Sam Ermolenko Farewell 18th March 2007

[21st century heathen 220]

Did anyone see the England match? What a load of crap!!

 

lets keep this thread on topic and POSITIVE!

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Oh, sorry.

 

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Copied below is the interview with Bruce Penhall that was in our local paper, Express & Star yesterday.

 

I can't wait to go back Penhall

Exclusive by Tim Hamblin

 

Double world champion Bruce Penhall can't wait to strut his stuff at Wolverhampton. Speedway's golden boy of the early 80s is making a special appearance at Wolves legend Sam Ermolenko's farewell meeting on Sunday, March 18.

 

And the Cradley Heath superstar, now 49, confirmed that he will be riding in the event – Sudden Sam's Flaming Farewell. Penhall had a slide in Britain at the Telford ice meeting three years ago, but is far happier at the prospect returning to the shale. "Telford - scared myself to death!" he said from the States. "But I had a great time. It was close to Cradley and I saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a long time. Half the people there were Cradley supporters judging by the number of fans who came up to say hello. The riding wasn't such fun because it was very, very difficult. The fence was very close and there wasn't room to make a mistake," he added.

 

Cold turkey

 

"I was just a little bit old to they be comfortable on the ice! I had some great, great days at Monmore Green. We're close to Cradley Heath and I'm back on the shale, which I'm a lot more comfortable with. "I had a conversation with Greg Hancock - I'm going to start riding with him a little bit. It's not fair to anyone to go out cold turkey and do laps - plus it's dangerous. You never forget how to do it, but certainly you lose a little of the edge. I just want to shake out the bugs a little bit. I don't want to go over there and look silly." Penhall looked anything but silly during five golden years with Cradley Heath - and was delighted when I broke the news to him that a proposed stadium site had been identified with a view the Heathens returning in 2008. "That's great!" he exclaimed "Perhaps I will come out of retirement! Maybe not – I’m going to be 50 in May. Through my career I visited a lot of race tracks. But I never, ever came across supporters who were as enthusiastic as they were at Cradley Heath. That sport meant so much to them there. It was a way of life - they lived, they breathed and they ate speedway. People like (former, riders) Peter Collins and Doug Wyer told me: ‘You were right to sign for Cradley Heath. You will, never realise how great the support is until you race at Cradley Heath.' They took it so seriously. If anyone would ever bang on a Cradley rider they would have to be escorted from the track because would have been lynched! I'm not exaggerating! Man, I miss those days. They took me under their wing from day one. I struggled a little bit, but they never gave up hope of me winning races. They lifted me to another level. They got underneath you and lifted you on their shoulders. They wanted you to win possibly more than you wanted to win yourself. You did it, not only for yourself, but also for them. It's the truth."

 

Penhall turned his back on the sport in 1982 when aged just 25, having won the world title the previous year Wembley and retained the crown at Los Angeles. He enjoyed a successful acting career in the NBC motorcycle cop drama to CHiPs, appeared in a number of films and now concentrates on the family demolition business.

Edited February 13, 2007 by 21st century heathen

[T.N.T. 355]

Will be interesting if any other Americans come over that played a part in Sam's racing career as Bruce was actually retired when Sam hit the scene in England.

 

Hope his brother Dukie comes over as he was a vastly under rated rider who always had to live under the shadow of his big brother.

 

Should be a good day with Crump, Hancock, Adams and Jonsson already named and more to be announced soon.

 

 

Sunday 18th March - Be There

[spin king 1,918]

Should really make the meeting very interesting with Mr Penhall making an appearance, what a crying shame Kenny Carter is not around, would have been great to see them both in a match race.

[fatface 2,549]

Great coup for Sam to get Brucie along. From the above interview and other snippets from recent years, I always get the impression that he regrets retiring from the sport.

 

How good would it have been if he had comeback in say 86/87 when the sport really was starting to struggle? By then, I think we all knew he wasn't going to make it big in Hollywood and he still would've been young enough to give the top guys a run for their money. Shame, shame..

[21st century heathen 220]

There will be a follow up on Saturday in their sister paper 'Sporting Star'. 

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And here it is.

 

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Sporting Star, Saturday, February 17, 2007

Speedway

Golden boy who gave it all up to act

 

Bruce Penhall was speedway's golden boy of the early eighties. Yet the double world champion, who had taken his first crown when holding a packed Wembley agog and then retained it in front of adoring home fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum, hung up his leathers in 1982 and walked away.

