It’s life on the fast track for Ben Hudson ’67, and it couldn’t be better. The owner/publisher of Track Magazine — the nation’s oldest and largest independently owned publication serving the running Quarter horse business — was inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame in October. Hudson took the Texas-size honor in stride, telling the induction audience: “I guess that means I’ve reached a certain age and haven’t made everybody mad.”

But Hudson isn’t content to quietly observe from the sidelines. In 1998 he and his wife, Christine, packed up Track, trading Fort Worth digs for a ranch in Morgan Mill, north of Stephenville. In addition to Track, the two raise Quarter horses to sell and race. A big win came on Labor Day, though not from a horse they bred. His wife’s horse — which she bought with nine of her women friends in 2003 — took third in the $2 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs. The horse has won $160,000 and is ready to hit the track again come May.

After graduating from TCU with a journalism degree, Hudson spent four years in the Navy before going to work for a horse-racing magazine in Fort Worth. He launched Track in 1975 with Jerry McAdams ’73. Though the two didn’t meet until after graduation, they shared horse backgrounds and both served as sports editors for the Skiff. Hudson bought out his friend’s interest in Track when McAdams bought the Hico News Review.

“I’ve done this for 30 years and we had a guy out filming a TV piece on us yesterday and I told him I have the best job in the world,” Hudson said, noting the show spotlights Quarter horse racing for the RFD Channel.

Hudson runs Track from the comforts of his ranch: “I just sit here and watch all those horses play right in front of me, and the staff comes out here and we put out the magazine.”