page large format book of detailed maps and recreation guides that makes the perfect planning tool for exploring Baja. Pick yours up at Benchmarkmaps.com. Mary, say hello. Hello, hello. And can you tell me your name and where we are?

My name is Mary McGee. You looked at me that that was a trick question. I used to know my name. You sound terrific. Mary McGee. Yes. We're in Gardnerville, Nevada, in your town. You are. I don't know how you got here.

Well, I'm just delighted to have you sitting at the table here, having a coffee and kind of a loud coffee shop. But we're going to talk about you and your career and racing sports. sports cars and racing Baja, and I think we should just jump right into it. Okay. Do you mind telling people about how old you are? Does that bother you at all? About the what? About how old you are?

Oh no, I'm 85. I'm happy to be here. Please. I got this far. Well, after racing sports cars in the 50s and 60s and motorcycles in the 60s and off-road racing into the 70s. I'm darn glad you're here too. Your last way, you raced vintage. Vintage motorcycles. My last race was in 2012 and then arthritis took over. You got to be able to pull in the clutch to break and twist the throttle. Well, let's back up. Yeah, the cars. We're going to start, you were born in

Juneau, Alaska. I'm not sure I've met anybody who's been born in Alaska. I was 1936, Juneau, Alaska. And can you tell me a little bit about your childhood and what you remember from those days and growing up in a place like Alaska if you want to go down that path? If you want to hear it, I'll certainly tell it. My mother and father were divorced shortly after I was born. I had a brother. He was born. He was four years older than myself. Anyway, my father was a drinking buddy of the judge, and in the divorce papers, he had the judge put in that my mother couldn't take us kids out of Alaska. So that was tragic, but here comes the Second World War. The Navy went, and the Japanese were up in the Far Island and the Illusions, and the Navy came to all the coastal cities and said women and children should get out of Alaska.

My mother heard this, ran to the lawyer, ran to the judge, got the paperwork sign. My brother and I, by ourselves, were on the first ship out of Juneau. Well, how old were you? I was five. My brother was nine. All by ourselves, and I had to leave my big white teddy bear. It wouldn't fit in my little suitcase. Got to Seattle, a friend of my mother's picked us up at the ship, put us on a train the next day, going to Harper's Ferry, Iowa.

My grandparents had a farm in about 20 miles out of Waukan. Now all this was about an hour and a half drive for them each wherever they were going. So we stayed, my brother and I stayed with my grandparents on the farm in Iowa. I got to slop the hogs. Farmers know what I'm talking about when I say that. And feed the chickens which scared me to death. I'd never seen chickens before. Anyway, it was good. I, in Iowa at that time, teachers were only had to have an eighth grade education.

My brother who had been through fourth grade in Alaska and they were on the European system of education which is advanced, more advanced than the U.S. at the time. And he helped teach class, a fourth grader. way the teacher went to my grandfather and said, and at school, the one-room country schoolhouse was on my grandfather's property. So she went to my grandfather and said, I don't want, Mary isn't smart enough to be in kindergarten. And my grandfather said to her, guess why she's in school?

She said, well, she can't read. That's what you're for. Well, ended up my brother taught me to read. Amazing. That's that story. From Iowa, after the war, we're going to leap ahead a little bit. You ended up in Arizona. Yes.

Okay. How we got there? My mother got back from Alaska. I think she was gone to, we were by my, my brother and I were by ourselves and I were about 10 months. My aunt and uncle had moved to Phoenix because my uncle had some sort of a lunger. disease and they were in Wisconsin, the doctor said, get to Arizona, you're going to die. They went to Phoenix. My mother and her sister corresponded, of course.

So my aunt Thelma said, get to Phoenix. It's all going to be okay. So my mother let my grandmother and my aunt know that we were going to Phoenix. Jim and I and my mother, and my aunt, Melentha, who had lost her husband in the war, said, well, I'm going to. My cousin Marcella said, well, I'm going to go too. My grandmother said, don't you think you're going to leave me here with all these men? So we all got on the train and went to Phoenix. My aunt and uncle had a one-bedroom house.

They had the bedroom. My aunt and my cousin slept on the couch. My grandmother slept on a daybed, and the neighbors screamed in porch. and my mother, my two cousins, and my brother and I, with my mother, slept outside. Wow. Amazing. You know, that's what people did in those days. It just made do. What do you have? You make do. You may do. Can you put your finger on where the adventure gene came from and how you became the person you became from this childhood from Alaska to Iowa? No idea. I mean, you tell me, I really don't know, unless it was the traveling, you know, from Alaska to Iowa to Arizona. And then, of course, we had to get a place to live. My mother, my mother was an RN, but there was one hospital in Phoenix. There was only 42,000 people there at the time. And they didn't need a nurse. So the first people that got jobs at the family,

were my aunt and my cousin. So that left the couch open and my grandmother moved to the couch. And then my mother got a job. And so then it was just a rental house, going to another rental house and going to different schools every time we had moved. So that may be it. Just all that moving stuff. I didn't like it. Yeah.

Well, can you leap a little? little bit ahead now and tell us how you met your husband, your husband to be? Yes. He actually knew my brother in Washington, D.C. My brother was in the Navy, and Don was in the Army, and they both had an interest in sports cars, and that's how they meant. My husband was a husband was a mechanic for the very first Voloche to arrive in the United States. He went to Sebring with the owner. Amazing. Anyway, that's how they met.

So my brother, when he got out of the service, he went to Phoenix. My mother was there. We were there. And a few months later, Don moved to Phoenix because his parents had moved to Phoenix from Tennessee or someplace. And so he introduced us. there was a there was a sports car club in Phoenix

and they had a meeting place and it was Don's tap room was beer and wine place and everybody went there and I think that's exactly where I met it was in Don's tap room. All right, all right. So Don's tap room

and Don became your husband. Yes. And at some point, you got into a sports car. Wasn't that exciting? Well, you're going to tell me about it. Okay. The late Stan Sugarman had bought Frank Arceiro's bunch of cars. Car collection.

Yeah, race cars. It was a Ferrari, a Maserati, a Porsche Spider. and he thought, Stan Shurgman thought he'd show off his cars to the local little sports car club. You know, we were full of triumphs and MGs and things like that. So he set up a time trial out in Beardsley. At that time, it was just out of Glendale. It's now part of Glendale.

Right. And so all the local people showed up in all their cars. and Stan said, did I want to drive the, I was at my brother's house, and Stan was there, and he said, did I want to drive to Porsche Spider? I said, oh, yeah, sure. So Stan had brought over Ginny Sims to be the woman driver to drive to Porsche, and he had Jack McAfee over to drive the Porsche. So he said, he asked, he said, Jack, take Mary around the course.

Oh, my God. Scared me to death. He is so fast. Well, he was quite a serious racer in that day. Oh, a serious racer. I'd never been in a race car before. What the heck did I know? I had a little MGTD, you know, what they do, 40 miles an hour.

So, scared me to death. But anyway, I got in the car when it was my turn, and I was the fastest woman. I beat Jenny Sims. And so that started it. Then SCA, people from California had come over for this, and they saw the potential of this track. Everybody needs more tracks.

And so they set up a race to be held the first week of December, 1957. Now, Don and I did not go out on Saturday to watch practice, but we went out early Sunday morning and see what was going on. You know, oh goody, a race. This is going to be exciting. Don thought I was going to be really exciting. And George Rice was there, and he'd had his mechanic, whom the name is back of my mind right now, but I can't come up with it, to race his Mercedes-Benz, 300-SL.

