Tommy Jansson - Anniversary - 20\05\1975

[The White Knight 9,039]

I am surprised that there has been no mention of this on the Forum.

 

I was just informed that May 20 1976 Tommy Jansson, Wimbledon and Sweden, died in a track accident. His Anniversary was two days ago.

 

R.I.P. + Tommy.

Edited May 23, 2014 by The White Knight

[bruno 1,790]

I was only 13 at the time but Its stayed with me all this time.I'm sure it was big news in one of the daily papers.brings it home how dangerous our sport is

 

R.I.P Tommy

[Dave the Mic 258]

It was a tragedy and no mistake and although i would just like to correct you TWK, that it was actually 1976 that we lost Tommy.

[stratton 1,491]

Never to be forgotten,a world champion in the making no doubts the sport was robbed.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

HOW time flies ... had a late call from the Daily Express (I was their speedway correspondent at the time) with the tragic news. A few days earlier I had ghosted a first ever column with Tommy for Speedway Post, a monthly from the same publishing stable as Speedway Star. It never saw the light of day.

 

Tommy went to Australia and New Zealand with the World Champions troupe formed by Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger. Agree that he was surely destined for greatness and was a fabulous young guy and a true pin-up as well.

[westhamboy66 599]

Tommy was the main reason i did the awful District line journey from Plaistow to Wimbledon Park most weeks. I was driving past Bow Road underground station for my only ever visit to Somerton Park when the news came on the radio. If i remember rightly that was the night PC never showed. For me his Death also meant a the end of Wimbledon Speedway as we knew it.

The book on his life is one of the very best books i have ever read and is a great insight into how big a star he really was.

RIP Tommy

[oldace 1,678]

Tommy was the main reason i did the awful District line journey from Plaistow to Wimbledon Park most weeks. I was driving past Bow Road underground station for my only ever visit to Somerton Park when the news came on the radio. If i remember rightly that was the night PC never showed. For me his Death also meant a the end of Wimbledon Speedway as we knew it.

The book on his life is one of the very best books i have ever read and is a great insight into how big a star he really was.

RIP Tommy

 

 

Yes Belle Vue were at Newport the night after Tommy's death and you are correct it was the night PC "broke down en route" to Somerton Park. He later admitted to never having left home

[moxey63 1,785]

I recall the shock of discovering Tommy's death - in the Manchester Evening News (there was no social media then, of course, and you had to wait sometimes until the enxt day for news) on the Friday - its headline "Boocock Salutes Jansson" - hinted to me, as a 12 year old, that Belle VUe's boss was simply an admirer of the Wimbledon rider.

 

However, as I read on, probably the first paragraph, I felt my blood run from its normal flow... a rider I had only witnessed a month before (finsihing on 12 points in the God Friday John Player's Classic at the zoo), had been my second speedway fatality (after Gary Peterson the previous October).

 

It probably halted Sweden's next threat of world championship glory.

 

Tommy could have been the forerunner to Bruce Penhall. He had the looks and style to go a long way, was enjoying his best campaign in the first few weeks of '76.

 

We will never know how far he could have gone, but, that night in Sweden a real legend in the making was taken.

[Grachan 7,362]

 

 

Yes Belle Vue were at Newport the night after Tommy's death and you are correct it was the night PC "broke down en route" to Somerton Park. He later admitted to never having left home

 

PC later admitted in one of his books that he was actually too scared to ride that night.

 

 

However, as I read on, probably the first paragraph, I felt my blood run from its normal flow... a rider I had only witnessed a month before (finsihing on 12 points in the God Friday John Player's Classic at the zoo), had been my second speedway fatality (after Gary Peterson the previous October).

 

 

 

It was the same with me regarding Gary Petersen and then Tommy Jansson. I saw Tommy ride a couple of times in 1976, and got his autograph at Swindon when he rode there in the Golden Helmet.

