chunky

Which is why he is on my list... My mum was at Wembley that night! Steve

We can keep this really simple : Beaton, Beaton, Beaton, McKinna, McKinna, McKinna, McMillan, McMillan, Templeton, Templeton. Steve

I remember him... Steve

I always got the impression he was your fave too... Steve

How many coats do you have? Steve

How did he do, Ron, Ron? Steve

Well said chunky Steve

How splendid of you to post in response to your post which had no other responses posted in between your previous posted responses... Steve

Never stopped you from including Tom before! Still, it's nice of you to give some other names a plug... Steve

Wot? No Tom Farndon? Steve

Bob Andrews, Bill Landels, Tadeusz Teodorowicz, Ronnie Moore, Joe Weichlbauer, Dave Gifford, Rune Holta, Mitch Shirra, Roman Povazhny, John Cook. Steve

Hate to do this to you, but Coombes was a Kiwi... Steve

I take it they don't have to be native New Zealanders to make the list, John? Steve

I'm shocked he didn't fill all ten places! Steve

Wilbur Lamoreaux, Benny Kaufman, Ernie Roccio, Dewayne Keeter, Bruce Penhall, Ron Preston, Dennis Sigalos, Denny Pyeatt, Bobby Schwartz, Buddy Robinson. Steve

Aye, what a night that was in '77... Superb maximum from Colin, including one win in 60 seconds dead... Steve

I really doubt that there is any video footage, but there is a good chance that Wally Loak may have covered them on audio cassette. Not sure if anyone else knows, or perhaps even has the recordings. Steve

Me too, and I was at Plough Lane when they had a practice before the I-C Final... Steve

Actually he did, in one of his earlier posts, but then reverted back to the no- "I" version. Steve

I figured you would be following this closely...

I would just like to jump in ahead of Doug and say that a comment like that does seem strange coming from a person who has caused a number of issues on here because of that very fact. Who can forget his attempts to turn the BSF into the BFTF? Steve PS If you don't remember the discussions, please don't ask; it is a l-o-n-g story!

This site SHOULD be one of the most fascinating, and most valuable speedway websites out there, but the overall quality is extremely poor. I usually do the "right thing" and contact the webmasters to rectify errors, but - and I really hate to say it, - there are so many items in need of correction (from poor spelling and grammar to factual mistakes) that I fear I would appear a bombastic nitpicker with my honest input (that I would basically rewrite and reformat everything). As I said, I hate to feel this way, as I know only too well the time and effort that goes into such projects. Steve

Okay, let's take everything literally... Thing is, I have read obituaries for bit-part actors I have never heard of, and lower-level footballers I have never heard of, and quite honestly, I don't really see their significance. However, I accept it. Recently, we have had obits for a Tibetan monk who was imprisoned by the Chinese, and a Russian dissident who fought for "freedom of thought". You get my drift? Forget the "speedway bubble"; of course it is now a minority sport, but it wasn't always like that. When Booey was at his peak, speedway was the second most popular spectator sport in Britain, and he can rightly lay claim to be England's best rider of the 1960's. You feel he should only be remembered for being on a winning WTC team? That is doing him a GREAT disservice. A 20-plus year career, most of which was at the top level. Almost a decade as England's top rider, and probably in the world's top ten for that period. Were that a footballer, a golfer, or a badminton player, that kind of CV would undoubtedly be enough to earn an obituary. In a hugely popular spectator sport of the era, it clearly meant nothing. For me, it is all about RESPECT. If you are one of the elite, you deserve the respect regardless of your field... What I am saying is that I am not complaining about who IS included, but a small handful who are NOT included. Steve

Yes - and no. Of course, many of speedway's problems (well, BRITISH speedway's problems) are self-inflicted. However, there are many that aren't. I am not going to keep going over the same ones, but I haven't previously covered the media ones. Now, it would be wrong to accuse the BBC alone, and it would be wrong to think it is just a speedway (or sports) issue. Unfortunately, the world is a very different - and very much more self-opinionated - place these days. We are all aware of the problems on public forums with opinions seemingly taking precedence over fact, but it is not limited to the general public. The days of reporting "news" are gone; even the legitimate news services display ridiculous bias. The sad thing is that with modern television, the opportunities are there to cover so many more sports than ever before. With so many channels now, all running 24-hours, there shouldn't be any problem covering everything. Of course, there is, and it appears that it is better - and cheaper - for the tv companies to keep showing the same handful of sports, and to keep repeating the same programmes. When the public complain, we get, "Sorry. Your sport does not fit in with our plans". In other words, the station (or more accurately, a person or persons within the station) don't like that particular sport. Same with newspapers and other publications, although the world of print has suffered at the hands of the internet. And then there is the internet... I check the obituaries on the Telegraph website on a daily basis. They basically cover anyone who was anyone. Actors who appeared in two episodes of Corrie, footballers who played a handful of games for Rotherham Utd in 1964, etc.. Speedway? When Nigel Boocock died, I contacted them, and said that I thought that he deserved inclusion. I submitted a concise but detailed obituary. I received a "thank you", but that was it. They published an obituary for Ivan, but nothing for Ronnie. Is that REALLY not their fault? High-profile and successful figures who were literally household names who merit inclusion more than many others who are published? So, the media cannot be totally absolved from blame... Steve

It's a good thing that Hot Rods are TOTALLY unrelated to stock cars, as Barry Lee won four World Championships... Steve