It was a Friday night at the back end of September 1971. I returned home from work to find my wife going ballistic at the front door. "You're on the front page of the Guardian" she screemed. It was a few weeks before I was due to attack British speed records in the 175 class on my Honda Benly. The promoter of the event had found a picture of the back of my helmet and sent it in to the Warrington Guardian newspaper as a local interest story.
On another occasion, I was looking through MotorcycleUSA.com for an American drag racing article that I had picked up on from a link on another forum, imagine my surprise when I connected and found a picture of me competing in a sprint in the next column.
It turned out that the editor Ken Hutchinson had taken part in the same meeting and decided to write about it in his own mag and include a picture of myself, thanks Ken.
Perhaps the saddest thing is when everyone in the world seems to have seen you on TV and you missed it. From 2000 when the white leathers came on the scene through to 2005,
I had competed in the Thundersprint which was televised by a satellite TV company called Men and Motors. They screened it about 3 or 4 times a month throughout the year and not having a satellite system, I never got to see it. It didn't bother me much but what did bother me was when mates shouted out across a packed pub on a Saturday night......"hey Greenie, saw you on telly again last night"
then everyone in the pub turns and stares at you, real embarrassing.
Sam.
