Track Chic is privileged to feature Marsha Mason, the petite brunette best known as “The Goodbye Girl.”  Four-time Oscar nominee, and two-time winning actress of the Golden Globes, Ms. Mason is a favorite of Hollywood, Broadway and TV.  Most recently she played the déclassé girlfriend of Martin Crane on NBC’s award winning comedy, “Frazier” for which she was nominated for an Emmy.  Ms. Mason has also worked as a director and has written her memoir, “Journey”, published by Simon & Schuster.  Surprisingly, given all those accomplishments, it is fascinating to note that Ms. Mason is one of the first Women Behind the Wheels to compete in the SCCA Sports Car Club of America.  She also co-owned her own race team for seven years.  Today, Ms. Mason has found quiet contentment on her organic herbal farm in New Mexico’s scenic Chama River Valley.  A champion of biodynamics and spiritual agriculture, Ms. Mason dedicates herself to educating others on the benefits of a natural, healthy, organic lifestyle.

Track Chic follows Ms. Mason’s transition from the speed and competitive energy of the racetrack to the tranquil life she now cherishes at her Resting in the River Organic Farm.

When looking for a life change, what drove you to motorsports?

Actually I always liked the idea of racing.  When I was in high school my best girlfriend’s father bought a little track in the suburbs and she and I would be at the track every Sunday handing out Pit Passes. It was so exciting.  The guys would bring in their hot rods, funny cars and rails. I was fascinated by the drivers delicately unwrapping every single piece of the engine, and their endless tinkering with their cars.  I loved all the smells, the noise, the energy, the cars themselves. The whole thing was really fascinating to me.

Years later, I was on a plane with Paul Newman from New York to California and he chatted enthusiastically about his racing at Riverside and invited me to watch. So for about a year, whenever I could, I would fly to wherever he was racing.  Then one day Paul suggested that I enroll in driving school, I didn’t even know schools existed.  Paul called Bob Bondurant and I took the 4-day course at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, followed by two 4-day courses at Skip Barber’s school, John Parnell’s, and my dear friend, Fitzy, at Road Atlanta.

Then I started racing at Willow Springs Raceway in California where I attended another 2-day school.  One of my classmates at Bondurant School was Los Angeles lawyer Marc Staenberg.  He suggested we join up and put together a Mom & Pop team, so I said okay. I bought a Mazda RX3 from another driver in the area.

So, one thing led to another and I met Mike Lewis, an SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) champion, and he suggested putting together a turn-key operation.  The deal was that he would put together the car, a GT3 Mazda RX7.  He would prep the car and get it ready and I would drive it  ... and if I crashed it, I paid for it!  We put together a bigger team and raced together for five or six years so I guess I didn’t do too badly!

What did you think of the whole Driving School experience?

I trained under Jim “Fitzy” Fitzgerald at Road Atlanta.  I’ll tell you a funny story that happened at Fitzy’s school; Fitzy’s method of training you to get out of a skid was to wet the asphalt and you were instructed to drive round and round in a tight circle to learn how to control the car.  Well I told Fitzy that I didn’t think I would be able to do this, I would get nauseous, I’ll get motion sickness.  Fitzy said “oh don’t worry about it, I’ve know drivers to get out of the car and throw up”. So he takes me out on this thing and that’s exactly what I did.   Sure enough, I hung my head out the car and threw up the entire circle ... I was so humiliated because all the other students were watching.  But at the end of it, I knew how to get out of a skid!

Were you accepted as a serious competitor, or looked at as a celebrity killing time?

I remember the vibe - it took some time.  At first the guys were skeptical and at first I mostly stayed out of the way.  I said if anybody gives me a hard time about this I am just going to stop. That was the way I operated, from a very conservative point of view. At first if there was anybody behind me, I would surrender the line and let them pass.  Then eventually the guys came over to me and said “Marsha you can’t do that, you have to RACE!”  So I gained confidence and became more and more competitive.  Then, they opened up a little and began sharing pointers and tips.  Then as I started passing them, they stopped sharing tips with me!

By the time I was racing with Mike, we were racing a full schedule – 12 SCCA races and the NASPORT Series.  The guys were really encouraging to me. I remember the first time I went to Sears Point; I was for the most part, the only woman racer there.  It took some time, but they began rooting for me.

