Most lifers will know that I made friends with Ralph Hudson (above) when he visited Australia as part of the USA Team at the Island Classic earlier this year. And, most of you will know that he not only road races but also competes in the very specialised form of motorsports known as record breaking. After a very encouraging shake-down run at an air force base in southern California, Ralph and his home-made streamliner (supercharged GSX-R1000 Suzuki) headed for Wendover in Utah for the annual Bonneville Speed Week. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go according to plan. I’ll leave it to a bruised and battered Ralph to tell you the story.
“Well, you didn’t ask for it, but here’s the long version, if anyone is interested.
Didn’t have a great Speed Week. But, I’m still standing! Saturday started off windy and blew all day. The big bodywork is very sensitive to side winds, so we only made a couple slow runs, 181 and 188, to check fuel mapping and the sensors, everything looked good. Sunday morning was calm, so we lined up and I was really looking forward to seeing how fast a shake down run I could lay down.I could tell the course was a little mushy, but it seemed that I could keep the bike going pretty straight. Shifted into 4th at about 210 and was getting tucked in, the bike suddenly swung to the left, the right and I high sided on the left. I remember being above the bike, with that sick feeling in my stomach, knowing that I wasn’t going to save this one…….and that it was going to leave a mark!
Kristine Albers was driving chase truck for my close friend Jim Hoogerhyde, he had been two ahead of me in line. She was watching my run and said I did a Superman as I came off. You pretty much have no control at that point, and I have to say I was very lucky. From looking at the logged data, we could tell I got off at 217.9 mph and slid/tumbled over 2,000 ft. I just kept wondering when the tumbling would stop. I was saying “Come on, enough already!” It was good to be aware that I was conscious, I felt that was good.
When it finally stopped, I pretty much hurt everywhere. After doing a quick assessment, it felt like everything was still there, I tried to get up and found no strength in my left arm, rolled over onto the right side and was able to get to my knees. I was really winded and just knelt there panting for a while, wondering where the crash trucks were??? Come on, this happened about 30 seconds ago!
Looking at the data, the whole event took about 20 seconds. I think that averages about 100 ft/second. 218 mph is about 320 ft/second. I’m not sure why I like doing the math, but I do. You get to enjoy it too!
The crash trucks did get there in a very short time and there was lots of activity. I looked over and saw my bike about 200 ft away. I wondered how bad it was and was glad to see no debris field scattered behind it. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to pick it up.
I was feeling pretty angry, just in general, at myself, at the salt, the emergency crew. They were discussing whether to bring the gurney or put me on a flat board…..I stood up and said “I can walk to the f’ing ambulance”……. and did. I actually hate being fussed over, but knew I didn’t really have any choice this time.
Everybody wants to know if you know where you are, what you were doing, what day it is……there were no math questions, just easy stuff. I think I passed the test. The ambulance left the salt and rendezvoused with a helicopter at a place they called Fowler. I had salt in my eyes and had to keep them closed most of the time, except when somebody wanted to check the dilation response. I heard people reporting that I had a compound fracture……so happy that was erroneous. However, I guess you could see the bone, I didn’t want to look, but couldn’t anyway, they had put a neck brace on pretty early in the process. The flight seemed to take forever and was bumpier than the ambulance, but it probably only took about 30 minutes, the drive would have taken a couple hours. Got to the hospital and everything became a blur, people speaking medicalese, warning me that the gurney was going to hit a bump. They were told that I’d seen way bigger bumps than those…..very recently, in fact. It feels good if you can make somebody laugh, if the crowd is big enough, you can always get somebody! Hard to tell if they’re sincere……it didn’t matter.
They put me out after asking all the same questions, I was getting good at the test, having taken it so many times in the very recent past.
I woke up in a recovery room, sick to my stomach, I don’t handle general anesthesia very well, never have. They took me up to a room and left me alone for a while. I thought there was really something wrong with my left shoulder, couldn’t lift my arm, that was pretty depressing, they only said that they had worked on my elbow. Several hours later, I figured out that there was a HUGE plaster cast on my arm. I’d landed on my left shoulder and even though nothing was broken, it was very weak. It took help from the right arm to move it….at all. But at least it was possible to make small adjustments, trying to find a comfortable position. I was told that my niece was there to see me. Being a very literal person, and still groggy, I was sure they had the wrong room. It was actually Stacie B. London, she had flown into SLC to experience Speed Week and assist Ironwood Racing, she was great help, but I’m afraid it was not the Bonneville experience she was imagining……me either. My friend and crew chief, Ted Silver showed up next, then Kristine Albers (who made her first rookie runs on a 750 GSXR this year, she liked it.) and Jim Hoogerhyde came in. I felt bad to have disrupted their Speed Week, but what are you going to do? This was Jim’s 5th year in search of “that goddamned red hat”. I was sure he’d get it this year. One of my big concerns was getting out in time to attend the 200 mph Club banquet, when he would be inducted in and embarrassed by having to make some kind of appropriate speech. They let me out Tuesday night at 10 PM.
Have I mentioned that Ted Silver is a saint? He was and is really amazing, he’s volunteered countless hours on the bike, is a very innovative fabricator and just likes working hard. He took care of getting the bike, loading the trailer, getting the data downloaded off the bike, just in case we could find something to explain the crash from those clues. Not sure what I would have done without him. He was as happy to be out of the hospital as I was. He was stuck there as long as I was, it wouldn’t have crossed his mind to drive home without me. OK, maybe it did, but he never mentioned it. He’s a loyal friend.
Jim did get his red hat!!! He told me that if I couldn’t be there, he was going to drive to the hospital to celebrate in my room. Sure glad that didn’t have to happen!
The president of the 2 Club, as all the cool people say it, even told me to come to the podium as Jim was to receive his award and he would let me present him with it. That was awesome, it was a great night! Jim made a very emotional, short speech. It was great, some people get up and start telling their life story (kind of like what I’m writing, sorry it’s so long)
It was great, a lot of people know Jim and gave him a big round of applause! That’s all the best parts, thanks for reading! We’ll do our best to create a sequel to this story with a better ending. But, that’s racing. I wonder if we get more motivation from our successes or our failures? All I can say is, failure is overrated!!!
Best to everyone, Ralph Hudson”
Sorry for the paragraphing. I diligently removed all the breaks and put the text into paragraphs but, when I saved it, it reverted to how it was and I can’t seem to fix it. Hope it’s not too hard to read.
jeffb says
Wow!Wow!Wow!- One lucky man I expect coming off and landing on hard salt at that speed. Thanks for sharing. Wish him a speedy recovery from me, Phil. he didn’t say how badly damaged the bike was- do you know anything? Jeff
Phil Hall says
No, mate I don’t know about the bike. I would be guessing that it’s pretty second hand at that speed. I hope that, once things have settled down a bit Ralph will post some more details.