chunky

Absolutely not. What he - and others of us (including me) is asking is this; Why is everybody so worried about a virus that, while it IS a major concern (and BWitcher has said that on many occasions), and the number of infections is extremely high, the fatalities are nowhere near the level of other common diseases/illnesses; diseases and illnesses to which the majority of people don't give a second thought? This isn't a competition. People don't need to claim that Covid-19 is worse (is causing more deaths) than the flu, than cancer, than heart disease. Because it isn't...

Agree 100%. My wife is a Type 2 diabetic, and was rushed into hospital in a diabetic coma during the lockdown here. She was in a critical condition for several days. They kept her in for a couple of weeks, and even though she was "better" when she came home, they still hadn't been able to stabilise her levels completely. Twice I had to call an ambulance when she lost consciousness from sudden extreme drops, and she came close several other times. The big problem was that she needed to see an endocrinologist, but of course, under lockdown they weren't seeing anyone. So, I know how close I came to losing my wife during lockdown, and we can be sure there were plenty of people who weren't - and won't be - quite so fortunate.

He wasn't the only one! You may also recall the incident at Plough Lane with Eric Broadbelt after he clashed with Johnsy? Broadbelt came back to the pits, and lashed out through the railings and hit Ian O'Neil...

That's my point!

They CAN, but it doesn't mean they DO. You say that having backing and family DOES help, but a lot of the time it means nothing. Having successful family members in the sport can actually hinder you because of the pressure and expectations. Having followed a famous father into a sport, I can speak from experience. Anyway, what did family do for Steven Collins, John Grahame, Kym Mauger, etc? Dedication and desire is far more important, but it really comes down to mental strength and CONFIDENCE.

Again, it goes back to what I keep saying; that we have been forced out of city centres (for various reasons), and just aren't as visible and accessible as we used to be.

Yup... Eriksen certainly wasn't the most popular visitor to Plough Lane in the 80's! Of course, a few years earlier we had a similar situation with Steve Bastable, when Rudy ended up in hospital. Even though he eventually came back, he was never the same.

Went there a few times in the 80's for stock cars (we had some hols up there). Narrow track, so it may take a bit of work. Of course, if they couldn't get it back when speedway was still "popular", I think it may be a struggle now... In response to old Bob's question, there have been quite a few tracks that have reopened after being out of action for a while. Unfortunately, most have since been flattened. The ones that spring to mind since the mid-60's are the London quartet (Hackney, Wembley, White City, and Wimbledon), Plymouth (Pennycross), and Birmingham (Perry Barr). Berwick (Shielfield Park), Newcastle (Brough Park), and Workington (Derwent Park) all reopened successfully, and although we don't know what will happen with the latter, it is still standing.

I'm sure Terry Mussett would agree...

Dunno what kind of fantasy world you're living in, Tony???

Sadly, Jimmy passed away on 18th June, 2011, at the age of 83.

Was that you yelling, "Can you hear me, mother?"

Well, he did threaten Mr Farndon's position as the best Englishman... Still, had he sung in a group, you'd have been a fan!

I enjoyed my visit to Coventry (except that Dugard won!), but the trip to Hackney wasn't great as we couldn't see sh!t...

Who isn't? Sometimes you have to take what you can get...

A lot of them are - it's just that some people are just a little more volatile at times!

Nail on the head, mate! That's exactly what I was getting at! As I said, on the face of it, I "prefer" World Finals because of me going to Wembley, but as a "speedway fan", I want to be open to ALL speedway. Sure, some meetings I watch are crap, and I will say it. However, PLEASE do me a favour and watch last year's Wroclaw GP. It had everything. For old people like me and norbold to say how incredible it was, that should tell you something.

Because he wasn't from Liverpool???

Sone GP's ARE boring. So were some World Finals. So was a lot of the other speedway we watched. Last year's Wroclaw GP was the best meeting I have ever seen. There have been some other fantastic GP's as well. Now you've hit on something else with that last paragraph, and it actually indicates the problem with speedway - both for speedway fans and non- speedway fans. As a speedway fan, I am happy to watch ANY speedway, regardless of the level, and regardless of big names. The trouble is that people will often find something boring because they WANT to find it boring. You say you find the GP's "are boring". Does that mean you find ALL GP's boring? Does that mean you find a speedway meeting boring BECAUSE it is a GP? Did you watch Wroclaw? If so, did you find it boring, and why? Some speedway fans are only interested in watching the top boys. I know you are not like that, but there is a lot more to speedway than half a dozen riders. Some find team racing boring. Some find individual racing boring. It doesn't matter who is racing, or who they are racing for, it's SPEEDWAY! Please don't think I'm having a dig at you, Tony, because I'm not, but I am just wondering why - if indeed you did - find Wroclaw (and other great GP's) boring. Finally, as I said, this also seems to afflict non-speedway people. They say speedway is boring because they WANT to find it boring, and/or have this pre-conceived notion that it is boring.

It was always Mauger and Olsen at Plough Lane, wasn't it?

I totally avoided mentioning Galvin! God, we had some moments with him, didn't we?

Should luck decide a World Champion? As a professional sportsman, I know my opinion... What I think is funny is that everybody hates playoffs in leagues, but the old World Final system was no different. When I look back, it's incredible how flawed and unfair the system was - the WHOLE system. We didn't complain because we didn't think about it. It was all we had, and it was all we knew. Thing is, our memories are very selective. You and I - and many others on here - knew how wonderful it was to attend a Wembley World Final. I never went to Ullevi for speedway, but I have walked the track, and I can imagine that was a great atmosphere. Not another Wembley, obviously, but fantastic all the same. Except for the rain, of course... We sit here and supposedly think of what's it's like to be at a World Final. WRONG! What we think of is what it WAS like to be at a World Final. I have been to a number of post-81 World Finals, and while I enjoyed them, NONE came anywhere close to Wembley. If we had World Finals now, everybody would sit here whining how crappy it is, how piss-poor the racing is, how Poland get preferential treatment when it should be us Brits, how the atmosphere is terrible, that it's b*llocks that so-and-so isn't in the final because of an e/f, how HE won because of luck, etc... Life moves on. Just because "we always did it that way" doesn't mean it was the right way. Then was then, now is now. Yes, I "preferred" the World Finals as an attendee, but I fully understand that the GP system is better, and fairer, to the riders. I love the fact that we have a bunch of meetings with virtually ALL the top riders in the world in action. The old system NEVER provided that, and it was never designed to. What I do agree with Ivan on is that having everything decided the year before takes away something. I can see the Top 8 qualifying from the previous year (that's fine), but I think that we could find a way to complete the field from a series of qualifiers at the start of the current season.

I think that is a little harsh on Mucha, Steve. While he never reached the heights (or the fame) of some of the other Poles, he had already established himself as one rider who wasn't out of his depth at World level. He was also unusual in the fact that he was quite at home on smaller British tracks. When you saw him, he already had two World Finals under his belt, with 7 points at Wembley in 1969 (including a defeat of Briggo), 6 points at Chorzow the following year (including a defeat of Olsen), and a top-scoring 6pts for Poland at Wembley in the 1970 WTC Final. Mucha was one of the steadiest and most consistent (and certainly under-rated) of that that batch of Poles in the late 60's and early 70's.

Ain't that the truth... To be honest, I noticed that at a number of places as far back as the 1980's.

I think you're reading WAY too much into the statement, Bob. What Grand Central is saying is that a lot of people remember Szczakiel for a first bend crash at Oxford (rather than for his achievements), but never mock any other riders for their crashes.