Carl Goudy's name has been entered in the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) Hall of Fame for his feats in racing. On September 12, 1915 he won a 300 mile track race on the Maywood (Chicago) racetrack in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 51 seconds. This was the fastest any man had travelled to that date. He averaged 85 miles an hour, which was an incredible speed at that time. The prize money for this race was $1050, a value of over $24,000 today.
Carl Goudy was the son of a Fairbury, Illinois jeweler. He was team manager for Excelsior motorcycles (Chicago) and their representative. In this photo he is on his favorite Excelsior bike.
During this race Goudy made only 2 pitstops, one of which was only 48 seconds long. Bill Goudy, Carl's younger brother, was also a motorcyclist. He was also in the Maywood race, but placed out of the money.
The two brothers were known throughout the motorcycle racing world. Bill had set a world record on the half mile track of 31 seconds in Toledo, Ohio. They were racing and winning purses every week on wooden and dirt tracks across the country.
Throughout their racing careers these men were living in California and then New York. In New York Carl Goudy attended the Pratt College of Technology (1919) to receive an engineering degree. In 1923 he was noted to be an instructor at Pratt in mechanical engineering. Their father lived all his adult life in Fairbury.