In her youth, Marah Moisis of Loudon was a thrill-seeker of sorts. Her graying hair draped over her red flannel as she recounted memories of hopping on a motorcycle sidecar to race around a track
On Saturday morning, the New England Racing Museum in Loudon hosted a panel featuring women sidecar racers. They recounted tales of flying off the side into hay bales and the thrill of hanging on for dear life as they lay nearly parallel to the track to make turns.
Marah Moisis was one of the four panelists alongside Heather Carroll, Kat Collins and Kirstin Melchionada, and each one had a different journey into the sport. They all loved the sport and shared what it takes to be a “Sidecar Monkey.”
Moisis hopped on many sidecars and always had a natural feel for the movements of the bike and the driver. As a sidecar racer, one only has so much control over steering, but their positioning and steady weight on either side of the bike determines how effectively it can go around a turn—or crash.
“I went for resonance with every driver that I ever drove with. I just read them, they telegraphed their movements and when they were going to dive into the corner,” she said.
“I listened to the motor and watched some of the drivers as they went in. It’s almost like a feeling of, of breathing,” Moisis added.
Carroll started with her father as a way to spend more time with him and partake in the family’s passion for motorsports. Carroll and her father trusted eachother completely on the track, which led them to much success.
They built their own rig, as most sidecar racing duos do, because of the importance of weight, height and the placement of holds for the monkey.
“My first experience on the track ever was my first race at Loudon,” Caroll remembered. “By fire.”
She loved it from that first lap onwards.
Collins had seen old pictures of it from the 1950s and decided to travel up to the racetrack to see what the sport was all about. She said she was offered to ride once after meeting a few drivers, and though she was woefully unprepared then, she eventually became a pro.
She was given the Vintage Road Racing Association’s Peter Sheppard Trophy for her contributions as a racer and volunteer in the sport.
She spoke often about how close-knit and friendly the community of sidecar races is. Collins saw the repairs, the building and the teamwork that went into making each and every race successful.
“I really think an innovative, creative mind is a must in the sidecar,” Collins said.
Every year they raced, the sport evolved further. Designs became sleeker and more like Formula 1 than the ones they started on to go faster and faster.
They continued racing the vintage sidecars with the wheel in the back, but nowadays the monkey goes behind the sidecar wheel with a large wheel well for aerodynamics.
Kirstin Melchionda started riding alongside her husband, Joe. She said that trust in eachother and the ability to know what the other is thinking without speaking is crucial to success on the sidecar.
In a video shown to the audience, Kirstin would jump from lying flat, nearly slamming her helmet on the pavement with two hands on holds and her foot hooked onto the sidecar, to climbing on the back of her husband for a left handed turn.
She spoke about it so calmly that it was as if the exercise was not adrenaline-inducing at all.
“It’s not just one person riding them. It’s two people and they have to work together without any sorts of internal communication,” Melchionda said.
In a world dominated by NASCAR, Formula 1, Moto GP and other big-ticket motorsports, these women carved out a niche and left their mark on the history of their sport.
The New England Racing Museum allowed them to share their story and motorsport aficionados were delighted by the slices of history they shared.
The museum will hold another similar event called “Racing Without Limits,” on Saturday, January 31, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This roundtable discussion will bring together racers and racing figures who have faced physical or developmental challenges and continued to compete in or contribute to the sport