His decision to quit the sport for acting stunned supporters worldwide - not least in Cradley Heath where his five pulsating seasons had helped transform the Heathens from (at best) moderate mid-tablers to a domestic powerhouse.

"I left Cradley Heath high and dry," admitted Penhall, who will be back in Britain next month to ride at Sam Ermolenko's farewell meeting at Monmore on Sunday, March 18.

"But it was a decision I had to make, and an opportunity I couldn't pass up. It upset a lot of people when I left.

"But I think they all realise now that any one of them would have made the same choice," said the softlyspoken Californian, who carved out a successful acting career in the TV series I CHiPs and also appeared in several feature films.

Huge

"When I was 25 I had been racing for 10 years," he added.

"Back in those days speedway was huge. In my last two years I was racing 165 nights a year.

"I would race sometimes 37 days in a row, have one night off and back on it for another 14. Prior to that in America I was riding five nights a week.

"You don't see your friends, your family or your home," said Penhall, whose parents were killed in an aeroplane crash in 1975.

"I was a family kid and brought up in a strong-knit family. I loved racing, but I really missed being at home.

"I had accomplished all my goals. I just dreamed of being world champion once. Then, of course, they had it in '82 in America - it was in my home town.

"But you could never win a world championship anywhere as big a place as Wembley. It was never going to be as sweet as it was at Wembley, honest to God.

"That was my first visit, other than when I went to watch. It was something that I can't explain - the supporters, the atmosphere.

"But then I had a new opportunity to dive into TV. I was 25, a family man. I love kids, and racing motorcycles was hard enough to do as a single man.

"People like Scott Autrey, who had kids - I don't know how they did it. Your focus has to be so strong.

"When I had TV to dive into it was sort of a great escape for me."

Family man Penhall sated his own need for speed in powerboating, winning world titles in that discipline to add to his speedway laurels.

He has motorcycling sons in Ryan, 21, and Connor, 16 as well as 17-year-old daughter Mackenzie and another son Devin, 24.

Connor, particularly, showed promise on shale but sadly - at least for the sport's enthusiasts who had hoped for a dynasty - he and his brother embraced motocross.

"He really took to it (speedway), but there were some difficulties," said Penhall.

"There weren't many tracks to go practice on. At that time I was driving the boys to tracks to ride motocross four or five times a week and we'd try to slip some speedway in.

"I had to tell him to make a decision. It was just too difficult to do both. He decided to stay with motocross. You never know! It's a sport

(speedway) you can get into when a little older.

"Ryan has turned professional and Connor is an intermediate rider, soon to be a professional as well."

But it's back to the shale and Sudden Sam's Flaming Farewell - "I had to giggle a bit at the title!" - for Penhall senior, the first American of modern times to win the world crown.

He blazed a trail followed by Ermolenko himself, Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock and all four will be at Monmore.

"It didn't take much for me to agree to ride for Sam," said Penhall.

"I really like Sam, even though he was just starting to race when I was retiring.

"We have this bond, we were friends. He picked his family up to live in England, he became world champion - and I know what it takes to become that. And he remains a permanent resident in England.

"He's always been a really good guy."

The American connection it Cradley and Wolves has continued down the years through the likes of Lance King, Bobby Schwartz, Ronnie Correy and, of course, Hancock and Hamill.

"Ronnie is a great guy," said Penhall.

"And, of course, the Bullet! I met Billy at six years old!

"He came up to me with cotton candy all over his face and said: `Hey Mr Penhall, I'm really going to be a fast speedway rider - will you sponsor me?'

"I said: `You need to go clean your face off first!'

"I always said Greg and Billy would become world champions.

"I thought Billy would win it first because at that time he was a little bit more aggressive."

But Penhall also suspected that Hancock's time would come, adding: "He would have the longevity because he was such a thinker.

"These are two I have a ton of respect for, they have done so well over so many years.

"But I put it in a good five!"

 

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I had to piece it together the old fashioned way, so I hope there are no mistakes.

[CMV06 20]

Late Christmas present 21st???

[spin king 1,918]

Great coup for Sam to get Brucie along.  From the above interview and other snippets from recent years, I always get the impression that he regrets retiring from the sport.

 

How good would it have been if he had comeback in say 86/87 when the sport really was starting to struggle? By then, I think we all knew he wasn't going to make it big in Hollywood and he still would've been young enough to give the top guys a run for their money.  Shame, shame..