Which did you prefer more:  competing as a driver or as a team owner?

Well I loved it all – Mike and I just shouldered the financial burdens of it.  Our crew chief was paid, but the rest of the crew were volunteers.  We had some minor sponsors but nothing like today.

That is what is so great about SCCA racing.  There are small Mom & Pop teams all the way up to the big guys with huge 40 foot trailers and lots of money to spend. And there were people who just came for the weekend.  They would bring their whole family in their RV to watch the father or son compete. It was a whole spectrum of Americana I would never have had the opportunity to mix with if it had not been for racing.

Did you work with other women?

I met Lyn St. James, she was one of the first women and Rookie of the Year at Indy.  She has spent the majority of these years putting together her foundation and Driver Development Program to bring more women into racing.  She is responsible for bringing Danica Patrick and others to the sport. They have all gone through Lyn’s schools.  It’s definitely changing – 3 women are racing at Indy this year!

History was made this year as three female drivers competed in the Indianapolis 500. Bobby Unser, a three-time winner, once said of Janet Guthrie’s debut as the first woman racer that “It’s a publicity thing  ....  a girl isn’t going to get to the top, a girl isn’t going to win the INDY 500.  They don’t have the strength” 

That was 1988. Mr. Unser says that it is technology, not a culture shift that has made the INDY 500 more hospitable to women today.  “You don’t have to muscle them like you did” he says.  Unser also adds “This is just my opinion. But it’s a good opinion.”  The Indianapolis Star
Do you agree?

There is a culture shift as well as technology.  My first car didn’t have power assist.  I remember some guys wanted to try out my car and they quietly complained to the Crew Chief that their arms were bothering them after driving it.  It depends on what you’re driving as well – CART, SCCA, Formula One, NASCAR… And then one day I drove a GTI car around the track and it had power assisted steering, and it was a completely different experience, and then I said, “Well!”  So by the time I built my RX7 car, I had power steering, too!

What was your best finish?

Second.
I made the Valvoline National Runoff four times, and in the Southern Pacific Division, that was pretty good.  But I remember the very first National Runoff I competed in, I was seated 24th and I finished 10th so, I think that was pretty good.

What was your worst finish?

Well, there were a couple of times when I didn’t bring the car home, but I normally finished in the top 2 or 3.

How did it feel to lose to Donny Osmond in the Toyota Celebrity Challenge?

You know, it was so bizarre, what happened is the guys didn’t fill my tank full of gas!
Donny had come to me earlier and asked to ride with me during the trials to learn the track.  So I said sure and we drove the track together and afterwards, my guys forgot to fill the tank. I was the only woman in that one, too.

How did you know it was time to move on?

The realities of my time and my bank account.  It was harder to do it from New Mexico. It was much easier to do this from LA.  But the farm was calling.

One of the things I learned to appreciate was true sportsmanship.  I also learned that I was incredibly calm in tight situations.  I don’t think that I would have ever known that about myself if it had not been for racing.  I really tried to take a more “zen-like” approach to it, if you will, to quietly get better and better and better.  It was a very rewarding experience.

Far from the competitive tensions of the race track, today Ms. Mason treasures her time spent in the breathtaking Chama River Valley of Northern New Mexico.  Ms. Mason has transformed acres of overgrazed, infertile earth into a vibrant oasis of healing herbs and flowers on her Resting in the River organic farm. She practices what she likes to call Spiritual Agriculture.  It’s a deep, abiding connection to the land, animals, plants, and people who recognize spirit in themselves as well as in nature. They embrace the spiritual qualities and sacredness of growing medicinal plants for all fellow human beings. They practice reverence towards the life of the soil, and honor the inner as well as the outer life of our medicinal plants and the people who grow them and work with them to heal and nourish all.   That purity of spirit is transferred to her Resting in the River’s pure skin care and wellness products.   All products are made from the natural herbs and flowers grown at the certified organic medicinal farm.  They contain no petrochemicals, artificial colors or preservatives and everything is fragrance-free.

