43
Sally Shubert liked going fast, raced motorcycles to prove it
Sally Shubert wanted to race so much, she posed as a man during a time when the AMA didn’t permit women to compete
By Brian Dzenis
HOWLAND
Even at 80 years old, Sally Shubert hasn’t forgotten the sweetness of speed.
The Howland resident was a rare sight in the 1960s, a female motorcycle racer. She went through her career with neither victories nor accolades while being a pioneer in the sport, but the sensation of going 100-plus mph has stood the test of time.
“It was me. It was really me and I loved it,” said Shubert when asked what it’s like to ride. “I had always loved speed. I’ve always loved motorcycles, sports cars and things like that and ever since I was in junior high school.
“Like the Triumph t120, that son of a gun would go 120 mph easily. We used to go out and I would get so fast. It turned me on.”
Shubert’s racing career stretched from 1968-1980 and was introduced to the world of motorcycles by her boyfriend at the time and now ex-husband, Wendell Swegan.
“We wanted to do it together. He was in seventh grade and I was on eighth grade,” Shubert said. “We just did it.”
In the 1960s, women as active participants in motorsports was unheard of. Wives or girlfriends of racers would travel with their husbands, do some work in the pits or even drive the truck pulling their vehicles while their husbands slept. Schubert was the exception when she mounted a bike herself. Swegan kept up with the newest motorcycles and usually passed down older models to Schubert, which was why she never won, she said.
Shubert said for the most part, none of the male riders she raced with gave her any trouble. The other riders and her relationships with them were some of her favorite memories of racing.
“It didn’t matter if you won the race or not, it was the fellas because it was a big, nice, happy family back then,” she said. “Once we were on the track, it was everybody for themselves. But in the pits, if somebody needed some piston rings or something like that, we’d trade parts.”
She did recall one organization that gave her problems because of her gender: the American Motorcyclist Association. The AMA barred her from participating in a support race for the Daytona 200. In 1968, Schubert hatched a plot to bend the rules and race.
She found a male mechanic sympathetic to her plight and he took a physical in her place, registering under the name “Eric Schmidt.” When the day came to race Daytona Beach, Shubert wrapped her chest in an ACE bandage underneath her racing leathers to “flatten” herself, she said.
While Shubert made it onto the oval in the 125 class, the race didn’t go her way. She was forced to retire from the race due to a broken chain, but she made a point to let the AMA know that she got one over on them.
“When I got back to the pits, I decided ‘I’m going to show off a little bit,’” Shubert said. “I took my leathers down and tied them around my waist. I had my clothes on [underneath my leathers] and pulled out the ACE bandage that I wrapped myself with.
“Those sons of a guns from the AMA, they were flabbergasted. Absolutely flabbergasted,” Shubert said. “They didn’t kick me out. They didn’t make any more commotion than I had already done. I got to stay in the pits and it was one funny thing.”
Duane McDaniels, who was also at the 1968 race, recalled the “Schmidt” stunt. He said the racers weren’t offended by the discovery of a woman in their ranks.
“She did have to lay low after that. The AMA was old-fashioned and the geezers were running the show. It wasn’t a real problem, but they thought it was,” McDaniels said. “When she’d race in Canada, she didn’t have a problem. She raced under her own name and everyone knew her.”
A Google search for Sally Swegan only brings back a single piece of evidence of her career: a pdf of a program from the 1967 Grand Prix of Canada. She’s listed as a competitor in the 250 cc Junior Race. Shubert went through her entire career in anonymity. She had never spoken to the press about her exploits until The Vindicator contacted her. On Sept. 29, 2018, Nelson Ledges Race Course in Garrettsville — one of the tracks she used to race at — held an honorary day for her, taking her for a lap around the track.
“The management out the racetrack — Fred Wolfe — he was so gracious, kind and supportive on my honorary day,” Shubert said. “I can’t even describe it. I still haven’t recovered.”
Shubert stopped racing around the same time she split with Swegan amd enjoyed a long career with IBM, working in engineering, software and hardware repair. She holds her career there with as much esteem as her racing. Despite years of working in a technology industry, she doesn’t keep up with today’s computers and refuses to own a cell phone.
“When I quit IBM, I kissed computers goodbye,” Shubert said.
Schubert said she was one of three women she knew who raced when she did. The other two were in Europe. At the time, she didn’t consider herself a trailblazer in racing. She just lived for the speed.
“I never thought about it [while I was racing],” Shubert said. “I was one of the guys and I think that’s why they liked me so much. I was one of them.”