PETE ’ S PEOPLE
Every single pound that was spent on Speedway had to be earned by Tom .
FOLLOWING THE RACE CIRCUIT Chris , Tommy ’ s son , is the keeper of the records , and was involved with the sport all his life as a mascot and as a helper , and it is down to Chris ’ s meticulous record keeping and love for his dad that we have this record at all . Chris accompanied his dad , being allowed to leave school half an hour early on a Friday so they could drive to the circuit holding that week ’ s competition , maybe Poole or Scotland or Wales , where there were maybe as many as 17,000 fans . They ’ d load the JAP 500 onto the carrier frame of the car , removing the front wheel and mounting the forks onto an axle support frame and tie the bike down to the base plate . Chris remembers hanging out the passenger ’ s side window , wearing his dad ’ s goggles , and wielding a torch to see the painted white line on the side of the road , so as to guide his dad for 150 miles through freezing and impenetrable fog to the next circuit . He ‘ d shout “ left a bit- right a bit , left corner ” etc , until they arrived at the destination , and then ready the bike to race . The circuit would be unknown , but you had to be there . If you didn ’ t turn up you were put before a hearing committee , such was the power of the “ show ” and the worth of the entertainment . Tommy would ride the circuit knowing that he had to perform to be noticed amongst hundreds of riders , and that if he wasn ’ t noticed , he wouldn ’ t be invited and he ’ d get no racing , so the riders competed very hard . Some were hot-heads , but riders like Tommy ,
88 KIWI RIDER