A gullwing. Yeah, so. Quite a car. And he saw us Sunday morning, and he said, Mary. Hi. Hi, George. Do you want to race my car in the women's and sedan class? I said, sure.

Mercedes-Benz, 300-s-L, gall-wing. It's quite a car. Oh, my God, it's such a great car. Such a fun car. That DD on live axle rear end is pretty interesting, too. Did it take a little getting used to? I had four laps of practice, and then the race started. Well, things were different then.

For time. It was practice. We just do it. You know, there was not a lot of this talking about it, and hemming and hoying around, and, well, get used to it, and this is what will happen. You just did it, which is lucky for me. But a darn fast car, too.

Oh, God, what a great car. That, what an absolute fan-to. And fast? Oh, goodness, thanks. So I had to start out. I did get four laps of practice Sunday morning. And I had to start out in the back. Because I hadn't made the, you know, the grid for time trial grid.

What position can she start? She's starting last. So that happened. And I spun out, and I still won. Wow. It was so much fun. So I was hooked. And then, fortunately for me, people kept asking me to drive their race cars.

It was A.C. Bristol, which I really loved, which, as you know, is the cobra. You became the cobra, of course, with a bigger engine. Yeah. Carol bought the body. Carol Shelby, I should say the last name. You're on a first name basis with a few of these legends, aren't you? Oh, I knew them then. I knew them then.

You bet. You'd see them in the pit area? Because I went, I drove, we drove from Phoenix to California to enter the races in California. I never got up to Northern California at that time. That came later. But, you know, Palm Springs and those. It was great. It was such a great time.

But Arizona had a lot of races. We had a racetrack at Chandler. We had Beardsley. We had Tucson. And we had the Jerome Hillclime. You heard of Mingus Mountain? Right. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, what a great time that is. A hillclan. And you had a chance to drive some of the best, of the best, of the best cars of the era. I did. Porsche's, Ferraris. Can we just touch on those

before we hop into motorcycles? Oh, sure. I got to race the Mercedes-Benz, A.C. Bristol. Elva? Mark something or another, it was a formula car.

Jaguars, Ferrari Testerosa's. Jaguar XK-120s. Ferrari Testerosa? Ferrari Burlindetta, the short wheel-based aluminum body. Oh, what a fantastic car. You know, going down the straightaway at Riverside in the Burlunetta, it's going really fast, right? It's so smooth, you could open the window and get some fresh air,

eat a ham sandwich, and drink a Coca-Cola. I'm telling me, that's how smooth that Brulenetta was. At 140, 150? 150 plus. Well, it was a great racetrack, Riverside. Wow, that's really amazing. Yeah. So I'm going to jump into asking you about how you became equated with Vashchuk Polak and how you...

Oh, Vashchak. How he suggested that maybe you should start racing motorcycles. Okay. Let me guess how I got into his cars. This was a race in someplace in Arizona, and it was the time I was driving at XK-120. Now, what got Vachek kind of excited about asking me to drive for him was the starting lineup was 2-2-2-2-2. You know, usually it's 3-2-3-2. And I was way back here. Like 15th row.

Inside, I could see the starter and I had been watching him and he had some tells. You know, they all have tells. So when I saw his tail, I went outside the course to the left and up, up the course. So by the time he was actually done with his flagging, I was practically all the way up to him. I had passed several rows of cars. Nobody said anything. And Vashak thought that was really trick.

He happened to see that. And then the car, what happened to the car? happened to the car. I can tell you what happened to the car I remember now. The hood came out. So Foshek went over to Don and he said, yeah, das Englishman, you crappy mechanic. And then, I know, he conversed for a while and he said he wanted me to drive his Porsche spiders, which meant I would move to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Manhattan Beach. So he was the only Porsche dealer in the West Coast in those days, right? So he'd come from New York? No, he wasn't the only dealer the first uh no uh i was just reading about him and can't remember he he worked for hoffman in

new york he worked for hoffman in new york he he brought he came out west he had a bus das bus 70 pounds of pressure on the tires towing a towing a portia full of parts both the bus dasbous as he called them and the portion were full of parts and he went well He got the Pacific Coast Highway. He turned left. And when he got to Manhattan Beach, where his race shop was, he turned right.

He could see the ocean. And here was a building for rent. He stopped right there. Rented that building. It wasn't very big. And then his girlfriend, Kavetta, which is spelled like a grudda, but it's a check. She came out, and they moved just right down

the street to the right in an apartment, Manhattan Beach. Manhattan Beach. So you moved from Arizona to California. You moved from Arizona to California to drive for Vashak. Don moved first because we had to move to the beach to California. And Vashik thought our best if we moved close. He thought I was too skinny and he needed to fatten me up, by the way. And so Don came over first.

He took the truck. And he got a job. He was a parts rider. And then got an apartment. And it was just about three. And I had a job. I was working at Flint British Motors. I was the parts manager of Flint British Motors and going to school.

So he came over, it only took a couple of months because he had a job. And he came over and got me, brought the truck, got everything. I was riding a Honda C-110. I wrote it everywhere. I wrote it to work for grocery shopping, to see a friend. I loved that little bike. I never had to put gas in it, I swear. 50cc.

And I was six feet tall, but it just fit me perfectly. And so when we got the, Don had the apartment, so got back to California. And he took the bike and wrote it to work because they were doing road construction and it took him an extra half an hour in his truck to get to work so he took

the bike and it just zoomed right through the construction to get to work so no more bike for me to ride so now I'm racing for Voshek and at a rate the first race was in Santa Barbara and he, let me preface this for a minute

he was a road racing champion in Czechoslovakia he really was and so and he loved bikes when we're at Santa Barbara he and my husband were down at a turn one of the turns watching the bikes

and he said ah maddie to marry she should road race the motorcycles make even more smooth in the car so they came back into the pit and told me their grand idea I said, no way, motorcycle, no way. Don said, I can get you a bike.

He was working for Honda Motor then. He changed jobs from tech riding, got a job because he's a mechanic at Honda Motor Company. So he said, I can get you a bike. So Voshek said, oh, yeah, good, good, good. So I called Wes Kooley, Sr., because he was head of AFN. then because we know bikes and cars used to race in the same weekends the bikes were all pitted together here always at a corner and then the cars were spread out so called west coolly senior talked about racing and he said uh um now and you've got some experience and some

top you have some experience in some top flight cars at this stage So when you're trying to convince this fellow West Cooley Senior, he knows who you are. He knows who I am. But no other woman is asking to do this. That's what he told me. No other woman had ever asked to road race a motorcycle, and he said, we all know who you are because we see you race the car.

We know how you do turns, but I got to call the guys. So he called John McLaughlin down to Visco, Buddy Perriott, and all the top riders at that time. And okay, this is da-da-da-da-da. Okay, we got to see because this is two wheels. We're getting a little afraid now. Can she actually ride? Well, if they only knew, I only had experience on a C-110.

So they told me I had to try out at Willow Springs, and it had to be the following weekend. Well, I rushed over to Webco. the leather manufacturer to get some letters to get letters and of course they were too embarrassed to measure me

wait a second yeah too embarrassed to measure me so Mary I'm going to back up my grandfather was a tailor so I'm assuming in those days men went to get their leathers made to order so you had a tailor measuring with his tape

no no The guys at WebCode would not measure me because I was a woman. That's what I'm getting to. Okay, so they sent me up to Cal Leathers. I had to go to Cal Leathers up in Ventura. There's no Taylor involved. Just go up there to Cal Lathers. They were afraid to have you in your whatever you're wearing when you get measured for these things.

