The internet is awash with parenting quotes ─ some glib, countless gushing, and many ─ honestly ─ graphic. As a dad myself, I prefer the latter references; Tom Hanks provides my favourite summation: “It’s like being caffeine-deprived for eighteen years.” Whatever the slant, if you are a parent there is one overriding objective: to keep your offspring safe. Yet at what stage does a healthy regard for all things health and safety frustrate the natural development of an inquisitive child? The obvious danger points of an open fire, or steep drop, are easy to comprehend, but how can risk be gauged when kids propel themselves down a playground slide with gravity as their only companion, or choose to ditch the stabilisers on their bike? I once posed this challenge to Tai Woffinden who introduced me to the philosophy that parents should not stop children from doing risky stuff sensibly, before adding, “Basically, if a kid is doing something dangerous, but they are doing it safely, that’s where they are growing; so, you shouldn’t stop them just because you think they may fall.”
Speedway fans will be acutely aware of the obvious risks that our shale superstars take when they entertain us on track. There are clearly safeguards in place, and the addition of engine kill switches and air fences (to name a couple) offer a welcome degree of protection; however, never forget that these mean 500cc machines have no brakes and accelerate to 60mph faster than a Formula One racing car. So what on earth possesses any parent to encourage their most prized asset to develop an intimate relationship with risk, and by doing so, temporarily abandon their natural instinct to protect them? Are they crazy, courageous, or a combination of both? And what does it feel like to completely let go of the parental reins and watch from behind the safety fence? I was keen to lift the contemporary lid on this rarely discussed, but incredibly important, part of a speedway rider’s professional progress, and what affect this has on the doting parents. There was only one way to find out; I turned to Nick Budd, father of fifteen-year-old budding speedway champion, Billy, to delve deeper, as the youngster puts in the hard graft to fulfil his sporting ambitions.
When and where did it all start?
Nick didn’t hesitate, “When Billy was a baby. I’m self-employed, and in those days I used to work at least six days a week; during the evening we’d sit together and watch speedway on the television.” At twelve months, Billy got his first taste of the real thing at Belle Vue and was hooked, but this night out had to be planned with clinical timing, as dad explained: “After heat 15 it was a bolt to the car, change Billy, pop him into his pyjamas, give him a bottle of milk, then drive back home to Ellesmere Port.” Nick’s hometown is where he got his first speedway fix in 1975 when he watched the mighty Gunners at Thornton Road.
Billy was enrolled as a junior Vue member and became Belle Vue mad, racing around dad’s car four times on his trike, often pranging the paintwork as the result of the inevitable first bend bunching.
Jack ─ Billy’s older brother ─ bravely faced his diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, and Nick and wife Kaz bought him a Formula Grasstrack bike as an incentive to help him negotiate his many visits to Alder Hay Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Billy reacted by sulking for nearly four months, until his parents relented and got him his own machine, leading to his riding debut, aged six. By the age of eight – and a couple of bikes later ─ Billy was on a Honda 125.
Are you crazy, courageous, or a combination of both?
Nick smiled and recounted a conversation he’d had with some other parents in the early days, “Billy played football and a few of the other mums and dads said I must be crazy letting him ride a motorcycle, but I said no, it’s something Billy wants to do, and we’ve got the courage to trust him to be safe enough to do it.” Whilst talking to Nick there was no hint that he was irrational; indeed, the opposite was true, as he added, “Give kids the confidence to do what they desire to do, but never shy away from telling them what can happen.” The same sage words of advice given to all his children, including his daughter Hannah, who left for Australia aged nineteen.
How has this journey affected your emotions?
Nick drew a deep breath and admitted that he feels physically sick from the start of the first race, up to the conclusion of the second lap where it can all go belly up. “You can’t win it in the first corner, but you can lose it!” is Nick’s guiding principle, as he nurtures Billy’s awareness of risk management in a sport that has its obvious dangers at every turn ─ leading mum to avoid the pain and rely on the post meeting call from Billy. Nonetheless Kaz is the vital team member who creates the space for Nick and Billy to pursue the dream.
On the flipside, Nick has many moments of elation to share, including Billy’s first youth win at Scunthorpe, and this season, when riding for Glasgow at Edinburgh, he scored a phenomenal 8 out of 9 riding against class opposition. Nick is open, and quick to acknowledge that the rocketing highs and plummeting lows can often occur within the space of 48-hours.
What has been the impact on your finances?
“It’s tough. There is a lot of sacrifice.” Nick qualified this serious analysis by disclosing that, apart from visiting Hannah in Australia, they haven’t had a proper family holiday in a little over nine years. Summing up, Nick confessed that everything goes into the racing scene, “You don’t have nights out.”
What advice would you give to other parents contemplating a similar voyage?
Nick had a simple and powerful message, “Be prepared to lose lots of money,” before adding the twin perils of lack of sleep and surging stress levels. Reiterating the financial burden, he qualified his earlier assertion by stating, “You need deep pockets – the deeper the better.”
