Growing up in Central Pennsylvania in and around coal strip mining country in a family where motorcycling was part of daily life, Monica McCready was destined to make her mark in the world of Vintage Motocross racing and influence women to participate in the sport.  At the age of 40, Monica began competing for the national women’s intermediate title in the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s ( www.AHRMA.org  ) National Motocross 2002 Series.  With a 73 Yamaha 250mx on the East Coast and a 74 Yamaha 250mx on the West Coast, Monica  participated in 7 national events held in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and California.  “I have as much fun getting my bike ready to compete as I do actually competing.  And the people who run and participate in these events are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” she explains.

 Monica started riding motorized bikes at the young age of 5.  Her father ran a motorcycle shop in Altoona, PA where he had the Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Montesa, Gilera, Velocette, and Lambretta franchises.  Almost every weekend, the family would pile into a van and head to the races.  Monica’s father, David McCready, was a road racer and motocross racer for many years and while he was competing at Virginia International Speedway, Daytona, or Summit Point to name a few, Monica, her two sisters, and mother, would stay close by in the pits ready to lend a helping hand.  “I remember there was a distinct quality in the air at the races.  It was the smell of castor oil after it was exhausted from a two-cycle engine, and the sound of the big bore 4 strokes as they were warming up in the early morning hours…whoooooobaaaaa, whooooobaaaaa,” she recalls as if to momentarily lapse back to her childhood past. 

 Monica always had a motorcycle to ride throughout her youth with lots of areas to ride and all accessible from behind her home in Juniata Gap.  Her favorite bikes were a 1971 JT1 Yamaha 60cc, a 1974 Kawasaki 100 enduro, and a 1975 Honda MT125 enduro.  Some of the neighbor boys had mini-bikes and later motorcycles and on the weekends they would all get together and head up to the strip mines on the old Wopsononick narrow gauge railroad bed, which was their freeway to the strip mines.  A dirt biker’s paradise, these abandoned strip mines had jumps, hill climbs, mud puddles the size of swimming pools and wooded trails running for miles atop the Allegheny Mountains.  This was the training ground for developing her off road riding skills until the age of 16.  At sixteen, motorcycles took a back seat to automobiles.  Although she continued to ride for a few years on the highway, the days of trail riding went by the wayside.  It would be 20 years before she would rediscover the thrill of off road riding again. 

 In 1990, Monica was studying Archaeology for a year in Greece.  It was commonplace on the islands to rent old motorcycles for transportation.  Traveling alone, Monica decided to take a journey around the island of Crete, back packing on a rented 1975 Honda 125cc two stroke much like the one she used to have so many years ago.   On her odyssey, she overcame many mechanical obstacles resorting to repairs she was able to make using the tool kit that came stock with the old bike.  “It was such a surreal experience to be riding along passing women sitting side saddle on donkeys wearing long black dresses and head coverings.  What a long way we’ve come from traditional women’s roles,” she says.  “I am so thankful to have had a myriad of equal opportunities at my disposal growing up in the USA in the 60s and 70s.  If I wanted to, I could do anything the boys could do, except play little league,” she laughs.  “The little league coach used my pitching arm to warm up the boys for a game because I had the fastest pitch.  Although quite capable, girls weren’t yet allowed to officially join the team at that time.” 

 In 1997, Monica began using the Internet to rediscover her lost passion—dual sport motorcycling.  She bought a 1971 Montesa King Scorpion from an auction seller in the state of Washington and met him in Cincinnati to pick it up.  The bike was a mess.  After countless hours searching for parts online and restoration efforts in her basement, Monica brought the 24-year-old Spanish motorcycle back to life.  She learned of an event in Mansfield, Ohio that hosted a huge swap meet and vintage racing weekend through an old friend of the family and decided to take it to market along with a couple of vintage Yamaha 175cc bikes she’d picked up the year before.  With her friend, Tarra, they strapped old license plates on the fenders of the 175s and it was like going to a county fair for the first time.  So much excitement…there was the sound of big bore single cylinder 4-strokes ….Whoooooobaaaa, Whooooooobaaaaaa, the smell of exhausted castor oil in the air and  the sight of familiar old classic motorcycles that brought to mind those old neighbors and their now vintage machines.  “My friend, Billy Shaffer, used to have one of those Honda trail 70s, only his was gold.  Billy was the kid I would have to call to start my first mini bike.  It was a Taco with a pull start like a lawn mower.  My Dad said that if I could start it, I could ride it.  And that’s how Billy and I got to be pals.  Gibby used to have one of those Suzuki 90s.  I never much cared for the squirreliness of it compared to my Kawasaki 100.  The Kawasaki seemed so much more poised and stable,” recalling some of the sentiments she had about their bikes and personalities as she was enthralled in all the memories.   The weekend had such a profound effect on her that she decided that someday she was going to race. 

 July 2000 was the very first time Monica set her front tire in the ditch on the starting line of a motocross race.  Up until then, it was happy-go-trail-riding for leisure with the occasional challenge of a steep hill climb or decent.  This time things would be different—there are 8 other bikes on the line with her, engines revving, hearts pounding, muscles tense, nervous anxiety, and 30 seconds between the moment of launching out of the gate with a wide open throttle and the first turn. Every rider is  banging the gears, and racing like hell so that she gets the hole shot without incident.  Two first place motos in the women’s Yamaha DT1 250, a sigh of relief, hats off to the pick up pit crew and a certain pleasure she’d long forgotten, Monica was determined she’d be back for more.  In July 2001, she returned to Mid-Ohio with her 74 AT1 125 with a CT1 175 motor, 21” front end and stiffer rear suspension to compete again in the women’s novice class.  Again, two first place motos.  Now, she was begging for more.  In the 2002 season Monica won 1st place for a national title in the women's intermediate class of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association's Vintage Motocross competing in 7 out of 15 events of the championship series in CA, PA, OH, and WV.