Michael Lee: Back From The Brink

[TonyMac]

IF you haven't yet bought our big bestselling book of 2010, Michael Lee: Back From The Brink, then have a read of the introductory chapter below. It will hopefully whet your appetite for more... It's a bit more interesting than your average speedway book.

 

INTRODUCTION

BACK FROM THE BRINK

 

THE prisoner being driven away from Newmarket Magistrate’s Court in the back

of the prison service van was feeling anxious about what would happen next.

 

He had been refused bail and had to accept that he was on his way back to

jail, where he’d spent the previous two weeks on remand after being arrested

by police and found in possession of an “astronomical amount” of drugs.

Soon after the meat-wagon left the court, it reached the main A12 road and

looked as if it was about to head back towards Norwich.

 

Michael Lee knew Norwich quite well. He’d spent two previous prison

sentences in Norfolk’s capital city for minor drugs offences and was sent back

there again, only this time for committing a much more serious crime that would

ultimately carry a three-year sentence.

 

By now 40-years-old, he’d lost a lot of weight and was feeling tired, hungry

and dejected at being denied bail. He knew he was heading back to his cell. But

it soon became clear to him that it wasn’t the familiar one he’d left behind in

Norwich that morning.

 

The vehicle slowed at the main junction and turned right. As it did so, he managed

to catch sight of one of those familiar green road signs through a tiny window.

Alarm bells started ringing in his head. It read: ‘LONDON A12’.

 

“Hey! Where the f*** are we going?” he shouted with panic in his voice.

 

“Where are you taking us now?” The two other prisoners sharing the squalid,

cramped conditions with him were equally frightened and confused.

 

Within the next few hours Michael Lee, the 1980 World Champion and one of

the greatest speedway riders of his generation, would be arriving through the

gates at Brixton prison in South London, one of the most notorious jails in Britain

and home to murderers, psychopaths, rapists, paedophiles, armed robbers,

junkies and all the other dregs of society.

 

But what was he doing there among the low-life?

 

How had it come to this?

 

Michael had been dubbed a so-called ‘bad boy’ and ‘rebel’ of speedway

following a number of high profile brushes with authority that led to a year’s ban

from the track and countless other problems that brought about the premature

end of a once great racing career.

 

When he fell out of love with speedway in the early 80s and, in his eyes, the

sport turned its back on him, he felt isolated and persecuted by officialdom.

He needed to replace the thrill of racing a 500cc bike with a new adrenalin

buzz, so he turned to a new lifestyle dominated by drugs.

 

Michael literally produced hundreds of his own cannabis plants, took

amphetamines and snorted cocaine “by the bucketful” on such a large scale

and for so long that he is convinced he would be dead by now if he hadn’t come

to his senses in time.

 

He became such a “full-on” cog in the drugs underworld that for a while he

made a very lavish living as a drug-dealer, comfortably earning thousands of

pounds a week.

 

He loved the lifestyle, the fast cars and the parties – a far cry from his golden

days on the track where he was idolised by thousands.

 

But he wasn’t a murderer!

 

And Brixton prison wasn’t for him.

 

So how did it come to this?

 

Following a series of revealing interviews with Michael and members of his

close family, friends, team-mates, rivals and others who knew him best, his

astonishing story can now be fully told.

 

The King’s Lynn and England legend – one of only six Englishmen to have

lifted the world title and twice a World Team Cup winner too – recalls all the

exhilarating highs and depressing lows of his turbulent life, on and off the track.

 

It’s been a heck of a rollercoaster journey and, at times, a very painful and

emotional one – not only for Mike, but also for his loved ones. Especially his

parents, Andy and Valerie, who have seen the best and worst of him for more

than 50 years but have stuck by him through it all. With Michael’s soul laid bare,

this book can’t have been easy for them to read.

 

But at times it’s been a very rewarding adventure, too, with many highlights

to remember along the way. Michael won more races in his first year of racing

than many riders have managed in their entire career.

 

He has turned his life around completely through sheer hard work and

dedication, his renewed passion for speedway and his mechanical engineering

skills, he has established himself as one of the most respected and successful

engine tuners in the business, with more than 15 star riders now putting their

trust in him to produce the goods.

 

In recent years a couple of respected promoters have recruited him as their

Technical Advisor, tapping into his enormous wealth of experience both on the

track and in the workshop.

 

In 2010 he was back among the big-time on the Grand Prix circuit.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround.

 

When Michael and I first spoke about turning his compelling story into a book,

he had it in mind that it would be a straightforward ghosted autobiography, with

me putting his thoughts and memories into words. The problem with that limited

approach is Michael’s natural humility – he wouldn’t have wanted to dwell on his

many achievements as one of Britain’s all-time greats in the way some others

like to boast about themselves. One of the things this modest man is not very

good at is talking about himself – well, not in a positive way!

 

It’s one of his most endearing qualities that he appears almost embarrassed

to recall his finest moments and the countless brilliant things he did on a bike,

but record them we must and I hope the biography approach has enabled me,

along with the input of numerous others who have contributed, to do full justice

to just how good a rider he was from such a very young age.

 

I hope the book will answer questions and provide an insight into a very talented

and gifted rider who has divided opinion almost since the day he burst onto the

scene as a child prodigy. Michael will always possess strong views, while others

also have the right to express theirs. You can make up your own mind.

 

As an authorised account of his life, Michael naturally had the final right of

veto on any comments that he didn’t particularly like or agree with – and I’m sure

there are opinions voiced by others here that will have made him wince or cringe

with embarrassment as he and his partner Nicky proof-read the finished version.

 

But it’s typical of the brutal honesty he has shown throughout this soulsearching

process that he didn’t ask me to alter or delete a single negative word

written about him from any of the following pages. That takes admirable strength

of character and we should respect him all the more for his willingness to accept

criticism from others.

 

Probably Michael’s biggest achievement is that he has survived the worst

times and is still here to tell the story! Not only that, but he has re-emerged as

a much stronger, mature and wiser individual. With the help of certain people

and due to the manner in which he has responded to their trust, he has regained

his dignity and self-respect and turned his whole life around.

 

When you think how badly out of control his life became after he quit racing,

he really has come back from the brink.

 

Tony McDonald

 

http://www.retro-speedway.com