[moxey63 1,785]

It is alway difficult when a speedway rider passes through an accident... like losing a family member, a friend... the strange feeling at the enxt match you attend, especially if it's soon after the death. Remember the 1975 BLRC, 24 hours after Gary Peterson's death, the weird feeling I had, actually experiencing my first fatality, it dawning on me that this sport of ours, though thrilling, can be quite cruel. My first six months of watching, I had seen many fall, as a kid it was new and thrilling to witness... but to actually discover that soemone could die. That was different.

 

Although I am much older now, a speedway death caused by an accident still gets me. You always remember what you were doing at the time you hear of a rider's passing.

[Grachan 7,362]

It is alway difficult when a speedway rider passes through an accident... like losing a family member, a friend... the strange feeling at the enxt match you attend, especially if it's soon after the death. Remember the 1975 BLRC, 24 hours after Gary Peterson's death, the weird feeling I had, actually experiencing my first fatality, it dawning on me that this sport of ours, though thrilling, can be quite cruel. My first six months of watching, I had seen many fall, as a kid it was new and thrilling to witness... but to actually discover that soemone could die. That was different.

 

Although I am much older now, a speedway death caused by an accident still gets me. You always remember what you were doing at the time you hear of a rider's passing.

 

Very true. I was 13 when Gary Petersen was killed and I kept all the clippings plus went back through old Speedway Stars and cut out all references and photos and kept them in a folder. It was weird. Thinking back, it was, perhaps, my first "death" experience (even though I wasn't there and I don't think I even saw him ride).

Edited May 23, 2014 by grachan

[Parsloes 1928 nearly 495]

I remember it was the day after my 16th. birthday and the same evening at Crayford the Kestrels had lost 38-40 in a last heat decider to Leicester in the Inter-league KOC. I ran into my mate Rowan when I got to school the next morningand he told me the news about Tommy.

The shock each time something tereible like this happens is just crushing as others have said.

I remember I was vwalking around the old Blackbird Rd. terracing in Leicester when they announced over the stadium PA that as well as Vic Harding losing his life the previous Friday (which of course I'd already heard about) Steve Weatherley, involved in the same horrific crash at Hackney, was paralysed. I'd followed Stevie's career from the beginning and the shock led me to actually crumple to the floor there and then. I remember it vividly to this day.

[moxey63 1,785]

 

Very true. I was 13 when Gary Petersen was killed and I kept all the clippings plus went back through old Speedway Stars and cut out all references and photos and kept them in a folder. It was weird. Thinking back, it was, perhaps, my first "death" experience (even though I wasn't there and I don't think I even saw him ride).

 

Very true... Gary Peterson had been on the cover of the Speedway Star earlier that year (1975) and I had used it to "back" my maths book at school (backing was a way of protecting the book, kids used wallpaper off-cuts etc). It was strange, seeing Gary's picture everytime I pulled my book from my case. Things like this at an early age help form us into how we think in future, i feel.

[Grachan 7,362]

 

Very true... Gary Peterson had been on the cover of the Speedway Star earlier that year (1975) and I had used it to "back" my maths book at school (backing was a way of protecting the book, kids used wallpaper off-cuts etc). It was strange, seeing Gary's picture everytime I pulled my book from my case. Things like this at an early age help form us into how we think in future, i feel.

 

I remember that picture. I had it glued into my folder. I can picture it clearly in my head even now.

[Ommer Mon 381]

I was at Monmore that night (Gary's accident)and somehow you just knew that something was seriously wrong as soon as it happened. It was a dreadful feeling leaving the Stadium that night and one that has never left me when I think back. Thank God for air fences they have already prevented some serious accidents.

 

As far as Tommy is concerned, he was a great prospect and I have no doubt he would have put in a very serious challenge for the World Championship. His style was something to behold. I will never know how he managed to twist his left leg to get his foot facing forward. Again his passing stunned the Speedway world.

 

RIP both.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Ommer Mon