Resting in the River Organic Farm's commitment to biodiversity and ecological balance also goes well beyond the farm. There is a deep commitment to restoring the health of the New Mexican Bosque, the riparian area along the banks of the Chama River that is home to cottonwoods, water fowl and wild critters and the intrinsic beauty of all that live there.

Tell us about your business.  The quiet solitude of the farm is obviously a completely different pace from the roar, speed and stress of the race track.  Moving to New Mexico and surrounding yourself with such beauty on the farm must be spiritually fulfilling.  

You have approached the development of the farm and the development of your line of healthy products from more than a romantic angle. You obviously have worked very hard and dedicated yourself to first studying biodynamics, understanding the medicinal value of herbs, surrounding yourself with experts and committing to biodynamic principles and spiritual agriculture.  Similar to your training to become a competitive racer, you immersed yourself into becoming a successful agriculturalist.  

Tell me about this learning process and how it compliments your “larger whole philosophy” approach to life and your spiritual and physical beliefs. 

When you are in something, you are just kind of in it – you don’t really have perspective, you just experience it and move to the next step. The thing that was so extraordinary about it was that I was really painting with nature.  I would think, “Oh, wouldn’t this field look great in calendula, or “this field would look terrific planted in echinacea”.  

As I worked the farm, I began to understand the spiritual nature of it.  We had rituals and prayers.  I didn’t allow anyone to stay at the farm that didn’t have a personality that was beneficent and easy to deal with. No bad vibes.  I felt that the farm reflected that. It was quite amazing; it was as creative as doing a really good role.

 I began to really apply those basic beliefs to everything I was doing including efforts to restore the health of New Mexican land, the rivers and wildlife that live there.

At the same time I was learning a whole new set of new skills. I was learning to become a manager, an entrepreneur, a business owner, a CEO. I was learning all these other aspects of life that I never had an opportunity to do.

Do you like that role?

No, I don’t like that role, I hate management.  I’m not crazy about it, no.  But I do it and always try to do it well and I have learned a lot, I have learned how to handle and communicate with people who can be problematic and I have learned patience and surrender so this is an experience that I do appreciate and am grateful for.

You practice a consciousness of farming and have been personally appointed by Governor Bill Richardson to be Chairperson of the New Mexico Organic Commodity Commission.   That must be quite an honor as well as a responsibility.

Definitely.  Well, it’s a small agency and we all just pull together. Everybody works very hard.  We have had to deal with the whole National Organic Program and what the Federal government has determined to be the guidelines. And coming into line with those guidelines has been interesting to deal with. It’s political, psychological, and you have to listen to what your growers and processors have to deal with. So I have watched the growth of the organic movement through the prism of this organization. It’s been fascinating. And because I am Commissioner I had to be certified from the outside so as not be perceived as a conflict of interest.  It has been a very interesting experience.

What are your future plans for your products?

I am working my way through that.  The market has gotten so big; it is a completely different animal now than it was six or seven years ago.  The National Organic Program has done a lot to standardize some of the labeling issues. But the big issue is education.  This issue of what people are putting on their skin is a very big one for me. That’s why we don’t put any petrochemicals, artificial colors or preservatives in our products and everything is fragrance-free.  It’s pure and it’s healthy.

What people don’t realize is that their skin is their largest organ, it absorbs everything.  One of the best examples I ever heard is if you put a clove of garlic in the crook of your arm, in a few hours you will begin tasting the garlic in your mouth. Because your skin absorbs.

More and more our bodies are being compromised by a lot of things.

The truth of the matter is you just have to take the time, A lot of people just don’t want to take the time but you have to read the label, you have to try things with caution.  Everyone is different; everyone’s tolerance levels are different.  Understand what is in a product before consuming it or putting it on your skin.  You are worth the time – protect yourself.

A special note to Track Chic Members:

Be sure to Shop Track Chic’s Boutique for
Resting in the River’s organic skin and  
wellness products and to learn more about 
their healthy benefits. 

In the spirit of Sisterhood, contributions from each purchase will go to biodynamic and organic education and land preservation, passions of Ms. Mason.

Click here to view the serenity of the Resting in the River Organic farm or visit their website: www.restingintheriver.com to learn more. 

 

 

Take the time, it is important.  As Ms. Mason advises, “You are worth the time – protect yourself.”