Dudley 'Dud' Perkins, Sr.
1994, Competition
Beginning with the youthful years of a teenager, and going well into his eighties, Dud Perkins, Sr. lived for the sport of motorcycling. His passion for motorcycles, and specifically Harley-Davidson motorcycles, allowed him to entertain a variety of careers: board track racer, hill climber, lifetime AMA member (card #12), race team sponsor, co-founder of the San Francisco Motorcycle Club, and founder of a dealership that still bears his name, and is now in the third generation of family ownership.
Racing was that blood that ran in Dudley's veins. His son, Dud Jr., with his two sons, James and Tom, always said that Senior started the dealership to support his racing habit. And what a habit it was. Starting his career as a board track racer until his soon to be wife said that it was too dangerous, he switched to the harmless sport of hillclimbing. Harmless that is, if you were lucky enough to make it to the top. And make it to the top he did. For ten years running he reigned as the West Coast champion.
Throughout the sixties and seventies he sponsored many flattrackers, including Grand National champions Mert Lawill and Mark Brelsford. All the while he managed to run the dealership and helped it to prosper as one of the nation's finest Harley shops.
His legend lives on at 66 Page Street in San Francisco, where the dealership thrives as Dud's smiling face looks down from his picture on the showroom floor.
As his son and grandsons accept his nomination into the National Motorcycle Museum's Hall of Fame, be assured he is smiling still.
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