I didn't ask. You were solving problems. It was the time. I knew that it was okay. It was just the time. You know, you've got to live. the times and know what the times are so i went up to cowleathers and he had those letters ready in two days i had just a turnaround to go get them took you longer to drive to ventura than to get the

leathers it did it did in that old truck and so got back up there got the leathers don had the i had seen the bike until we got out to willow springs and there's the bike i'm in my leathers and so Wes, West, Sr., said, okay, just go on out there and ride. So I just got out there on their track. Never been on a motorcycle road racing before. And just went around Willow Springs. What a great track, by the way. Did it feel natural to you to find the line on the motorcycle as you had in a car?

It must have. I can't remember, but it must have. but here's what they were concerned about and what they were concerned about was I'm on there are all on two wheels not four wheels so if you bang on four wheels you're just

going to get some metal or fiberglass or something but at two wheels you're going to get the rider and you're going to go down maybe both of you so they were concerned about that because I didn't know she's just this tall person And so what they noted and decided I could race was that the way I entered a turn was the way I exited.

And that's what they were concerned about, that I kept to my line because anybody on a 500-cc-650, 350, 350, is going to be passing me in the 125. And I had to keep my line. To not be a hazard. Thank you. I never thought about it. They didn't want you to be a hazard. I didn't want me to be a hazard. Exactly right.

Well put. About what year was that? Okay, just a minute. I started, that would have been 1959, early January, 1960. Did you have the pink,

polka-dotted helmet right away? I had that in cars. You had that in cars? I had that in cars. Was that your signature? No, it was just a friend who painted the helmet. I couldn't buy a new helmet. They're expensive.

You just, I got the helmet, a friend painted it. That's cool. And even if it was a little gaudy, I thought it was a little gaudy for the time. But I couldn't afford a new helmet. Well, I did read that you were never sponsored. I was never. People loaned you cars to drive. Yeah.

But you purchased your motorcycles. You purchased your gear. You weren't out there hustling for donations or sponsorships or what have you. No, and nobody ever offered me anything. No helmet. No jersey. No, this. Ralph Tbilin gave me a husk vines a jersey once.

But thank God for Rolf. He had me race motorcycles in Baja. Well, can we jump right into that? That's a pretty good story. We're here to talk about Baja. Well, first I did cars. In Baja. Yes.

In 1967, Paul Collins called me, let me make sure I'm in the right era. I've got so many years. What have I have, 50, 60, 70 years of racing? Yeah, but you're on the right year. The first Mexican 1000. It was 1967. 67. And you had already transitioned to dirt at this stage.

You were already riding motorcycles a bit in dirt. So let's get on to that first. crazy happening in Baja. Paul Collins called me. A friend of mine for road racing. And also he owned a motorcycle shop. And he and his wonderful wife, Norma, you probably know they had three daughters and one son.

Colin died in a motorcycle accident. But you know one of his daughters, Mary Catherine, by her name, movie star name, Bo Derek. Oh, wow. Yeah. I do. She was rather a formidable part of my young adult life in that movie, 10. I would think so.

Nice family, great family. So Paul called me up and said, did I want to race some 1,000? I said, I don't know, do I? What is it? So he got a Datsun 510, and I think it was from Long Beach Honda. I think they were a Datson dealer. and they were called Datson. Not Dotson, Dotson.

And it was a 5-10, and they put a roll bar in and different tires and shock absorbers. Now we did a pre-run on the Toyota. In a Land Cruiser. Because at that time, Toyota and Nissan, Datson had a thing. I won't build convertibles and you don't build off-road type vehicles. So that's why I got a Toyota land cruiser. And started the race. At that time, that first race, you know, started in Tijuana.

And it was a rally down to Ensonada. And to get your room and cars go into impound again. And then the next morning the race starts. And it was an interesting. I thought it was an interesting course. But we only made it, we made it to El Arco, and that's all. And I don't remember what happened with the car, but it was a hard time getting it from where the car stopped.

The clutch, lurch, lurch, lurch, clutch, clutch gas, clutch gas. Into El Arco, it was freezing cold. It was so cold. Tiny little place, El Arco. all of the cardboard had already been confiscated that was in town from the little grocery store all the cardboard had been confiscated and they had the tires were burning the smell was just horrible people were burning tires to stay warm oh yeah oh god yes burning burning those tires to stay warm the smell was oh if you've never smelled that don't don't bother and the cardboard was just to give

you a teeny teeny bit of protection against the cold ground which you were going to sleep on right cold ground so i had no cardboard it was gone so i was i was just going around and round to fire and i got so sleepy i was going to fall into the fire and i was looking around at all the people on the cardboard what did i see two riders sleeping back to back on cardboard. I went, got really, really warm. I went right over there and slithered right in between them. They never knew I was there.

Tall and skinny, Mary McGee slid right in. That's it. Until the next morning, and it was, I'll come up with his name, I know it well, he yelled, I slept with Mary McGee. And he walked everybody up. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance.

Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at BajaBound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. You wish you'd join me on the Nora Mexican 1000? The sold-out slow-baha class was truly epic. We had an amazing array of vehicles and folks driving them. Don Kay, the Chimp, the vintage manxes, the vintage racing Broncos, Mayo Land Cruiser, Bronco Privateer. Shout out to you, brother.

1980s, FJ60, the Silver Lady. Let me just say, the man called Yeti and the Wild Yolo. They had an amazing Johnny Johnson tribute Ford Ranger truck. They rolled with us, changed gears and rolled with us on the last day of the event, and I think they had a ball, as did all the other folks and the new jeeps and the raptors and all the folks that came down the peninsula with us. Again, Big Oli absolutely blew up the internet, but they were right there smiling at the end. You got to check that out, folks.

I'm not going to go into it. But the next opportunity to have some fun in the slow Baja Safari class is the NORA Baja 500. It's September 29th through October 2nd. It is Ensenada to Ensenada, which means legit. It's a heck of a lot less challenging than the Mexican 1000. So if you want to come down, have all the fun and a lot less logistics to deal with. The Nora Baja 500 is the event for you. Shoot me a message.

I think this little Baja Safari class is going to sell out quick. So if you're interested, let me know soon. Also, the next opportunity after that is the Baja XL rally. It's every other year. It's coming up in February of 2023. again it's a totally different animal it's 200 something overlanders 25 30 countries should be represented again now the COVID's behind us and it is a great time bring your rooftop tent bring your funky vehicle get on down the coast at a very slow roll there's a competition category

which is like a giant Easter egg hunt or there's the adventure category the touring category which we roll in which we just break out our benchmark map figure out which squiggly dirt road looks the most scenic and we take it and no Nobody judges. It's an awful lot of fun. It's too much to explain here. If you're interested, it's February 17th through February 26th, 2023. Shoot me a message through the contact feature at Slowbaha.com, direct message Instagram, direct message Facebook, or Slow Baja at Gmail, and I will get you all the information you need for you to make an informed decision if Baja is right for you. It was Don Bohanan.

Don Bohan. We're back with Mary McGee, and she's remembered the name of the fellow who exclaimed to the entire racing world in El Arcoe that he slept with Mary McGee. It was Don Boehannan. And for the record, he was in his leathers. Don Boehanon. Don Boehan. He yelled, I slept with Mary McGee. Woke everybody up.

All desert racers will know Don Bo Hanon's name. Of course, most of them are dead. So I won't play it for you. but I had a call with Pete Brock, and he told me about the problems that the Dotsons had in that early race that you experienced, so I'll play that for the listeners. Okay.

