Rider, pioneer

McGee is recognized as the first female road racing and motocross rider. McGee showed immediate promise in SCCA sports car events in the late ‘50s. When Porsche dealer and former motorcycle racer Vasek Polak recommended she try bikes to improve her skills in his Porsche Spyder, she shortly thereafter became the first American woman to hold an FIM license. She road-raced motorcycles until 1963, when her friend Steve McQueen said, "McGee, you’ve got to get off that pansy road-racing bike and come out to the desert.” She never looked back. In 1968, she became the first woman to finish the Baja 1000. In 1975, riding her 250 Husqvarna, she became the only woman to finish the Baja 500 solo — ahead of 17 two-man teams. Later she resumed racing in vintage events and was still competing in the Over 70 class at 80. In 2012, McGee received the FIM Woman Legend award. “Being a woman on a motorcycle somehow makes you feel more important,” she said, “like you’re telling the world, ‘I can do this.’”