caption death_date death_place birth_place nationality birth_date image article_title name death_cause
ralph hepburn , 1919 16 may 1948 indianapolis , indiana , u.s. somerville , massachusetts , u.s. american 11 april 1896 ralphhepburn1922.jpg ralph hepburn
 ralph hepburn injuries from racing accident
ralph hepburn

ralph r. hepburn -lrb- april 11 , 1896 - may 16 , 1948 -rrb- was a pioneer american motorcycle racing champion and an indianapolis 500 racecar driver .
born in somerville , massachusetts , hepburn 's family moved to los angeles , california when he was ten years old .
he began riding motorcycles as a teen and his skills led to him signing on with a cycle performing group in 1914 that toured the west coast and parts of the american midwest .
he then began competing in on board tracks , then on dirt .
his racing career was interrupted during 1917 and 1918 due to world war i .
in june 1919 , hepburn came to national prominence when he won the national championship at ascot park in los angeles riding for the harley-davidson factory .
he began winning consistently thereafter and in 1921 won the `` dodge city 300 national championship '' while breaking all existing records .
in 1922 he dominated professional track racing for the indian company .
that year , he rode to his second victory in the national championship motorcycle race , this time at meridian speedway in wichita , kansas .
at the end of the 1924 american racing season , and after competing in special events in australia , hepburn began his auto racing career .
in 1925 , he competed in a car built by harry miller in the first of fifteen appearances at the indianapolis 500 .
later that year , during practice for the ama championship race at altoona speedway , he crashed his harley-davidson racing motorcycle and damaged his hand .
hepburn then lent the motorcycle to indian rider joe petrali , who won the race and shared the prize money with him .
this began petrali 's association with harley-davidson .
in 1929 he qualified third at indianapolis , but gear problems resulted in him having to drop out after only fourteen laps .
he finished third in 1931 , and although he led the famous race three times in three different decades and had four finishes in the top five , his best result came in 1937 with a second-place finish 2.16 seconds behind wilbur shaw , the closest ever at that time .
for a time , hepburn served as president of the american society of professional automobile racers .
in 1946 , at the age of fifty , hepburn qualified `` novi '' `` governor special '' at of .
he led forty-four laps in the race before the car stalled on lap 121 .
in 1947 , hepburn joined preston tucker and tucker corporation and drove the prototype tucker onstage when it was unveiled to the public on june 19 , 1947 .
he served as west coast regional manager for tucker corporation .
hepburn died practicing for the 1948 indianapolis 500 while driving a novi special for tucker corporation .
he was survived by his wife ida mae hepburn and one daughter joanne hepburn .
he was buried at forest lawn memorial park cemetery in glendale , california .
in 1998 , hepburn was inducted into the ama motorcycle hall of fame .
