The Most Influential Woman of the Year category received 58 nominations and 417 votes for the Horsepower & Heels Women of the Year Awards. There were so many worthy nominees, but only one stood tall above the rest.
Jean Price Most Influential Horsepower & Heels is proud to announce the winner of the 2015 Women of the Year Most Influential category – Ray Price Harley Davidson’s Jean Price!
The matriarch of the motorcycle drag racing scene for nearly half a century, Jean Price has been the calm, resilient, guiding force behind legendary drag racer Ray Price and one of the largest Harley-Davidson dealerships in the Southeast.
There by his side from the time they met over 53 years ago, Jean stood by him through his tour in the Air Force, the start of his professional drag racing career in the late 1960’s and onto 46 national event wins and 51 records set before retiring in 2003 at the age of 66.
Jean remembers fondly the years they traveled straight through the night to tracks across the US, with Ray tucked in the back of the van wrenching away. While other women were receiving chocolates and flowers on Valentine’s Day, Jean was signing for and receiving barrels of nitro fuel and oil for the Top Fuel bike.
“Ms. Jean” as she is affectionately known around the Harley-Davidson community, played an instrumental role in all of the accomplishments of Ray – the “Father of the Funnybike” and the stable of riders and mechanics who support the Ray Price Motorsports team in Raleigh, NC. Without Ms. Jean, the innovation of the 1st wheelie bars for motorcycles and two-speed transmissions would not have been possible for Ray.
Her stable presence and career as co-owner of Ray Price Harley-Davidson makes her a cherished matriarch of the drag racing community.
Our thoughts and condolences also go out to Ms. Jean and the entire H-D community, in memory of Ray, who passed away on December 16, 2015.
For more than 30 years, Ray Price Harley-Davidson has served as the center of motorcycle culture in Raleigh, N.C., and among the Southeast’s top motorcycle dealerships. Home to Hall-of-Fame racing legend Ray Price, dealership staff have centuries of combined Harley riding experience to provide award-winning customer service and education programs for beginners-to-expert riders. Ray Price was again named a 2014 Dealernews Top 100 business, as well as a Powersports Business Power 50 Dealer. The team actively supports area charities through a wide range of philanthropy projects. Ray Price Racing won the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) Top Fuel Harley Championship in 2014 and 2015.