Margaret Drager: A Motorcycle Biography

 

Margaret Drager was born in 1914 in Hoquiam, Washington. I don't believe she had anything to do with motorcycles until she met my dad who started a Harley-Davidson dealership in Aberdeen, Washington in 1934. They moved to Bremerton, Washington where we lived over Drager's Harley-Davidson. This is where I was born in 1942. I'm not sure that she even rode a motorcycle until about 1950.  She started out riding a Harley-Davidson 125. I remember her riding it to the Long Beach Gypsy Tour. That is a long way to ride a small motorcycle. I'm not sure when that was, somewhere in the early to mid ‘50s. That was just the start. She rode all types of events. She became a member of the Motor Maids of America, a national women's association. She was very active in the Motor Maids. She was the Washington State director for many years. In the ‘50s and ‘60s they would participate in the Seafair Parade through downtown Seattle. As you can imagine a group of women riding in formation drew a lot of attention in those days. She competed in field meets, enduros, poker runs and other motorcycle events. Being in the motorcycle business in those days, you lived and breathed motorcycles seven days a week. My mother completely committed herself to the motorcycle lifestyle.  She worked behind the counter at Drager’s. She could sell you a motorcycle, or measure you for a set of Langlitz leathers.  On the weekends we would be at various motorcycle events. Some of those events were at Drager's Acres, a racetrack that my dad and I (plus others) built out in south east King County. On the day before a race my mother would go buy all the things necessary for the concession stand. That night we would make hamburger patties. My mother ran the concession stand and she was constantly cooking hamburgers. If it were not for that concession stand we would have gone backwards. My mother liked to ride. Being a Motor Maid she would attend the national Motor Maid conventions. She did not fly or drive, but rode her motorcycle to those events. Most of the time she rode by herself to places like Florida, Washington DC, New Orleans, Kansas City, Milwaukee Wisconsin, Las Vegas Nevada and others. Sometimes other Washington Motor Maids would ride with her, like the time they went to Sacramento for the famous Sacramento Mile. The Motor Maids would parade on the racetrack before the start of the race. In 1962 she held the national convention here in Seattle during the World's Fair. As you can see, throughout her life she was highly involved with motorcycles. I don't remember when the last time was that she rode a motorcycle. When she was 90 years old we moved her to assisted living at Edmonds Landing. Many times when I would go to visit her the residents would tell me that my mother had ridden motorcycles. She died July 5, 2012 and was 98 1/2 years old. 

 

 

I only have a few photos of my mother, but I have more to go through. I will add to the site as time goes by. I'm going to do the page on my dad also. If you happen to have old photos of my mother and my dad and even me I would love to have them so I could display them on their webpages. I will also do a video on both my mother and dad.