But he said the front ends were not up to the task. No. And he explains it in detail. Oh, good. I can't do the detail. I can kind of do an overview. So how much time had you spent in Baja previous to the 1967 race? I'd never been there.

You'd never been there. Oh, stop, stop, stop, stop. 1967. I had been there. You know, Dave Eakins had done a record run down to Baja. Yes, he had. Anyway, they had a record run, and Dave actually finished it first. And so Dave had kind of a little industry ride with friends.

from Encinada over to what was the other riders? San Felipe? To San Felipe? No, down to over to the water.

Down the coast. Up from San Felipe. It would be north of San Felipe. He had a home there, a second home there. Robertson, Bill Robertson, Bill Robertson Sr. Jeepers, save me a walk.

We're back to Dave Eakins and... Bill Robertson Jr. Junior had the record run. Right. And so Bill Robertson Sr. has a house over on the Gulf. So Dave and Bill had a few of us. Don and I were invited. I don't know why.

But we were invited. And he had arranged the motel to stay at in Ensenada. and then leaving the next morning, I think there were very many of us, maybe 10 or 11. And one guy that was staying with the group of us, there were four of us, I don't know who it wasn't. It wasn't either Bill or Dave. We were supposed to go down to the head. He knew the course, and then at some point he turns left, and there's the highway.

and then we go up to Bill Robertson's Seniors House on the water. Well, he missed the turn. So we go too far and I had my sunglasses on, prescription. So now we're going up the highway, the San Felipe Highway,

and it's dark. I can't see because I got sunglasses on. I didn't bring my clear glasses. I had to just ride behind the brightest light, right behind the brightest light until we got to where we were going. They'd already, they had finished eating hours earlier, but they fed us, and I'm telling, I was mighty tired, mighty tired.

That's my first experience with Baja. Well, can we back up into how you got into off-road racing? That's, I think, an interesting story. that I'd love to have you share. You mean Ganbaha? No, no, on motorcycles. You had a good friend who told you had to stop being a pansy with those road racing bikes. Can we talk about that a little bit, that story and that party?

Okay. There were a lot of people, guys, I should say, because there weren't too many women. There were four or five women racing sports cars. They all had their own cars. which meant they had some money. They had good race cars. I mean, fine race cars. And a lot of the guys were famous, like Steve McQueen.

And he had a lot of people around him that were his, you know, were stunt people and movie star people. And I got to meet a lot of them, like, like Haas. You remember Haas from? From... I'll come up with a name. From Gunsmoke, not Gunsmoke. Bonanza. Bonanza.

Hans from Bonanza. Yes. Thank you, Mary. Sorry. I think this happens when you're 85 and you're trying to remember stuff back to the 50s and 60s. Well, I'm right here with you missing on the names. Hoss from Bonanza.

Hans from Bonanza. Dan Blocker. Dan Blocker. And then Bobby Harris and... Bobby Drake. He was a stunt driver. Oh, yeah, stunt driver, good friend of... And race car driver.

Stunt. He has a stunt guy. Did they all go together in those days? If you were a stunt driver, you're a race car driver, and that was just part of how you spent your weekends? No, it was just they kind of all knew each other. Okay. So then they would kind of congregate.

And so I knew... So let's set it up. You're at a New Year's Eve party. I was at a New Year's Eve party just in the next town, Manhattan Beach. I never went to the Valley. It was the 60s. Don went. I never went out to the Valley.

If anybody who's from the 60s will know what I'm talking about. Okay. Folks. You weren't going to those wild parties in Hollywood. No. Not to the Valley, not to Hollywood. None of that. But this was in Manhattan Beach, and it was a car driver that was having the party.

So I went, and Don went, because I knew the driver. And a bunch of car guys were there, drivers, lots of them. And one of them was Steve McQueen. I was sitting on a stool with my elbow on the kitchen counter. And Steve came up to me, and we'd been talking earlier. but I don't know what possessed him. He came up to me as I'm sitting on the stool and he said, Mary McGee.

Hey, Steve. You've got to get off that pansy road racing bike and come out to the desert. I said, ew, and get dirty? Well, Don, what did Don say? I could get you a bike. And it was a CL 72. So that's when I started.

So Bobby Harris said, okay, we'll go out riding in the Dehatchapies. And Bobby Drake, Bob Drake, Bobby Harris. And there was another stunt couple. I don't know their names. I do know that they are no longer with us. But they came too. We met them out. Bobby Harris, there wasn't the freeway then.

You just drove out the damn road, got to 14. him there was a little cafe there and then we turned right and went up to the Tahatchapis someplace I have no idea where and unloaded and started riding well it was great fun and I was got went in for lunch had a sandwich you know you brought a sandwich you brought a soda pop or something and then you went out again and I'm embarrassed to say we even had to lift somebody's fence to go under, but we did. Now I'm embarrassed about it.

So I had great fun, and I was tired, tired physically and mentally, because you've got to stay sharp to try to stay on the bike. And it's a big heavy C.L. 72. This is not any Elsinor. This is before the Elsinor's. This was the precursor.

And Dave Beacons did a lot of work to this bike because he had one to make it try to work and handle. He changed the placement of the motor and, of course, the forks and the back end. The rear end, yeah, the rear shocks and the rear shocks. And the, I can't think. You'd think I'd know every part of a motorcycle, wouldn't you? Well, it's a few years ago. And then that became the Elsinor. So they can thank Dave Eakins for that.

But at the time, so it wasn't but a couple of weeks, two or three weeks. We went out every weekend to Hatchapie to trail riding. So Bobby Harris called me, either him or Bobby Drake, I can't remember, call me and said, McGee. Yeah You're going to be our fourth for the Enduro at Jabon Canyon

I said what are you talking about He said Well we're going to do an enduro And we need the fourth person So and so and so And so got hurt I can't go I've only been riding for

Two, three, four weeks If that Oh no you're good You're good You know how to do this You're great It was Bobby Harris. That's who would say something like that.

I said, I can't do this for sure. He said, yes, you can. We've seen you riding. I've been there with you. You can do it. It's going to be good. I said, okay, so it was a job on Canyon. So went out there, a little cafe, which is still there.

It's probably enlarged by now. And started out on our minute, because there were four of us, and it went up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up and up. Turned left. I turned right, and then I never saw the riders anymore. They turned left. And I stopped and looked. Oh my God, the downhill.

You just can't imagine. That's the job on Canyon downhill. I got scared. It was just immensely steep. Well, Dave Egan's came riding. up and stopped and he said, McGee, did we forget to teach you how to go downhill?

And he said, he was talking to somebody who knew what they were doing. He said, just put it in third gear and go. He said, it's going to be fine. It's all sand. Put it in third gear and go. Well, I did that.

I did fall many times, but it truly is to soft sand. I got to the bottom and got back around to the starting point. I thought, oh my God, I'm not going to go out again, surely. I tell him my husband about the downhill. He said, I already heard about it. And I had a sandwich, and Pepsi probably. And I said, I'm just stuck here. He said, no, no, you've got to go out again. It's going to be good. And so this time, it goes up the Dehachiavees and turns left, and we're in the snow.

from the really soft sand in the morning to the snow. So go on and on and on through this stuff and the mountains up there and come to a right-hand turn and it's against a big boulder. And who sits there but Bobby Harris waiting for me and my Honda because my CL 72 came with a little round toolbox.

