Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006
Subject: Ms Scherbyn FIM correspondence
From: Marc Pétrier To: Erica Smith
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Dear Mrs Smith,
There is no answer to your question. In fact, to our knowledge, and considering the documents we have had access to, the FIM – as well as most other sporting Federation - has never explicitly forbidden any woman to take part in any competition. Records in automobile sport are full of examples of women taking part in rallies and other types of competition. We have examples which go back as far as 1902: women participating in world records attempts on the circuit of Dourdan, south west from Paris –where an international race was held in September 1904, which gave birth to the FIM/FICM a couple of months later. There are probably documents prior to this date. Then also during the Six Days, there were several mentions of women wanting to participate – and having to fight for this right against the organisers and marshals ; most of them were sidecar passengers, which was more accepted. There is no mention of sex difference in any Statutes and Rules. The drivers must be holders of a licence (certificate of registration, as called in the early days), which was subject to the issuing by the National sporting body – entitled to refuse without explanation…As well, a National governing body can refuse a permit to an organizer for holding an event “without explanation”. It was probably very difficult for a woman to be accepted in competition – this problem was not occurring in touring, for example in the FIM Rally: the first edition in Berlin 1936 was won by the Estonian team of which a certain Mrs Agnessa Männi-Kook was a member, riding a 500cc OK Supreme… The main problem was that the idea of a woman being injured or killed in a crash during a competition was not acceptable, not even tolerable. The conscience of practicing a dangerous sport was widely known and accepted – but for men – supposed to be crazy, temerarious or strong enough to take such risks. Today with the time difference, we can remember that they were racing on roads without pavements, on motorcycles “equipped” (if one may say so…) with brakes, suspensions and tyres that have very little to do with the ones we use today… So, a woman was not supposed to “do things like that…” This point was mentioned again by Count Lurani (FIM Vice-President in the 50s and 60s) at the beginning of the sixties (he was against the participation, but this was not a unanimity within the FIM Central Board). At the end of the sixties, things started to change, and some women would be seen in road racing competition – notably Endurance in France. Sorry not to be able to be more precise, but to our knowledge, until today there is no written decision in favour or against the specific participation of women in motorcycle racing – just the fact that now they are encouraged if they want to do so. Mentality is among the slowest things to change. Best regards, Marc Pétrier
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