Yeah, I'm getting all cultural tonight... Digging through my box of old photos and news-cuttings I found a booklet of poetry titled "An Epic Dirt Track Tale" by former Berwick speedway rider Ian Paterson. (Ian also has one of the best collections of vintage dirt track, ice racing and speedway bikes in the world, but that's a story for another day). The poems trace the history of the sport in the UK and also give Ian the chance to voice his own views on the authorities and totally bonkers rules! One of the poems is an ode to the American Board Racers of the 1920s that I'm so fond of and goes like this...
In Yankee Land, it's understood
That "Uncle Sam" built tracks of wood
With bends banked steeply to the sky
These board racers could really fly
On Cyclone's, Thor's and Indian's
(1000 cubes of big vee-twin)
These crazy bastards got their fun
When lapping board tracks at the ton!
They raced on mile or half-mile tracks
Bends high enough for steeplejacks.
Too many deaths in competition
Brought about their abolition.
And keeping with the arty theme, here's another fabulous illustration from the
Leg Trailer Art of John Proud
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