The off-road racing world lost two two-wheel giants the final week of November. Malcolm Smith, 83, who revolutionized off-road motorcycle competition and Mary McGee, 87, whose off-road exploits on two wheels helped produce a documentary film on her life, both succumbed this week. The documentary on Mary McGee was scheduled for release the day after her death on Wednesday, one day after Smith’s demise.
McGee, who was born in Alaska yet raised in Iowa during the second World War, was introduced to auto racing by her older brother, who was a racer himself and thought she had the talent and forcefulness to be successful in the sport. He was right, as his younger sibling worked her way through a variety of sports car classes before being persuaded by California race team owner Vasek Polak to test and race a Porsche Spyder, the marque his team utilized in competition.
She was immediately successful and, later, it was again Polak who again convinced the young lady to try her hand at two-wheeled motorsports; she was, once more successful at the endeavor. Polak wasn’t the only one to guide Mary McGee through the variety of motor sports available to her: the late actor and racer Steve McQueen was the one who introduced McGee to the Baja 500. It was there that she would set a record as the first person, man or woman, to complete the Mexican 500-mile race solo, a feat she performed in 1975.
Mary McGee was the first woman to race motocross in the United States, first to race in an international motocross race and the first woman to receive sponsorship assistance from major brands, enabling her to compete at such a high level.
The film about Mary McGee’s life, “Motorcycle Mary”, was co-produced by seven-time Formula One World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton and two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot. It was directed by Haley Watson and made its competitive premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this past June. The documentary became globally available on Thursday, November 28.
Once her family acknowledged McGee’s passing at her home in Gardnerville, Nevada, due to complications from a stroke, tributes began to pour in. Hamilton said, “I’m deeply saddened to hear that Mary McGee, the first woman to road race motorcycles in the U.S. and the first person to solo the Baja 500 has passed on. My condolences to her family and everyone who she’s inspired,” he intoned on Instagram. “Her legacy will live on as a trailblazer in the world of motorsports and beyond.”
Documentary director Watson agreed: “I’m deeply saddened by this news, but I am comforted to know that Mary was surrounded by friends and family at the time of her passing,” he said. “In early 2022, I was researching stories when I came across Mary’s. That discovery marked the tipping point into uncovering a much larger and truly incredible career in motorsports and life journey.”
Mary McGee’s family, while not divulging any funeral or memorial plans, paid tribute to their fallen clan matriarch by stating, “Mary embodied resilience, grace and optimism. 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,” they said on social media. “While we are deeply saddened by this loss, we are comforted knowing that her light will continue to shine in everyone she touched.”
“Mary [McGee] was the sweetest woman ever,” remarked Steve Bauer, one of Southern California’s most successful motocross riders, who won hundreds of races and the 1978 AMA 250 Western Regional Motocross championship. He was selected to the Hot Shoe Hall of Fame i 2021. “She loved life and so enjoyed all the attention she was getting late in life. She was just as cool as it gets.” The rider had a long-term friendship with Malcolm Smith and said, “Malcolm was a great man who would go out on a limb if he believed in you. He was a master on a motorcycle and one of my proudest moments (in racing) was a chance meeting with Malcolm, who put his arm around me and said, ‘Just a couple of old Riverside boys.’”
Malcolm Smith, a Canadian who made his home in Southern California’s Riverside County, was a five-time overall winner of the Baja 1000, twice on motorcycles and three times in cars. He won the Baja 500 four times (one motorcycle victory and three in cars) and twice secured victory in Nevada’s Mint 400, all of them grueling competitions.
Growing up in San Bernardino, CA, Smith started his illustrious career in 1956, riding a 1949 Matchless 500cc bike in a variety of local Moreno Valley competitions. He was later associated with Husqvarna motorcycles, and Smith’s fame grew as he won a good number of prominent races in both the 1960s and 1970s. Smith’s capabilities in long-distance competition gained him eight gold-medal results in the International Six-Day Trial during the decade between 1966 and 1976.
Smith’s exceptional off-road exploits on two wheels were cited when he joined the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998. Smith was inducted into his local Riverside Sport Hall of Fame in 2010. He was prominently shown in Bruce Brown’s iconic “On Any Sunday” documentary that also celebrated the riding career of actor Steve McQueen and featured the Lake Elsinore Grand Prix motorcycle race.
Following his retirement from competitive riding, Smith began his Malcolm Smith Gold Medal Products company that developed and produced both tools and riding gear for motocross competitors. The company later became Malcolm Smith Racing (MSR) and was purchased by Tucker Rocky Distributing. Smith’s motorsports dealership in Riverside, Calif. serviced the off-road community and was a family affair, with wife Joyce and two of his four children helping to operate the firm.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) president, Rob Dingman gave tribute to Malcolm Smith’s long career: “Malcolm Smith embodied so much of what’s good about motorcycle enthusiasts and the sport of motorcycling. Not only did he excel in riding, racing and business, but Malcolm was also a great example of how to get the most out of motorcycling and give back and support our sport, which he did during much of his life – and always with a grin.”
For the final two decades of his long life, Smith battled Parkinson’s disease. He passed away at his home in Riverside, CA surrounded by his family. Smith is survived by his wife Joyce, daughters Louise and Ashley, sons Joel and Alexander, together with five granddaughters and three grandsons. He enjoyed watching his granddaughters learn to ride motorcycles and encouraged their participation on two wheels.
During his long life, Malcolm Smith was a rider, a racer, a gold medalist in his sport. He was a shop technician, a service manager, a repair shop owner, an aftermarket parts distributor, a retail store operator. He functioned as an actor, as a race and life sponsor, a philanthropist, an advocate for motorcycling, father, grandfather and friend to many, both inside and out of the sport of motorcycling.
Cycle World’s editors noted, Malcolm Smith was “everyman’s motorcyclist, an enthusiastic, fun-loving, driven and talented example of what motorcycling could do and be for the everyday enthusiast, and how the sport could affect our lives in unimaginable ways.” Funeral and memorial services are pending for Malcolm Smith. The family kindly requests, in lieu of flowers, that donations go to Smith’s favorite charity, the Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation, which supports the children of Baja.
In his acclaimed 2015 autobiography, Malcolm Smith wrote his own final chapter: “It all started for me on March 9, 1941, in a small, rural hospital in the village of Ganges, on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada,” he wrote. “Where it will end, no one knows, but you can be sure I’m going to enjoy every minute I have left, with a smile on my face and my family near. Can’t ask for more than that.”
Leave a Reply