Billy Sanders’ tragic death, 40 years ago, still echoes as one of speedway’s most unforgettable moments
Most of us have probably got a significant memory of where we were when they found out some news, whether it be some world headline like when US President Kennedy was shot or when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, or more personal news, either good or bad.
For me, one very vivid memory I have is where I was when I found out that Billy Sanders had died.
It has been 40 years since the speedway world was rocked by the news and it remains the biggest off-track story that has hit the sport, ever.
It was 23 April in 1985 (the next morning in Australia) when the news broke.
It was the time before mobile phones for making urgent contact with people and I used to travel for the best part of two hours from home to my work in Sydney by public transport.
When I walked into the office I shared with two colleagues there was a ‘While You Were Out’ note in the centre of my desk – I still have it.
The handwriting was from one of my colleagues. The note stated: “Your wife called. Billy Sanders died in London.”
As my mind was trying to absorb it thinking about what tracks had operated the previous night in the UK where there presumably had been an accident, the door to our office opened.
It was another work colleague, a friend who was a speedway fan. He said, “Have you heard?”
I held up the note saying that I had only just got to work and got the message.
He had heard more, that Sanders had been found dead in a car in woodland near his UK home with a hose attached to the car exhaust.
Back in 1985, Sydney had two afternoon newspapers and at lunchtime I bought the first editions of both The Sun and The Daily Mirror – Sanders’ death was front page in one, page three in the other.
Later that day when I got home, my glum-faced son – just days before his 13th birthday – greeted me with the question that the whole speedway world was asking: “Why?”
Much was later mentioned, marital issues and taxation concerns among them, which did little to help everyone understand.
His tragic and premature death proved to be a severe blow to speedway bike racing in Australia, particularly in view of how Sanders had dominated the popular sport over the previous decade.
In January that year, Sanders had won his sixth Australian championship – his first was in 1977 and only Phi Crump, twice at Mildura, had broken Sanders’ stranglehold on that title.
There was a second and three third placings as well among 12 Australian championship appearances.
An eighth consecutive New South Wales championship was also chalked up that previous Australian summer and it left fans optimistic that the-then 29-year-old could improve on his second place in the World Speedway Championship in 1983.
Younger or more recent fans of speedway would probably not appreciate just how big Sanders was.
Living in Australia’s biggest city, a city that had a week-to-week speedway venue at Liverpool at a time when speedway was afforded far more media exposure than in the present day, Sanders was well known and well regarded even outside the sport.
His appearance was a major drawcard at any track he visited.
Sanders was immediately in the spotlight after his first appearance at Liverpool at a Sunday afternoon meeting in 1971, and while still 16 he headed to the UK the following year into the cut and thrust of professional speedway that was to be his life for the next 13 years.
In the two weeks before his departure for the UK in 1985, I spent several hours talking to Sanders about the season ahead for a feature story in AMCN.
There was no hint of the tragic event that would occur, just optimism about achieving his ultimate goal of becoming world champion.
He had ridden in five world finals back in the day, long before the grand prix series for deciding the world champion was introduced in 1995.
In 1980 he finished third behind English duo Michael Lee and Dave Jessup and was not back until 1983 when he finished second to German Egon Muller, the same year he was partnered by Gary Guglielmi as Australia claimed second place in the Word Pairs Championship.
Following Sanders’ death, Australia’s next world finalist was Troy Butler in 1989, the same year that Liverpool Speedway disappeared – and there was little joy for Australia in the World Team Cup and World Pairs competition in the immediate future.
Sadly, the article that I was preparing had to be urgently changed to a tribute to Sanders.
As well as pondering the ‘why did it happen?’ question, fans were also left to ponder ‘what if?’. How many more Australian and New South Wales titles would he have won? How many more top-scoring efforts in test match competition would there have been?
And would he have climbed up to be world champion in 1985?
In part, my article said, “The sport of speedway will be infinitely poorer for the loss of Sanders, just as assuredly as it has been enriched by his presence.”
Forty years after his death, that still that holds true – with Sanders still fondly remembered by all those fortunate enough to have witnessed his talents.
