Today, 10th March is the sad anniversary of a hero of mine. As teenagers, we all have heroes I suspect. From the age of 15 I became interested in motorbikes. I’d not been at all interested before, in fact I was more interested in cars, primarily due to my fascination with ‘Suck-Squash-Bang-Blow’ which is the subject of another blog post.
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| Barry Sheene 1950 – 2003 |
But at age 15 I had secured a job as an engineering apprentice. The first year of which was to be spent at college, some six miles or so away from home, I needed transport. So my father, a long time motorcyclist himself, suggested a Motorbike.
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| Sheene with his Father Frank |
At fifteen I could only ride a 50cc moped by law, but at that time 1976, there was a moped called a ‘FIZZY’ actually an Yamaha FS1E. These little mopeds were in fact little motorcycles with clutch, gears and controls laid out exactly like the big bikes. So the proud owner of a Fizzy I became, and there began my love affair with motorbikes.
During that long hot summer of 1976 after leaving school and waiting until the start date of my job, I tinkered with the 2nd hand Fizzy, and of course learned (somewhat illegally) to ride on the huge field that backed onto garages, one of which was my fathers and where my beloved Fizzy was kept.
Once I started work and my commute to college, the feeling of absolute freedom and independence the bike gave me was addictive. Petrol was £0.45p per Gallon, yes GALLON! I soon got in with the other students who were bikers and of course the older lads had bigger bikes. Tea and lunch breaks were spent at the bike sheds talking, tinkering and basically loving bikes. We’d swap rides and even get a go on a mates bigger bike, a 125cc of 250cc. This is where the bug really took hold. Probably the bug was there genetically, inherited from my father? But it became an obsession, even a way of life during that first year at engineering college.
So bikes are about freedom, exhilaration and of course speed. I don’t know any genuine motorcyclist who isn’t interested in racing motorbikes. And in the UK in 1976-77 when I was being absorbed by the bug, there was just one name: Barry Sheene. He was our hero. I was lucky enough to see him race at Brands Hatch. My best friend Keith was absolutely obsessed. He would only ride a Suzuki like his hero Sheene.
Fast forward to 1979 and I’d progressed to a 500cc Honda. My pride and joy and the bike I came to grief on in August of that year (See Blog Posts – Conscious Throughout & In A Split Second).
Barry Sheene took on a different role model focus for me from that point. He inspired me in my recovery from my accident as he too had recovered from devastating injuries received in accidents on the track. His stoic ‘get on with it’ attitude was my guide to get over my own injuries. Yes, on the track he was a star, a character, a legend and genuine working class hero. But to me and others recovering from serious injury, he was ‘the man’. He’d been there too. He’d felt that pain and he’d pushed himself through the agonies of recovery to come back and ride again.
Barry Sheene died at 52 he was diagnosed with cancer and and dead within six months. By all accounts a horrible death at the end.
It will always be sad when your hero dies. I have his date of death set on my electronic calendar. The reminder popped up today and I immediately searched on twitter. Many more like me remembered and posted pictures and tributes. That was heart warming to see. There are so many talentless ‘celebrities’ celebrated everywhere you look on the main stream media. It is good to see that a genuine and along with George Best & James Hunt original sports superstar has got a loyal following out there still all over the world.
For me, Sheene will forever be the inspiration to get over my injuries and get through the recovery and get on with life. And for that I will be forever grateful.
You are gone Way Too Soon Barry, we will always miss you.
Baffled Ape 