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He did make a comeback in 87, at Peter Collins testamonial, Sunday 29th March 1987. I remember it well, I got married the Saturday before.

[T.N.T. 355]

Jason Crump (2 world titles), Greg Hancock (1), Billy Hamill (1), Leigh Adams, Andreas Jonsson, Peter Karlsson, Fredrik Lingdgren all confirmed.

 

Nicki Pedersen (1) and Hans Andersen are rumoured to be there and I'm sure Mikael Max and Ronnie Correy will be keen to appear, if not riding. Maybe even Mark Loram (1) could be riding ?

 

With Bruce Penhall (2) and obviously Sam (1) in attendance, I was wondering how many other former world champions would be there as I believe Ivan Mauger (6) is in the country around the date of the meeting and I'm sure Gary Havelock (1) will be interested in watching if nothing else.

 

As the season hasn't really started, maybe former Wolves legends, Ole Olsen (3) and Hans Nielsen (4) may be around and is Michael Lee (1) still hanging around tracks for big events ?. Add to that I believe Barry Briggs (4) lives in England still, could this be a date that even Tony Rickardsson (6) would be interested in viewing or paying respect ?

 

With Bruce there, maybe Erik Gundersen (3) and Jan O Pedersen (1) would be willing to meet up again as former Heathans (Jan O wasnt at same time obviously)

 

If, and I say IF, they were to be there, then there could be 38 times world champions at Monmore Green in one day !

 

Would anyone know when more World Champions have been at a meeting ?

 

When Sam won his world title in 93 Briggs, Fundin, Knutsson, Mitchaneck were watching while Nielsen and Rickardsson were riding but they still had more titles to win later on in their careers.

Edited February 18, 2007 by T.N.T.

[SuzieQ 0]

Maybe even Mark Loram (1) could be riding ?

 

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Sorry to do that name dropping type of thing here but.......................

 

He told me a couple of weeks ago that he was riding in Sam's meeting!

[shazzybird 10]

Oh that wouldn't have been whilst at his home having coffee would it

 

(now she's actually found the place that is )

[superguest 194]

Give me Nicki, Hans and Mikael and I'll be happy

[asturmer 0]

Jason Crump (2 world titles), Greg Hancock (1), Billy Hamill (1), Leigh Adams, Andreas Jonsson, Peter Karlsson, Fredrik Lingdgren all confirmed.

 

Nicki Pedersen (1) and Hans Andersen are rumoured to be there and I'm sure Mikael Max and Ronnie Correy will be keen to appear, if not riding. Maybe even Mark Loram (1) could be riding ?

 

With Bruce Penhall (2) and obviously Sam (1) in attendance, I was wondering how many other former world champions would be there as I believe Ivan Mauger (6) is in the country around the date of the meeting and I'm sure Gary Havelock (1) will be interested in watching if nothing else.

 

As the season hasn't really started, maybe former Wolves legends, Ole Olsen (3) and Hans Nielsen (4) may be around and is Michael Lee (1) still hanging around tracks for big events ?. Add to that I believe Barry Briggs (4) lives in England still, could this be a date that even Tony Rickardsson (6) would be interested in viewing or paying respect ?

 

With Bruce there, maybe Erik Gundersen (3) and Jan O Pedersen (1) would be willing to meet up again as former Heathans (Jan O wasnt at same time obviously)

 

If, and I say IF, they were to be there, then there could be 38 times world champions at Monmore Green in one day !

 

Would anyone know when more World Champions have been at a meeting ?

 

When Sam won his world title in 93 Briggs, Fundin, Knutsson, Mitchaneck were watching while Nielsen and Rickardsson were riding but they still had more titles to win later on in their careers.

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Barry Briggs is now living in California due to his business activities

there

[T.N.T. 355]

Barry Briggs is now living in California due to his business activities

there

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Well there is a flight coming over from California isnt there

[fatface 2,549]

He did make a comeback in 87, at Peter Collins testamonial, Sunday 29th March 1987. I remember it well, I got married the Saturday before.

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...and I was there too...not really a comeback though was it?

Edited February 19, 2007 by falcace

[Grachan 7,314]

What's the betting Sam wins the race, Greg and Billy go over the line together in second with Bruce at the back pulling wheelies.

 

It'll be just like old times!