IN
THE
WIND
P24
Land Speed Legend Passes
T
he land speed racing community mourns the
loss of Ralph Hudson, legendary land speed
racer and FIM World Record holder. Hudson,
known as the "Quiet Giant" to his peers, passed
away on September 6 in Salt Lake City, over
three weeks after sustaining a crash at the
Bonneville Salt Flats. He was 69
years old.
Hudson is the current FIM
World Record holder for the
all-time fastest sit-on motor-
cycle (non-streamliner) at 297
mph (478 km/h) set in Bolivia,
July 2018. It has been Hud-
son's dream to set the record at over 300 mph,
a dream he shared with fellow competitor and
friend Al Lamb. The duo's back and forth battle
in the quest for 300 mph has been an ongo-
ing saga that captured the attention of the land
speed community, especially when it took Hud-
son and Lamb all the way to Bolivia in 2017 to the
Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.
At the 2017 event, Hudson capitalized on the
thinner air and longer runway of the Bolivian
Salar and bumped the record up to 284 mph
aboard his turbo-charged Suzuki GSX-R1000-
based partially streamlined motorcycle. The
following year, the Alhambra, California resident
returned to Bolivia and bumped the record again,
this time to a bittersweet 297 mph. Hudson made
a one-way pass of 304 mph (489 km/h), the fast-
est ever recorded speed for a sit-on motorcycle,
but was unable to back it up with a return run for
the official FIM world record.
Hudson was competing for an SCTA (Southern
California Timing Association) record at Bonnev-
ille Speed Week on August 14, 2020, when he
suffered a crash after exiting the timed mile at a
speed of over 250 mph. Hudson was flown to
Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City,
where he was initially stabilized in the ICU, but
finally succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, Sep-
tember 6.
Ralph is survived by his son, David, girlfriend
Leslie Murray along with many friends and extend-
ed family members. Murray stated in a post on the
SCTA Facebook page that information regarding
a celebration of life and a memorial scholarship in
Ralph's name will follow when available.
Jean Turner
Land speed
racer Ralph
Hudson passed
away following
a crash at
Bonneville. PHOTO:
FIM/JEAN TURNER
