Ted #12 Boody Career Highlights

Ted was a very versatile racer; he won short track, half-mile and mile races.  He was a Grand National Champion racer from his rookie year, 1976 through 1988.   Ted was runner-up two times in the AMA Grand National Series.  He won a total of 8 national events during his professional racing career.  

Ted won the AMA Midwest Regional Championship during his Junior Year, 1975.  He also was also a leading ice racer.  He loved the ice and continued to race in the off season throughout his racing career.

Ted’s rookie year in 1976 was thrilling.  In May, 1976 he placed second at the Oklahoma City Half-Mile.  In June of that year he won his first AMA National event at the Pontiac, Michigan Silverdome indoor short track.  This was especially a sweet victory as his family and friends were in attendance to cheer him on.  He was the youngest rider to win an AMA Grand National at the age of 17!  Quite an accomplishment!  Bart Markel, former racer, was coach and tuner during the 1976 season.   

The following year Ted rode with the Harley-Davidson Factory Team.  He lit up crowds with 18 top-10 finishes.  He won Harrington, Delaware Half-Mile and the Indy Mile, and was runner-up in the championship to teammate Jay Springsteen.  Ted became the first motorcycle racer sponsored by Arai Helmet company outside of Japan.

Ted remained on the Harley-Davidson team through 1978.  He finished the year with a solid fourth in the Grand National Standings, but had not won any events.  H-D dropped him from the team at the end of the season.

The 1979 season started well for Ted with a victory in the Houston Astrodome’s Short Track; he rode a Yamaha.  In June, Ted suffered a severe crash as the Loudon, New Hampshire road race.  His injuries required several months of recovery.  Doctors feared he might not race again.  However, Ted powered through his difficult rehabilitation.

Though he returned to racing the following year, he spent the next three years with no wins.  He did spend time helping Honda start its dirt track racing program.  In 1981 he gave Honda it’s first national points on a half-mile. 

In 1983, Ted and his family moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, hometown of his wife, Terry and the McDonald racing clan.   He scored national points in a career high 20 events in ’83. Ted won the Hamburg, New York Half-mile on a Harley-Davidson.  He finished the season ranked seventh.

Ted scored a huge victory in 1984 when he won the Springfield, Illinois Mile.  He also won the Louisville, Kentucky Half-Mile.  

The 1985 year was a great one for Ted.  He scored 9 podium finishes, including a win at the Ascot Park, California Half-Mile in May.  He finished runner-up to Honda’s Bubba Shobert in the season standings.  

Ascot Park was a strange and unforgiving track for Ted.   At a race, 1976, his Bart Markel motorcycle was claimed. He road another motorcycle belonging to someone else.  That motorcycle broke, causing Ted to crash.  The broken case cut through his boot and nearly severed his heel from his foot.  He spent a week in the hospital having the heel re-attached and healing.  Ted then returned to tame Ascot with his win in 1985. Three years later, Ted died from injuries sustained in the fourth turn of the checkered flag lap on that same Ascot track.