WIGGY!: Simon Wigg in His Own Words - Softcover

The spectacular motorcycle sports of speedway, grass-track and long-track lost one of their most successful and colourful characters in 2000, when Simon Wigg died of a brain tumour, aged 40. He left behind his wife, Charlie, and two children, Abigail, then aged six, and Ricki (3). But the charismatic Wiggy also left us with a million memories of his time and effort spent climbing the ladder of success from early days as a hard-up, young grass-tracker to the pinnacle he achieved as a World Champion in both speedway and long-track, where, as Britain's greatest-ever exponent of the fastest of all track sports, he won the coveted FIM gold medal five times between 1985 and 1994. It was some time after that last World Championship victory that Simon conducted a series of interviews about his life and eventful career with Gareth Rogers. The plan was for the completed work to become Simon's life story. But time moved on and, tragically, he succumbed to his illness before the project could reach publication. Now, thanks to not only the full co-operation of Simon's close family but also their help and enthusiasm, the story behind the key stages of his fascinating life, on and off track, can now be told in Simon's own words. In "Wiggy!" you will read of his childhood days and his emergence as the finest English grass-track and long-track rider of his generation. In speedway, he looks back at his fun days at Weymouth in the early 80s before going on to more serious business with England, Cradley Heath, Oxford, Hackney and Bradford, in a brilliant shale career that also embraced spells with Coventry, King's Lynn and Exeter before his retirement in 1997. Simon Wigg liked to have fun. But he also always cared passionately about whatever he did and it frustrated him that the people responsible for running the sports in which he excelled did not share his hopes or professional ideology, or possess the drive that he did to take them forward. He loved the thrill of racing but, for him, all three of his track sports have so far failed to fulfil their potential to attract bigger crowds and the media coverage he believed possible if only they were better run. His thoughts and frustrations on a number of controversial issues are also a fundamental part of this book. From his brother Julian's heart-rending foreword to the poignant tributes from many other people who knew him best family, friends, team-mates, rivals, promoters, team managers, media and sponsors, etc, "Wiggy!" will make you laugh and cry, a tribute to the life and times of a undisputed motorcycling great.