"When I walk into a speedway track, it makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck and I don’t get that from any other form of motorsport." Paul Cairns, the new owner of Leicester, has had a livelong love affair with speedway.
BADGE OF HONOUR
"I said to the boys, 'this is what we're going to do...you know that they are not going to be there at the track before six, so all of us has to be there at five o'clock, no exceptions, otherwise heads will roll. We're going to take over their pits'. It was really to get Ian Thomas wound up. That's when he turned off the hot water in our showers to get back at us." American captain Scott Autrey recalls a feisty 1980 Test series in Britain.
CHAMPS IN WAITING
"If ever a man deserved a world title, it was Jack Parker, probably the shrewdest rider of his day in every sense. Jack and Vic Duggan were the outstanding performers of the time with the individual brilliance of Duggan, who was almost unbeatable, certainly making him a genuine world champion." Len Silver is backing a bid to recognise the first three Wembley finals after the Second World War as official World Finals.
ALSO IN THIS WEEK'S MAGAZINE
SpeedQ&A: Danyon Hume • Brandon Stadium inquiry latest • Grasstrack: Ben Phillips interview • Track review: Belle Vue • Off the Beaten Track.
