Careers Ruined By Injury

[chunky 6,090]

Was interested to see the name Tony George-I saw him ride as ,I think ,reserve for Exeter at Swindon in BL in 1968-the last meeting I saw at Swindon before I emigrated.He looked really promising-didn't he then ride for Plymouth in Div 2-sort of lost track of him after that-didn't even know he had an accident-when was that then??

 

Tony broke his kneecap riding for Romford AT Plymouth in 1969, after he had spent the previous season at Pennycross. He did make five appearances for Romford in 1970, but made little impact.

 

Also Bobbath, with regard to Les Owen, he actually had a couple of really bad smashes, including his last which left him partially paralysed. I saw Les at the 2000 British GP at Coventry (not too long before his tragic death, I think), and was shocked and saddened to see how bad he looked.

 

Steve

Edited March 24, 2008 by chunky

[norbold 7,106]

I do think that Sverre could have gone further, although already reaching no. 2 in the world is not bad!!!

 

Another who had already reached no. 3 but whose career was badly affected by injury was/is Chris Louis.

[shippy22 60]

 

Agree re Allen Emmett, he did try to ride again after his injury, but struggled in second half races at Rye House.

 

Steve Clarke was another rider who was extremely promising, but 2 bad crashes, both resulting in serious head injuries, finished his career.

 

Andy Fines also had a run of bad injuries, after a very promising start.

[Barcroftlad 4]

I'll throw in a wild card here,simply because he was making his mark in 1954/55/56, before most on here were watching speedway. He is my old school mate Johnny Greenwood.He appeared for Liverpool and Exeter. He also rode for Edinburgh. In my scrap book I have an article from the Speedway Gazette Oct 16 1954 about Johnny and which concludes that "Johnny Greenwood was the last great rider to happen at the finest circuit in Scotland". I'm guessing that not many of you have heard of Johnny as I have never seen a reference to him on the various boards. I left UK in 1954 for Australia but we kept in touch and when he was offered a contract in 1956, by Fred Tracey, former rider and then promoter at Maribyrnong track in Melbourne, I was at the wharf to meet him. Johnny did very well in Melbourne and was invited to race in South Australia against the great Jack Young on his home track.As I recall, he was going for a maximum in his last race,had a bad start,tried too hard and crashed,losing the use of his right arm for life. Who knows what he was capable of. He was a tearaway with absolutely no fear. We are still in regular contact and meet up when I visit UK. He goes to most of the GP events, and is a member of the speedway vets ass, I believe.Cheers.

[AndyM 1]

Obviously Alan Wilkinson, though he would never have been a world champ. However, I definitely think Andy Smith and Joe Screen, for all their achievements, never really fulfilled their full potential thanks to injury. Shame.

[star ghost 7]

I think Billy Bales should be mentioned here. Despite a long time in the game his only World Final was as a Reserve replacing the injured Aub Lawson. It seemed as if Billy always suffered a serious crash every time he was about to make the big breakthrough. These injuries definitely kept him from the real top bracket of Speedway.

Arne Pander is a definite entry here as well. And who knows what Malcolm Flood might have achieved in time.

Joe Owen also a possibility

[BOBBATH 466]

I agree with you starghost-after I did my post I thought of Billy Bales.

[star ghost 7]

Len Read, ex-Norwich Stars, Plymouth Devils and Liverpool Chads had his belated 90th birthday party last week and Billy Bales was there. He still looks good enough to be on the track. Others attending included Phil Clarke, Trevor Hedge & Tich Read

[chunky 6,090]

Again, some more interesting names, and I was pleased to see Chris Louis and Steve Clarke mentioned. As I said though, this topic isn't really about the Alan Wilkinsons and Joe Owens who had their careers ended in a track crash; it's about the riders who just seemed to suffer an injury (or injuries) that simply seemed to knock them back. Thanks to everyone for their input though, and let's keep the names coming!

 

Steve

Edited March 24, 2008 by chunky

[Dekker 239]

Bjorn Andersson

[21st century heathen 220]

Jan O. Pedersen. I believe he was given 'the nod' to race again, but chose not to. He started '92 in superb form, but was injured in May. I remember reading that years later CVS saw Jan ride in Denmark in some sort of testimonial or demonstration race. He was, reportedly, so impressed by the way he (Jan O) rode that he was close to trying to tempt him over to cover for an injury crisis Wolves were facing. Whether or not he could have been world champion again is open to debate, but I'm sure we'll all agree that the league was robbed of one of its all-time great racers.

[Chewbacca 653]

There was young Aussie at Newcastle called Kevin McDonald who looked to have a massive future but never rode in the UK again after breaking a thigh.

 

On the subject of Joe Owen I would make the point that it was his crash at Hull early in his career that prevented him achieving what he may have done prior to his career ending smash.

[Bavarian 766]

Norwegian Basse Hveem

[chunky 6,090]

On the subject of Joe Owen I would make the point that it was his crash at Hull early in his career that prevented him achieving what he may have done prior to his career ending smash.

 

I certainly agree with you there.

 

Steve

[Triple.H. 1,985]

Mikael Blixt was quality till the day Rodney put him in the fence.