chunky

Sad to report the passing of former Coventry rider, Col Smith. He was 84.

More to the point, in this day and age where EVERYTHING is expected to be available to the public (often through social media), I don't need to SEE things as proof. I know who and what to believe, as I'm not one of these crazy conspiracy theorists who refuses to believe fact and reality...

As a Don, Tommy was my hero. I still remember picking up the Daily Mirror on the Friday morning to see the headline, "Speed Star Killed"; seems like yesterday. I was at West Ham for Christer Lofqvist's first meeting, and immediately took a liking to him. There are so many others not mentioned here that I remember well; Leif Soderberg, Soren Karlsson, Stefan Salomonsson, Bo Jansson, Bo Wirebrand, Haase Danielsson...

A ton of water on the track?

You want to see them riding around the BBC offices???

01 - Arthur Payne - 28/08/23 02 - Chum Taylor - 04/04/27 03 - Billy Bales - 06/06/29 04 - Ian Williams - 04/08/31 05 - Per Tage Svensson - 16/10/31 06 - Peo Soderman - 29/10/32 07 - Ove Fundin - 23/05/33 08 - Dan Forsberg - 25/03/34 09 - Josef Hofmeister - 17/06/34 10 - Brian Crutcher - 23/08/34 11 - Mike Broadbank - 25/09/34 12 - Barry Briggs - 30/12/34 13 - Aage Hansen - 13/04/35 14 - Gote Nordin - 02/07/35 15 - Bob Andrews - 27/10/193516 - Reg Luckhurst - 11/11/1935 17 - Doug Davies - 06/08/193618 - Sverre Harrfeldt - 23/11/1937 19 - Leif Larsson - 16/02/193820 - Rick France - 12/07/193821 - Leif Enecrona - 05/03/194022 - Andrzej Wyglenda 04/05/194123 - John Louis - 14/06/194124 - Jim Airey - 19/08/1941 25 - Bengt Jansson - 09/01/194326 - Anders Michanek - 30/05/194327 - Trevor Hedge - 30/08/194328 - Terry Betts - 15/09/194329 - Howard Cole 29/12/194330 - Martin Ashby - 05/02/194431 - Jan Simensen - 26/07/194432 - Zygfryd Friedek - 19/10/194433 - Jerzy Trzeszkowski - 10/01/194534 - Eric Boocock - 02/02/194535 - John Boulger - 18/06/194536 - Hasse Holmqvist - 18/06/194537 - Jim McMillan - 03/12/194538 - Soren Karlsson - 23/10/194639 - Ole Olsen - 16/11/194640 - Ray Wilson - 12/03/194741 - Doug Wyer - 16/08/1947 42 - Grigori Khlinovsky - 11/11/4743 - Egon Muller - 26/11/194844 - Christoph Betzl - 13/02/194945 - Jiri Stancl - 18/11/194946 - Viktor Kuznetsov - 27/11/1949 47 - Georg Hack - 20/02/195048 - Marek Cieslak - 28/06/195049 - Alois Wiesbock - 31/07/1950 50 - Tommy Johansson - 21/10/1950 51 - Vladimir Gordeev - 30/11/1950 52 - John Titman - 26/01/1951 53 - Dag Lovaas - 25/02/1951 54 - Jan Verner - 03/03/1951 55 - Petr Ondrasik - 08/10/1951 56 - Phil Crump - 09/02/1952 57 - Henny Kroeze - 11/03/1952 58 - Valery Gordeev - 28/08/1952 59 - Dave Jessup - 07/03/1953 60 - Ales Dryml - 10/06/1953 61 - Scott Autrey - 09/07/1953 62 - Gordon Kennett - 02/09/1953 63 - Robert Slabon - 15/09/1953 64 - Peter Collins - 24/03/1954 65 - Larry Ross - 15/06/1954 66 - John Davis - 10/11/1954 67 - Finn Thomsen - 16/02/1955 68 - Mikhail Starostin - 24/02/1955 69 - Tommy Nilsson - 10/03/1955 70 - Jan Andersson - 07/05/1955 71 - Kai Niemi - 15/09/1955 72 - Jerzy Rembas - 18/04/1956 73 - Chris Morton - 22/07/1956 74 - Steve Bastable - 16/09/1956 75 - Bruce Penhall - 10/05/1957 76 - Karl Maier - 24/08/1957 77 - Roman Jankowski - 05/10/1957 78 - Bo Petersen - 21/02/1958 79 - Les Collins - 24/05/1958 80 - Mitch Shirra - 27/09/1958 81 - Michael Lee - 11/12/1958 82 - John Cook - 18/12/1958 83 - Dennis Sigalos - 16/08/1959 84 - Erik Gundersen - 08/10/1959 85 - Hans Nielsen - 26/12/1959

Sad to report the passing of another list member - Coventry's Jim Lightfoot. He was 89.

Newcastle, Sunderland, and Belle Vue...

Exactly! People just get something in their heads, and can't consider any alternative. Most of us (not all of us, apparently) would rather see four riders in a race, rather than just three or two. It's okay to punish a rider or team for a starting offence, but why should the fans be punished by being forced to watch races with riders missing?

Oh, I get it - so make it 30 yards...

So you want 3 - or 2 - rider races?

Yeah, I saw that on Facebook earlier. Not that I ever recall seeing him race, but very sad all the same...

Did you need an interpreter?

I hate to say it, but I have to agree with you. I personally know - and have known - many, many indivduals who have suffered major strokes and other life-changing events. I will admit that quite a few of them are a "little different" to what they were pre-stroke, but not one of them has turned into such a totally bitter and unpleasant individual.

Sadly, there are a lot of people who seem to feel that way these days...

Write really small, and nobody would notice the difference...

Not that I disagree with the above, but I find it amusing that the "SWC" has been around for years (under that name), yet every year it's a totally different format!

I'd tell him that you are Peter Collins, and want to get a couple of hundred copies for your mates for nothing...

Flint Locks Dundee Cakes Bakewell Tarts Bury Berries Leicester Squares

Ah, I'm so glad you mentioned that! I almost did earlier! Yeah, I loved watching that...

When it comes to things like that, very few accounts are true, preferring to let personal opinions get in the way of facts!

Strangely enough, while I am an avid reader of non-fiction, biographies/autobiographies are one of my least favourite subjects. I have a number of biographies about the composer Frederick Delius (I find him a fascinating individual), but other than that, I have read very few. As far as speedway goes, the only ones I have read are Briggo (the original), Kenny Carter, Tommy Jansson, and Chum Taylor.

Hmmm... Not a show I remember? Then again, I was only 3 or 4 at the time...

And Anders Michanek caused problems in the weightlifting. Because he is round-shouldered, he was physically unable to lift the bar the same as other competitors.

You're just biased, Steve...