You know, under the seat? Your tool roll. You had a fan. There was some tools. And he knew that was still on my bike, and he needed some tools. And he said, if this doesn't work, you can tell me. I, of course, said, there'll be no towing. And then he said, okay, I'll tell you.

There will be no towing. Fix your bike. There's no towing. I haven't done anything like this. So he did get the bike running. You know, his bike was held. His bikes were all together by beiling wire and tape, but he was an awfully good rider. So now we go a little bit, and then it goes down, down, down, and down to the cafe.

So I did finish that thing. It didn't want to. I have to say that, but I did finish. So I'm very proud of finishing that. But that downhill. Well, we're going to skip ahead here a little bit. So we've gotten on to how you. you started riding in the dirt. And then you've told us a little bit about that first Baja

race in a car and a Datson, a Dotson, as I would say, but you say Datson, because that was the way they pronounced it at the time. My first car was a Dotson 510, which I'm... The 510, weren't they wonderful? They're fabulous cars, fabulous cars. And that's why, that's why Pete Brock and John Morton are heroes of mine because of that experience driving those fabulous cars. But let's get on to the subsequent. Mexican 1000s and the subsequent Baja trips. And if you could run me through trying to race that little Datson pickup truck, I think that was 68. It's a great little truck.

But it's little. It's little. And you're tall. And it's a bench seat. It's extremely uncomfortable. There was not enough room for my legs. and the bench seat thing, it ended up, and my vertebrae seemed to stick out in the back, ended up, I had some blood.

I just rubbed up and down that rear part of the seat. So I'm going to set it up for folks who don't have firsthand experience with these old trucks in the day. They were made for smaller people. They were made for smaller people. First of all, they were made in Japan. Yes, exactly. That's what we're talking about here, folks. They were made for smaller people of smaller size.

And when they came to the United States and encountered people male or female over six feet tall, they had to start making their trucks a little bit bigger and making the king cab and some other things to accommodate. That came later. Much later. But these tiny trucks were dinky, to put it politely. They were dinky. Dinky little trucks, but I tell you what, it went the distance.

And a little 1,300 C motor, I think. A little bitty 1,300 Cc. motor. It didn't go very fast. And who are you driving with then? Do you remember John Tamanus? John Tamanus. Is that how you pronounce it? John Tamanus. He's a big deal in SCCA in those days. Big big deal. Scrutinerer. Chief of scrutiny as I recall. Tech inspector. He was lived in, had moved to Connecticut because that's where SCA headquarters were. And Pete Brock was still racing SCCA cars. and of course needed to pass all tech inspections. With an all expense paid trip to Baja for you, John.

That's right. So I met John at Pete Brock's shop. I got a picture of that actually. And we started out and I think that's where I met him. And I didn't see him again until we started to race. Because there's a pre-run here. Oh, oh, oh, oh, in the pre-run, we didn't have the truck. We used a Toyota again.

So when we left, we were going west now, and we ran into Berkwist and Preston on their motorcycles. And where we were supposed to turn left, they were going right, and I honk, and I honk, and honked and stopped the car and they turned around. I said, no, we go left here, because that goes to Scanlon's lagoon. And they said, no, we go right. We go this way. Well, we went with them because I said, we got to go with them because if they get stuck, how are they going to get out? Well, they'll need the little dinky cab. No, I mean, they'll need the car to help get them out. And so we have to go. So they went, I guess, about 45 minutes to an hour, and then stopped, realized they were going the wrong way.

So turned around and went back the other way and came to the river crossing and there were two big trucks stopped there because there was too much water. They couldn't cross. And they had told us that in San Ignacio. Don't go any farther

because the river too tall and the trucks are stopped and you can't get across. We thought oh we can do it. Got a four-wheel drive car and two motorcycles. So we get to there, and true enough, it is full, really full. And we thought, how are we going to get across?

We had to put some thinking hats on the trucker, the two trucking Mexican families, because they travel with their, takes them three weeks. They told us it takes them three weeks to go from top to bottom, bottom to top. Top to bottom, to Tijuana to Cabo. Ensenada to La Paz maybe La Paz Yeah

Takes them three weeks And so So we suggested That we suggested That each Two guys carry one bike Two guys carry one bike And it'll go across

So they got that handle They got both bikes across Came back For our vehicle And said okay now how are Because it's too deep Too deep to drive across How are we going to do this?

So one of the motorcycle guys Preston or Burquist suggested we get some boulders from along the side we'll just stack them under the car get that rough up that motor and put a couple

of boulders in front so we'll jump off the boulders and then we'll hit the second boulders and get across well we did that and it actually worked amazing oh I can't believe it it actually worked

And so we're on our way and got down to La Paz, and that was our pre-run. How did Baja, Baja was quite different in those days. There wasn't a road, a paved road all the way down. People didn't just head down to Baja. You had to have a pretty high threshold for adventure to do these things. Well, I guess so, because I never thought that I was an adventurous person. And if you'd asked me, I said, oh, no, I'm not adventurous. But no, there was nothing.

There were not even any little, there were no chalk marks like you have out in the desert race, you know. They put lime out to show you the road to go and when to turn. There were no little picture postcards. There was nothing. There might have been, if you see three rocks and a cactus, turn right. That was about it. And you just kind of had to follow your nose. There was some original writings,

and so there's a crossroad here, and there's three rocks over here, and you do this. So you just had to follow those things. And we didn't ever get lost, but a lot of people got lost. I don't know why not. I'm sure it wasn't me. There were no, as you know, there were no cell phones.

There are hardly any phone phones. There were no phone phones. Well, and Ensenada, and in La Paz, there were telephones. Telegram. Telegram. Right. There were telegram. And there was a doctor in La Paz and a doctor in Ensenada and, of course, in Tijuana.

So if you had some problem, you're stuck. But when I was on the motorcycle, racing the motorcycle, I tell you what I did. Got this from a friend. Carried a percadine. Because if you got hurt and you broke a leg, you still had to ride somewhere to get to somebody who's going to take you to one of those places to find a doctor. So I didn't think about the scariness. Now that you mentioned that maybe I was just the adventurous person. I don't know.

It was so darned exciting. I mean, you can't do this and then not think, yeah, sure, I'll do it again. Well, let's get on to, you mentioned your medical kit contained one painkiller. And you did break a foot in a race. And you had to ride on. Oh, yes. It was 73. 73, 500.

So Baja has become quite a thing by this time. It's a happening. People are taking it seriously and starting to go pretty fast. They're going pretty fast. And in this 73,500, it got up to be 123 degrees, hottest it's ever been. And at the second checkpoint, the checkpoint people, you know, had the tent or whatever, tried to get me to stop there because that's so hot. One of the desert racers had already stopped.

And they said, if a desert racer has to stop, you've got to stop. You're the only woman here. You've got to stop. And I said, I can't. The halfway rider is waiting for me. I've got to get over to Gonzaga. So, and I had to carry gas in a chlorox gallon jug. Tell me a little bit about that high-tech solution.

to carry a gas. You had it belted with the barber belt on your jacket, right? Just a chlorox jug with gas in it. That's right. Gallon jug a gallon chlorox bottle full of gas. So this is six or seven or eight pounds clunking into your hip and your leg and all that the whole way, right? I think that's why my hip bothers me now. Not sure. And the heat. I had unzipped my barber code. So the only thing holding it together was the belt and the bottle of chlorox with gas in it. Gallon jug of chlorox with gas.

And I knew about I knew what... Were you becoming fixated at this stage? I mean, was your mind starting to lose it a little bit? I knew what target fixation was. Exactly.

