Post by Administrator on Aug 21, 2009 14:49:31 GMT
This review appeared in the 'South London Press', Friday, August 21, 2009. It
obviously has a South London slant, dealing with Tommy Frandon and his two
London clubs, Crystal Palace and New Cross::::
COVENTRY'S TWO SPEEDWAYS
From: Colin Parker, 59 Clinton Lane, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8. Phone
queries to: 01926 854 852. Email: colineparker@tiscali.co.uk
Softback, 192 pages, 155 illustrations (30 taken at the two Coventry tracks,
some in sepia). Limited print run, unlikely to be repeated.
£14.99 plus £1.76 postage, packing. All profits to the Speedway Riders
Benevolent Fund.
THE title implies no links with south London speedway. Nothing could be further
from the truth.
While it deals with speedway and midget car racing at the Brandon and Lythalls
Lane tracks between 1928 and 1939, in its coverage of the speedway riders, one
name stands out - that of Tommy Farndon, pictured.
He started his racing career at Lythalls Lane in 1929 but it was at south London
tracks Crystal Palace and New Cross that he found both fame - and tragedy.
After two seasons at Coventry, Farndon joined Crystal Palace in 1931, moving
with the club when they went to New Cross in 1934.
His main individual honours were the Star Championship in 1933 - an event of
comparable status to the world championship - and winning the London Riders
Championship in 1933, 1934 and 1935.
At the time of his death, he was holder of the British Individual Match Race
Championship. As a tribute to him, the event was never raced again.
Farndon was also a regular for the England team in the annual test matches
against Australia.
Tragedy struck Farndon in a second-half race following a New Cross-Harringay
National League match on August 27 1935. Also in the race were Ron Johnson,
Bluey Wilkinson and Stan Greatrex.
By the third lap, Greatrex had pulled out but Johnson, who was leading, hit the
safety fence and fell in front of Farndon who then drove into the safety fence
to miss his rival. He was thrown into the air before crashing down on his head.
Farndon was rushed to Greenwich Hospital but died two days later. While he was
in hospital, large crowds waited outside the hospital for bulletins on his
condition. At one time the crowd was so large - many thousands - that police had
to divert traffic at nearby Deptford Broadway.
There are many other references to Tommy Farndon and his rider brother Sid
throughout the book. Apart from tracing the early days of Coventry's two tracks,
the many references to Tommy Farndon weigh strongly in its favour. I commend the
book to all those who are interested in speedway history.
JOHN HYAM