Ted #12 Boody Career Highlights

Great News! 

Ted will be inducted into the Hot Shoe Hall of Fame this month! Visit http://www.hotshoehof.com for more details and to see the other inductees. 

Over 80 new inductees will be a part of the 2022 class for the “Hot Shoe” Hall of Fame when this year’s event gets underway on Saturday, Jan. 29, with the Cycle News Motorcycle display at 4 p.m. and the popular “meet and greet” celebration at 6 p.m. held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ted was a leading champion racer between 1976 and 1988.  He was victorious on dirt track mile, half-mile and short track events.  Ted was also a keen indoor and outdoor ice racer.  As a teen, Ted won the AMA Midwest Regional Championship as a Junior. 

In 1976 Ted scored his first National points in May at the Oklahoma City Half-Mile, where he finished second.  In June of that year he won the indoor Short Track at the Pontiac, Michigan Silverdome.  Many of his friends and family cheered him to victory in his home state that.  He also made history by being the youngest rider, age 17, to win an AMA national at the time.

Ted’s friend and mentor, Bart Markel coached him during that first season.  Markel, a former racing great, was wonderful coach.  Often the two of them tangled on the indoor short track series.  At the end of that first year, Ted had impressed the Harley-Davidson factory which resulted in a full factory ride the following year.  He finished his rookie year in sixth place in the Grand National standings.  He finished second to Steve Eklund for rookie of the year.

In 1977, Ted’s full H-D factory ride included his super tuner, Steve Storz.  The combination of Ted, Steve and H-D resulted in an excellent sophomore year.  Ted scored 18 top-10 finishes!  He popped the cork on Champaign as the winner of Harrington, Delaware, Half-Mile, and the Indy Mile.  He finished the year as runner-up to team mate, Jay Springsteen.

Ted returned to the factory team the following year.  He finished the year in fourth place overall, but he did not win any of the events.  As a result, he was dropped from the H-D team at the end of the 1978 season.

His 1979 come back, was grand.  He took the season opener by storm with a victory at the Houston Astrodome Short Track riding a Yamaha.  In June of that year, Ted suffered a severe crash at the Loudon, New Hampshire road race national.  His injuries were many which required months of rehabilitation and healing. 

The following three years Ted’s career was in a bit of a lull.  Though he scored no wins from 1980 – 1982, he did help Honda develop its dirt track racing program.  In 1981 he gave Honda its first national points on a half-mile track.  The win on the half-mile was very significant for Honda as they set out to challenge the Harley-Davidson team in the AMA National Championship.

In 1983 Ted won the Hamburg, New York Half-Mile on a Harley-Davidson.  He scored national points in a career-high 20 races.  He finished the season ranked seventh overall in the national points standing.

The following year Ted won both the Springfield, Illinois Mile and the Louisville, Kentucky Half-Mile.

In 1985 Ted scored 9 podium finishes, including a win at Ascot Park, California, Half-Mile in May.  He finished runner-up the National points standing again that year. 

Though Ted continued to race motorcycles, he was in the process of transitioning to car racing.  In 1988, the Ascot Park Half-Mile was to be his last motorcycle event, as he made plans to move into the car racing events.  Unfortunately, due to a hard crash, Ted died on the Ascot Park Track. 

Ascot Park and Ted had a history.  At one event his Bart Markel motorcycle was claimed.  He was offered a bike for the race.  That bike broke causing Ted to crash.  The broken case cut through Ted’s boot nearly severing his heel from his foot.  He spent the following week in the hospital having his heel reattached.  His 1985 victory at Ascot was sweet after his calamitous earlier attempts.  His death in turn four of the last lap of his last planned motorcycle race made for an even sadder loss.