And so I knew not to get hooked on if you keep looking at it, you're going to run That's right. If you keep looking at you're going to run into it. But at 123 degrees, and racing a motorcycle, it's hard to think. And I did finally say I got to put the gas in. I can't stand this.

And I stopped. And I thought I would die, fall off right there. It was so hot. I had to take my barbic, the coat off. I want to take everything off and put the gas in and continued on. But I had to tell you, it was so hot, and I was definitely beyond fatigued. And I did have ended up having target fixation, and I knew not to do that. I saw this rock.

And I said, I have to take my eyes away now. But I got there before that happened. And so my foot got turned under the foot peg. My left foot peg. I hit it. I didn't fall. but my foot did. And I got a little further, and they were getting down to...

You're heading to Gonzaga there? The rancho and the dry lake. Santa Yines. Is the Rancho Sanjayunez? No, that's where the checkpoint was. It's the next rancho. Where's the dry leg there. I'm going into it, and I heard...

I heard a voice. Help. And you always have to look. And a wave. And it turned out to be... A racer was down. A motorcycle racer. Yes.

And it's... Filtron. What's his name? Filtron air filters? We'll get that in the show notes, folks. I can't think of his name right now. But he was sitting... His bike was on the dry lake.

And he was sitting on it. And he said... said, I need help, I need, I can't, the bike doesn't run. So I said, okay, get on the back. And I did dump him once. But broken foot and all. What? You have a broken foot at this stage.

Right, I have a broken foot. And you're racing, you're riding two up now. Yes. Sorry, folks, I'm shaking my head here. You can't see me shaking my head in disbelief. And, and he's sitting in the back, another bike, and it's deep, deep sand. And I did dump him. He had to get back up on

and got to the rancho. And Mamasita came out and I said, I leaned him against the fence, leaned by bike against the fence, leaned him against the fence, and said, if she feed him and get drinks, they'll come by to get him tomorrow. Somebody will be here tomorrow and pay you. And I think she was used to all that happening.

And then I said, can I have a Pepsi? And she didn't charge me. I didn't have any money anyway. And the reason I had to carry the gas was because Husky couldn't get a pit in between Rancho Santa and Niz and over at the halfway point. There's no way to get it in, you know, trucks and gas and stuff. Right, right, right. Because after and after Chrisman, Jack Crisman, Phil Trump. He was the rider who was down.

He was the rider who was down. Filtron, that's Philtron oil filters. Philtron oil filters. You never heard that name Filtrum? They should have sponsored you for the rest of your writing days. Well, people didn't think of that then. They were just glad that somebody did it. So got him up against the fence, and she said they'd feed him and take care of him,

and they know somebody would be there tomorrow to pay. And I took off, and the next really interesting. The only part of that story that I know, that I've heard by legend, and I've heard this by legend, he had a flask and was drinking bourbon, as I recall. Oh, God, he was. He was. He had a flask. I said, what are you doing? And he said, I'm having a drink. He said, you want one? Is it a Gatorade? No, it's bourbon. Well, no wonder he fell. I said, I'm so sorry I picked you up. I didn't say that, but I thought that. I said, you know, you deserved it. And you're, you You deserve to fall off the back end of my bike.

Times were different then. Oh, it was all different. It's okay. And people drank all the time. At what point did you get your foot looked at? Oh, wait a minute. There's more. $3.500 just, the horror goes off. So now you get out of the, leave the rancho, and it goes eventually into this canyon. Now, I happen to like this little canyon.

It's full of boulders. I'm really good with rocks and boulders. I don't go in and out of the rocks and boulders. I just gas it up. You're climbing over them. Yeah, I just let the front end go. And I'm up on the pegs, off the seat, and I just let the front end go,

but holding onto the throttle and going. Because if you tried to go in between all the rocks, A, it's going to take you 10 years, but B, you're never going to make it, and you're going to fall. So going through the canyon, and I'm doing quite well. I'm just in the first third, and I see a motorcycle over here leaning against the canyon wall here, and I hear another help. It's amazing what you can hear through a helmet.

And I look, and here's this rider sitting up against it on the hill. saying help in his Suzuki. It's a Suzuki. Leaning against the canyon wall on this side. I stopped my bike, put it over here, walk over here, walk up to him, and he said, do you have anything to drink?

Now, what I always carried was a flask of ERG, electrolyte replacement therapy, and mixed it myself. And I had half-lake. left, almost half left. I had drank the rest of it. And I said, you can have half of this, but only half of this. That's it. Half of this. And I'm watching because I might need the rest. It's kind of life or death a little bit. It's kind of life or death. It's probably now 126 degrees down there. It's so hot.

And he said, okay, thank you. I will. I will. I said, okay, look, you've got this. great big, you've got this big Suzuki with these huge headlights, huge two headlights. I'm on this Husqvara, you've got to rev it up to get the headlight to work. You know, there's no headlight. It's an old husky. You have to rev it up to get the headlight to work. I said, okay, look, I'm going to give you a little bit to drink. Then we're going to go down and get your bike.

You're going to get on it, and you're going to start out because you've got these big headlil. lights, so I can then see, because now it's getting dark. So I can see. He said, okay, well, he was so slow. He started out, you know, just this boulder and that boulder. I had to stop him and say, okay, look it, you just keep going straight. You're going to run across a V. You take the left one.

That'll take you right to the halfway point, okay? Repeat that to me. And he said, okay, I'm going to come across the V, and I'm going to take the left one. I said, yeah, perfect. And then I went on because I couldn't go that slow. I just couldn't do it. No headlights or anything. You're going to go.

No headlights. And then you finally come to a nice sand trail, and eventually you get into the halfway point. You know, it's not rough, it's good. and all the drinks were gone. But one half, the Husky crew, one of them, I think it was Bob Evans, saved me half a hot orange soda pop. I was so thirsty. I drunk the rest of my ERG. And all the water was gone, all the drinks were gone.

Somebody said, and I said, my foot, my foot. And they went and got, who owns Glenn Hillen now? I know them. But Felkin? Bud Felkamp. Bud Felkamp, the dentist. Yes. Dr. Feldkamp was there.

And he was racing with Malcolm Smith that year in a car because Smith had broke his leg. Right, right, yeah. Yeah, they were in the car. So somebody went to get Bud, Dr. Feldcamp, Bud. And he came down and he said, oh, got to cut your boot off. I said, okay. So they got some whatever they had tools and cut my boot off. And, of course, my foot swelled up like that.

It hurt like heck. It hurt worse than keeping the boot on. And nobody had anything, not even any elastic, you know. Ace bandage. No, ace bandage. It was too hot to move. Nobody could even move to go see anybody else if they had anything. It was so immensely hot.

Well, with all the drinks gone, that Dr. Felcalf, Philkamp went back to his pit and came back with some water for me. Amazing. But one good thing with this, but it goes on, it's more interesting, I think. One good thing, folks. I didn't have to, I got to fly back to Ensonata with Mitch Mays and Mickey Quaid. They'd won.

So hobbled over to the airplane, it was just real close. Or maybe I got behind, gone on someday, this motorcycle got a ride, got in the airplane, got to the Ensenada airport, forgot to think it's a long way over to the highway. And there's no ride. There's no ride there to get me over to the highway. There's no taxi.

You don't have... You haven't been taped up. You don't have crutches. So you're walking on a broken foot. I'm walking on a hobbling on a broken foot. And Mitch and Mickey, they're young guys. Especially Mids. I mean, he's just a kid.

