John Ulrich, a racer, team owner and the founder and editor of Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology magazine, was presented the AMA Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award last Friday by AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman.
The ceremony took place at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, at the first round of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Race Championship and the American round of the FIM MotoGP Grand Prix World Championship.
The AMA Dud Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the AMA awards.
“The thing that I’m most proud of is that AMA has improved its game and come to a level where it should be, and our sport is where it is (in) caring about the riders, caring about rider safety, caring about doing the right thing, and caring about having fair competition and officiating,” Ulrich said. “That’s really important to me.”
Ulrich, who served on the AMA Board of Directors for 13 years, has dedicated his life to road racing and to rider safety.
In addition to his racing and publishing credentials, Ulrich is the founder of the Roadracing World Action Fund, a nonprofit that advocates and promotes the use of soft barriers to prevent racetrack injuries and provides education on the value of adequate pre-race practice, rider training and proper racetrack preparation.
“You know, in a lot of ways this is the best of times for our sport,” Ulrich said. “Because right now we have an AMA-sanctioned National series that is run by guys who know what they’re doing, that care about the participants both at the team owner level and the riders, and buy into the concept that killing off or maiming your stars is bad business, at best.”
Dingman said Ulrich was a catalyst for change within the AMA.
“I had the pleasure of having John on the Board when I came on board,” Dingman said. “Things that we needed to do to improve the AMA, to change the AMA, could not have been done without John Ulrich’s help.”
Ulrich first competed in 1973 and has won races in five decades, including the 1983 and 1984 WERA National Endurance Championships and the 1996 WERA National Challenge Series 125cc Grand Prix Championship.
Ulrich also co-founded Team Hammer in 1980. Team Hammer has won numerous amateur and professional championships to become one of the most successful road racing teams in the United States.
“John has forgotten more about road racing than most of us will ever know,” Dingman said. “John is always my go-to-guy when I have a question about anything, and not just about road racing. John was incredibly helpful on the Board.”
For more information: www.americanmotorcyclist.com.
