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Barry Sheene: a new book
21 settembre 2007 'Barry' is the latest biography on Barry Sheene, still the last Brit to top a 500cc/MotoGP podium, let alone win a world championship. It chronicles his career and private life and does so with some authority simply because it's been written by those who knew him better than anyone else. His widow, Stephanie, has written the foreword and admits to being surprised to finding out from early drafts of the book some of the antics that her husband got up to over their 27 years together. Stephanie Sheene has collaborated fully with veteran MotoGP journalist and broadcaster Nick Harris, to whom Sheene was nothing short of inspirational. The book has been co-written by BBC commentator and Sheene's former GP team-mate, Steve 'Stavros' Parrish. Among contributions and anecdotes from Sheene's family and many friends, are those of Suzuki GB's current technical manager, Martyn Ogborne, who was crew chief for the second world champion season in 1977. It's definitely a 'warts'n'all' account of Sheene's life, starting in London and ending, all too soon, on Australia's Gold Coast, where the seemingly-indestructible Barry Sheene succumbed to cancer in 2003, just eight months after being diagnosed. The end, which was relayed to Parrish in a phone call from Stephanie early one March morning, seemed to come as something of a relief to those who shared his life. That this sporting legend, who had survived two horrific and life-threatening crashes at Daytona and Silverstone in 1975 and 1982, should have to suffer to the extent that he clearly did was almost too much for any of them to bear. Ironically, as Harris and Parrish make clear, it was those crashes that propelled Sheene to seventies super-stardom, along with his extraordinary riding talent and the almost selfish determination that is required of any world champion. But Sheene is also rightly credited with transforming the sport of motorcycle racing, not only making it universally popular with television audiences and the general public but for making it safer and more financially rewarding for its leading competitors. His battles with authority and his lead in boycotting many events considered to be unsafe are detailed and justified in the book. The likes of current MotoGP superstars, Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, have a lot to thank Barry Sheene for, and Rossi's tribute at the 2003 Australian GP spoke volumes for the gratitude of all modern racers. It appears that everything had to be just right for the almost obsessive Sheene, from his lucky blue underpants to the punctuality and table manners of his friends and colleagues. He once stormed off to dinner without ex-Beatle George Harrison, who had the temerity to turn up at their rendezvous fifteen minutes late. But Sheene's successful career and two world titles won with Suzuki in 1976 and 1977 owed almost as much to his ability to strike a deal as they did to his riding skill. His ability to coerce manufacturers and sponsors ensured that he was supplied with the right equipment and surrounded by his own, hand-picked people - including his family and long-term team-mate Parrish, with particular emphasis on 'mate'. However, Sheene didn't always have things all his own way and his attempts to keep his 500cc world title away from American upstart Kenny Roberts and the now legendary battles they fought on-track are described from inside the paddock and inside the Sheene camp. He also had to fight hard, and, as the book suggests, almost dirty to stay on competitive machinery; his defection from Suzuki to Yamaha and then back again were staged to achieve maximum publicity in a way that only Sheene could orchestrate. Sadly, it is the book's opening chapter that covers his painful death, leaving the reader slightly down before learning of his early childhood in central London and the subsequent development of his career. The final chapter, meanwhile, is a slightly sentimental look at how those closest to him have coped without him. However, Sheene's untimely passing touched many thousands of people at many different levels and the palpable grief of his family and friends described in the book makes 'Barry' a comprehensive and deeply personal story. It is his inimitable sense of fun that pervades, though, and in keeping with the philosophy developed by Sheene, Parrish and co. over their years together, he didn't die wondering. A 'must-read' for all motorcycle racing fans, 'Barry', RRP £18.99, is published by Sphere and available now. |
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