Mickey's not a kid, but he's a racer guy. So nobody's taking care of you? No, and they're not expected to, and I wouldn't expect them to. Maybe he would have liked a little arm to lean on, but nobody would have thought of that. You know, I'm a racer. I was there. I race. By Jesus, this is it. You know, you're on your own. So hobbled over to the highway. It took a while, and it was great. painful I remember the pain hobbling over to the highway. Have you ever been to

the insinada airport? Sure. You know how far it is over to that highway. So anyway get over to the highway, got across the highway, and I laid down, Mitch laid down, Mickey got up to the highway. Now remember we're all on our race clothes, filthy dirty, and Mitch already looks like, Mitch, Mickey Quaid already looks like a a bandito. You know, the beard. He sticks his thumb out. Guys with motorcycles

in the back, and he, you know, we've all got the race gear on so they can see race gears, razors. People, guys with motorcycles on trailers and trucks, they pass us by, passing by, and they can see us there. Gringoes. And nobody's stopping.

Not one person stopped. Mitch finally said, oh, Jesus, Mitch, you can't do anything right. Mickey, I mean. Mickey, you can't do anything right. And we call him Mickey. His name is Mick, but Rolf always called him Mickey, and so that just stuck. I mean, I call him that today.

Did you have to go up there and show a little leg or something to catch a ride? How did this work? I'm getting to it. Mitch Mays says, Jesus, Mickey, you can't do anything right. He gets up, Mickey sits down. Mitch gets up, and he doesn't look any better, except not as bad. He gets up, puts his thumb out. Do you think anybody stops?

No. Nobody stops. Nobody even waits. So I said, okay, help me up. Geez, help me up. I hobble over to the highway. I stick my thumb out. The first vehicle stops.

You know what it is? The city bus. Well, hopefully they had room. The city bus stops. And he stops right in front of me. He opens the door. And I said, I don't speak the language, but I know about four words. And I said, no don't know.

He said, I car, carara, carara. So he knows you're a race car. He knows. He knows where racers come in, come in, come in. And his route was supposed to take him downtown. He took us to the race headquarters. He's your chauffeur. He's our chauffeur.

Fabulous. I know it. Finally somebody. I know. And all I could do is say, thank you, thank you, thank you. And, you know, I didn't have any money to tip him. And he said, no problem. Carrara, carada.

You know, he was very excited about the race. And that was that. Well, let's leap up to your, I mean, it's a kind of a monumental moment in your life and your career. When you soloed, was that the seven. the five race you soloed the Baja 500? Yeah. I'm so proud to tell you that I was the first person, not the first woman,

the first person to ride the 500 solo. What brought that great idea on? Ralph. Ralph Toulph to Lynn called me. You know, we're living in Idaho, catch him. I always had to travel from Ketcham down to Baja, and they had the Husky van.

And Ralph said, Yeah, Mary, the Norwegian accent, Swedish, and I said, yeah, Mehdi, you're going to ride the 500 solo. I laughed. I thought he was just joking. I said, who's going to be my partner? They always picked out my partners. I never had a say, ever.

And I laughed. He said, no, Merri, you can do this. I said, I can't do this. I can't ride that solo. He said, yes, you can. You know you can. You're going to write a solo on the 250, the CR, you know, it's going to be great. You're going to do great.

He was such a believer in me. I don't know why. And I said, okay, if you want me to, I didn't think anything more about it. You know, I didn't think, can I do it? Can I not do it? Will I finish? Will I fall off? I never thought those thoughts.

So did a pre-run on some re-re-rean. random motorcycle, a husky, of course. I shouldn't say random, it's always going to be a husky. And race day, I come back down to Ensenada. Oh, I got a ticket on the way in Nevada. I was leaving. Well, I had to hurry down there, you know.

It was like 2 o'clock in the morning. There's not going to be any patrolman out. You had to make up a little time. In the middle of Nevada, way down, it's still about 125 miles to Bishop. So I was speeding, and wouldn't you know it, there's a highway patrolman sitting like this and the sirens. I stopped and he said, lady, do you know how fast you were going? I said, a little fast.

and then he saw the team Husky. He said, oh, I know who you are. That I've seen you in the magazines. And I said, thank you. He said, okay, I'm going to, I have to give you a ticket because they know I've stopped you, but I'm going to say it was an excess of speed. And he put down the top speed he could put down, so he didn't have to haul me back to, to,

So you didn't have to go to jail? Didn't have to go to jail. Because otherwise I would have had to gone all the way back to, I don't know where it was. And bless his heart, he just gave me a ticket because of that Timuskvarno in the van. But it was a little fast. It was 104. He said it was 104. I said, that's pretty fast.

So I calmed down and got down to Ensenada. and the race bike, Ralph, and I was, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were in, at, uh, estero beach. He had taken, uh, the camper down. Have you ever been to Estero Beach? Sure. Yeah. It's a lovely place. Beautiful. It's gorgeous. So we, we were in our, in our, in our, in our, uh, c. A.C. Bacon was there and a bunch of, bunch of racer people were there, Camping out. And I saw the bike the next day, went to race headquarters. I can't remember the name of that hotel that they always used in the big parking lot. Yeah, well, maybe the Via Marina there. That's what they used now. But they had the tech and contingency at what's the, it's the old famed hotel casino in the center of town.

So it's now just a cultural center. But it was in its day the best hotel in Ensenada. It had a huge parking lot, and that was race headquarters, and that was where the bikes and cars all were in impound. Yeah, and you could stay there if you wanted to or stay someplace else. I can't remember the name of the place, but that's the place. And so that day, I got to ride the bike, and this is the first time I'd ever had gas.

shocks on my bike. And so I forget somebody came along and put them on. Head girling. Somebody came along and put gas shocks on and I said, I've never ridden gas shocks and everybody was surprised. What?

And so I went on a little 20, 25 mile ride up, see how they were and came back and said, they're great. This is great. So when I started the race, what blew a gas shock? pitched me right into a cactus.

And it wasn't the first cactus I ran into because with one shock, it doesn't handle too well down in that rough stuff. So my husband was at the road crossing, but he didn't have any parts, just some tools and gas. So I had to continue on, and the first checkpoint Husky team was there, class Nielsen and Bob Nguyen.

was at Camelieu. So I got into Camelieu, everything was ruined, wheel was ruined, shock was gone, chain was gone, Sproko was gone. So they replaced everything. I had an orange and a Pepsi, and then I continued on. And I finished. And I didn't know it was a big deal that I rode this solo until I came in, until the at, at, at, at, at the trophy presentation, it was friend of ours, John Sunderland, who went up to, I don't know who it was on the stage giving the trophies.

Might have been Mickey Thompson at that point. I don't know. 1975 Mickey Thompson was in charge, so could have been. Maybe. I don't know who it was. But he and I think his brother went up to the stage and said, look, because it was the Iron Man trophy day race and said

you've got to give this God would have to give one to marry me she just wrote a solo on a

motorcycle yeah he did it in a car but she just did it on a motorcycle they didn't even listen to

him that's okay I know I didn't know it was such a big deal until then and then later

years later did you do that solo yeah did you know you're the only person to do it no amazing

so yeah you do these things you just do them because they're there to do and that that achievement among your many others has landed you in a couple of halls of fame you're in the AMA American yes AMA Hall of Fame 2018 I got inducted it was wonderful and you've been to Europe you you were in Monaco for a for a presentation is that International Federation F I am F I am I was a female legend

and Tarsden Holman was the male legend So, and, of course, I knew him from the Inter-Rams. So we had an interesting time discussing some old times. If you knew you were going to get to 85, would you have taken better care of yourself? I doubt it. I doubt it. I would have just been looking for a motorcycle to ride. Well, of course, I had my, I had, I bought that vintage bike, which is why I actually came up here, moved to Gardnerville. because I had two friends that were doing vintage.

