The Place

Gary was one of those chaps who was at the top of their game when I first got interested in sidecars and was on his way to racing at the top level after passengering for Bill Buxton and Dez Founds around the likes of Aintree, New Brighton, Oulton Park and the IOM TT....

I was offered a ride with Dez at the IOM TT, as the direct replacement for Gary who had been chosen to ride with Rinne Progin in Sidecar GP series which was still run along side the World Championships at that time.

I knew I was on to a good ride with Dez and his Team ( Big Phil/Bunter/Chris/Alan and the rest of the Family including Polly (Mrs Founds)

As with any replacement all you hope to do is to perform as good as the last chap and no less,,,,,,,,,,,,a 3rd place in a mid week early morning misty practice after being held up for the last 3 miles was enough to give me confidence in the team along with my personal coach Nick Roche who gave me all the pointers I needed to have a safe ride with Dez... Resulting a 9th place finish and a mighty fine image of us on the exit of Parliament Square with the chair wheel hovering....staged but still a moment to enjoy...

I met up with Gary and Rinne during the Chekoslovakia and Hungaryan GP's soon after that years TT and noticed these guys were using Kevlar suits rather than Kangaroo leather or cow stuff like us poor sods....

I suppose I owe a lot to Gary for trying to fill his shoes as a the replacement passenger, I hope I did as well as I could have and in some ways almost achieved as much as he did....

Regards


Fritz,,,,,,

The stupid question is : where and what is he doing Now ?

PPS,,,Our continental brothers will know of the Famous Swiss artist who used to use the Progin's fairing as a canvass, which was then auctioned at the end off each season in a way of sponsorship for the next seasons racing budget.....

Dont know where Gary is now , but must agree he was a top fella , gave me a lot of help learning new circuits ,lots of good tips etc , hope he doing good now.

Hi Chaps,

Still alive and kicking, the art work on the Team Progin bike was done by Jean Tinguely, a fantastic man unfortunately no longer with us. I had a great time sidecar racing. Made many friends from all over the world and still see a few of them. Des introduced me to sidecars and what a laugh we had. In the early days raced both the sidecar race's and solo race's on my 350 TZ (I was fit then). We got to stand on the rostrum at the TT in 1989, after a very trying time through practice. I was lucky enough to stop the day job and go and race full time in the GP's with Rene Progin. I could never get my head round the fact that someone paid me to play on sidecar's. Had some great drivers over the years, Des Founds, Bill Buxton, Dennis Bingham and George Hardwick to name a few. I jumped on with a few others as well.
Now I'm trying to get fit once again. The goal is to fit back into my leathers. Need to get 2 stone lost so here goes.