Nick accepts that his neighbours probably think he’s crazy due to Billy’s full on racing schedule, particularly over the weekends, where a 2am homecoming isn’t rare. He also gave kudos to some of the heroes who have supported his mission, including the late Dave Tattum at Stoke ─ introduced by speedway referee Darren Hartley, who also facilitated the later introduction to Laurence Rogers at Birmingham. Nick added, “What Laurence does for the kids is unbelievable.”
Nick also made it clear where the most important place in the world is ─ at least for a speedway rider ─ the workshop. His concluding advice to any wannabe parent of the next speedway starlet is simple: “Go into it with your eyes wide open.”
If you could change one thing within the sport in order to better support the development of youth racing, what would it be?
Nick didn’t mince his words, “Every club should be actively encouraged to run at least one standalone youth meeting every season.” Acknowledging the on-costs to each promotion, he passionately believes that the governing bodies should shoulder the biggest outlay ─ the attendant paramedics.
He was quick to cite and pay tribute to tracks such as Birmingham, Belle Vue, Redcar, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Workington, who have met the youth challenge. But some promotions are failing to grasp the importance of nurturing home-grown talent; in Nick’s words, “So these young kids can get proper track time.” He is also a strong advocate of allowing NDL and MDL fixtures to be blended into the main events.
“They get on right at the end when the track is like a billiard table. Three rides each and that’s it. All done and dusted within twenty minutes. The lads just don’t get the opportunity to ride different types of track.”
In suggesting a workable template he isn’t being that radical, and it seems only reasonable that the immense support and effort invested by the families of youth riders should be rewarded with a tweak to the existing meeting formula. “Half an hour before the main meeting hold two races – a 125cc and 500cc. This would allow sufficient time for the track to be prepared for the main event. Then duplicate this during the interval, with the final junior heats at the end.”
Nick makes a powerful argument, since this approach would allow our youth riders to experience the same track, but in three distinct stages of preparation. Outlining the current practise, if there was a holdup during the meeting proper, the youth racing would ultimately be cancelled due to existing track curfews. For Nick – and all the other incredible parents who pay the price for the future of the sport – this equates to a huge fuel bill and probable time off from their fulltime jobs for nil return.
Nick reflected upon the continental youth model, especially in Poland and Denmark, where a regular cohort of around thirty youth riders ride before, during, and after the meeting. Their development curves have a noticeable and more sustainable upward trajectory.
Making a dour prediction, Nick added, “We presently have about twenty-eight youth riders on the scene. If things stay as they are, in 5-years’ time we will be lucky to be left with ten who go on to ride professionally.”
Summing up he made a clear plea: “The lads need more track time at the right times.” I also wonder what motivational effect it would have on the riders if they experienced a real crowd rather than the inevitable Mary Celeste scenario at a typical speedway venue once the final heat is complete; and, where youth riders ride regularly at their local tracks, how many of their friends would feel encouraged to attend, along with their parents, adding a few more valuable paying customers?
Who else forms Team Billy?
With great pride Nick spoke of the many good and loyal friends who form the bedrock of Billy’s racing team: his manager, Ian Dowling, and Glyn Taylor of GT Tuning, who Nick describes as their saviour from day one; not forgetting Guy Gresty and the rest of the Ellesmere Port crew, Grandad Terry, Uncle Ian, and stalwart Gordon McDonald, plus John Higham, Jamie Cox, Simon Miles, David Meredith and plenty of others.
A shoutout to the all-important sponsors:
Holdcroft Motor Group, Lloyd Motors, Demon Tweeks Motorsport, PLM services, Car Clinic MOT Centre Ltd, Cheshire Oaks Honda, HMG Paints, GT Tuning, Guy Gresty, Mike Williamson, Ductair Electric, Mike & Gill Nash, Effective Air Solutions, VIG Industrial Relation, Mum & Dad, Grandad Terry, Ian Dowling, Rob Totty, Ian Budd, Travelling Frier (Graham Peters) Kev Devonport.
As we concluded this fascinating account of the power of parenting, Nick summed up the emotional rollercoaster of it all by recounting the favourite story of Guy Gresty who saw Billy race at Belle Vue last year. “We saw Billy hit the deck on the third bend at the far end of the track but didn’t realise at the time that he’d shed a primary chain. I sprinted out and asked Billy if he was OK before collecting his bike. Guy just couldn’t believe that I appeared to be more focused on the bike than my fourteen-year-old son who’d just fallen from a 500cc bike travelling around 50mph with no brakes. Of course I wasn’t, but Guy never forgot my vocal reasoning – there is nothing I can do for him, but I can for his bike!”
© Ian Kirke 2023
All photographs reproduced with the kind permission of Nick Budd
Title photograph – Dad left and Ian Dowling – July 3rd, 2023, at Belle Vue – Billy’s last youth meeting.
@ianjkirke