Vintage motorcross. Vintage motorcross. So, oh, maybe I can do that. So I came up here in 2000, and I rode a couple of friends' bikes at first, and then I got a 74-250 Husky. Same old bike I used to ride down all those years ago. I never rode a modern bike.

It was always, you know, all those years, I was motor crossing and the stuff that was always an old husky but they're great bikes I think the bike want to know the bike I think I like the best was my 67 250 CZ

let me tell you why I'm all ears because in that CZ I felt I was sitting in the bike when I got that husky that you sit on the bike. That's how I felt. And it's a big, big feeling of difference in handling. I liked it

much better sitting in the bike, and I never had that feeling again on a motorcycle. But that's okay. Look at all the fun I've had racing. Now, we didn't discuss any of this stuff, but you're a mom. Oh, yeah. Did your kids say, Mom, you're nuts? No, I have one son. One granddaughter, they live in Southern California. And And I was very close to my nephew. And no, everybody, nobody said I was nuts. And my husband was very supportive. And we didn't go into the flying jib at all, but you were a bar owner with Don?

You ran a bar? Yes. It had been this place, it's a cross from dive and surf in Redondo Beach. And it was a nice little odd A-shaped building, had a had a, like a porch thing that was enclosed, tempers, and it was available. And it was cheap to rent. And so we rented it and opened it up, just beer and wine. And the first thing that happened was some El Camino College kids came in.

Because they had been there when it was a folk place, a folkseeing place. And yeah, what are you going to do? Well, we're going to try to have dancing and bands as much. up. Oh, cool. We know some good bands. And that's how that started. Well, I was asking Pete, how Peter Brock, how he got to know you. And he said, I think I met her in a bar. Yeah. Maybe it was your bar. I think so. So, and he said that you were absolutely integral to their Baja effort because you knew something about Baja. And that was at a time where so few people, said no car racing people knew anything about Baja. Only motorcycling people knew Baja.

Yeah. Well, that's because I'd been down with Dave and Bill Robertson, Jr. So I had ridden a couple of times, but that's it. And again, folks, they set the speed record in 1962 from Tijuana to La Paz. And they did that record that then Ed Perlman, tried to break that record in his in his V8 powered land cruiser and eventually Bruce Myers did did break that in the Myers manx they had they'd very well engineered a couple of Manxes pre-ran down to La Paz and then turned around and

carried so much gas they didn't have to stop that they were able to get back and they eventually they eventually in 1967 so five years later did break that record that led to the Halloween first Mexican 1000 that you were a part of. And you're in that famous film, 27 hours of La Paz. There goes Mary McGee in the Dotson. Yeah. Day of the Dead, November 1st. Yeah. You were there doing it. Was it a happening? Did you feel like you were part of a happening? I wasn't that smart. Did it feel like a race or did it just feel like a cultural event? Well, that's a good question. That's an excellent question. Well, I thought it was a race for sure.

But now, thinking about it, I also think it was a cultural event. I didn't ever think ahead that this is really something. This is something new. This is something exciting. This is going to be for the ages type of thing. I never thought any of that. Just I got to go racing. Yeah.

Well, I think the other thing that has followed you around now in your old age. I wasn't going to say it, but has followed you around is the word pioneer. Yes. So you were a pioneer in automobile racing. There were a few other women sports car racers. There were four or five. A few others, but, you know, journalists and other folks, wealthy, well-to-do women. And then you became a pioneer in road racing for motorcycles.

Yes. And then some pretty famous guy at the time, handsome and famous, said, you need to quit being a pansy and get dirty. And you said yes. You said yes. Steve McQueen says come in the dirt and you say, yeah, why not? And your husband, the enabler, says I can get you a motorcycle. That's right.

Big heavy Honda C.L.72. And on Facebook now, I read guys talking about that nasty, heavy CL72. Well, it was, but it was the only bike I had, and it was given to me to run. Right. So ever grateful, you know, you don't. Well, if you were doing it today, you'd have a personal trainer, and you'd be lifting weights, and you'd be working out for just an afternoon in the dirt. You know, I did walk.

I did jog. And, but I had a dog. Okay. I had a big dog. I had to take my dog out. And we would go up and down the strand in Hermosa, Manhattan. beach with my dog. And then I had a bicycle and I would ride up to Marina del Rey from Hermosa on the strand and back. So it wasn't that I didn't do anything. Well, Mary again, it's been a real

delight. So thanks for making time. Oh, thank you for coming. I'm so appreciative of you coming. Thank you. Have I told you about my friend True Miller? You've probably heard the podcast, but let me tell you, her vineyard, adobe Guadalupe winery is spectacular. From the breakfast at her communal table, bookend into an intimate dinner at night. Their house bred Azteca horses, Solomon, the horseman will get you on a ride that'll just change your life. The food, the setting, the pool, it's all spectacular. Adobe Guadalupe.com. For appearing on Slow Baja today, our guests will receive the beautiful benchmark map 72-page Baja Road and Recreation Atlas.

Do not go to Baja without this, folks. You never know when your GPS is going to crap out, and you're going to want a great map in your lap. Trust me. Well, I hope you enjoyed that show with Mary McGee. I certainly did. Apologies for the noisy cafe. We do our best here at Slow Baja, but I do meet people where they are, and I'm always trying to record this show on the road. So hopefully I wasn't too much of a distraction there.

If there's somebody you would like to hear in conversation on Slow Baja, please take a second. shoot me a message through my website at slowbaha.com. And while you're there at slowbaha.com, please check out my Slowbaha store, buy yourself some merch, dads, grads, back to school, repping in campus. Hey, I'd love to have you get that sticker for your hydro flask or for your laptop or new trucker hat. They are the rage for back to school. That's what I'm hearing, folks. That's what I'm hearing.

I've been getting a lot of inquiries about the Ask Your Doctor if Baja is right for you, bumper sticker. These are not in the store. The only way you can get that sticker is by bumping into me in Baja or by clicking on the donate link at slowbaha.com and dropping a taco in the tank. Huge thanks to Rich Jiru. He slid an entire tray of tacos in,

and I appreciate that immensely. Ronald Roach, he slid some tacos in and asked for some stickers for his friends down in Puerto Cito. So Rich, I will be checking up on your work looking for those stickers down my next trip down to Puerto Citos. And Cameron Swell, supporting the show and listening down under in Australia, that just warms my heart. Thanks, Amigo. Jeremy Kennedy left a nice review. Thank you. And I've got a deal for you, folks.

Get on iTunes, click a five-star review, say something nice. Tell people why they should be listening to Slow Baja, and I will, quid pro quo here, I will send you a pair of Slow Baja shot classes. These are not in the Slow Baja store. These are only available when I'm on a rally or doing an event in Baja, and you're on that event with me. But I've got a few, and while supplies last, operators stand by, drop that five-star review, say something nice.

shoot a DM of it, or shoot a screenshot of it, DM it to me. Send me your address, your name too, please. Send me your name and address, and I will send you a pair of Slow Baja shot glasses. And on that note, well, until we meet again, here's a word from Mary McGee's pal, Baja lover, Steve McQueen, Baja's life, everything that happens before or after. after is just waiting.