PS. Hi Bruce, first of all, welcome to PottersPower,  how are you and what keeps you busy these days?

BP.  Hi, I’m fine thanks, my kids keep me real busy riding Baja MotoX and I’m still involved with the concrete cutting business which has been in the family for several years, that’s is what I do on a daily basis, I’m generally enjoying life and I’m trying to slow my work ethos down a bit into a 4 day work week and hopefully retire from that in a few years so I can go and do some fun things!

PS. Did you ever ride on Stoke’s Loomer Rd circuit?

BP. I don’t think I ever rode at Stoke, I don’t think so though I’m fairly certain I made a trip out there to watch a match one time but I never did ride at Stoke.

PS. Do you recall playing in a charity Football(Soccer) game at Port Vale FC (near to Stoke Speedway) in 1982?

BP. I sure do, I had a great time, I don’t remember a whole lot of the game but I remember the day, I made a few trips over to Aston Villa during my time in England also and played in a few cricket matches also, I’ve always been a big football fan, I used to live close to Aston Villa so I opted them as the team to follow!

PS. So you will be watching England vs. USA at the World Cup with keen interest!

BP. Yes but it’s hard to watch here, Football pops up once in a while over here, I’ve never seen Aston Villa but have seen Manchester United, I might try justin.tv  which I’ve seen speedway on a few times, it’s pretty cool, you bet!

PS. Who did you regard as your toughest opponent?

BP. I’ve always said that it definitely has to be Michael Lee, I know a lot of people always want me to say it was Kenny Carter but I had several matches/races with Michael where they we’re really a hard fought battle including the 1980 World Final, I led him for a couple of laps and I was a bit hard on him, he turned around and did the same to me, he did it hard but he did it fair, you know you are talking about a World Champion, we’re not expected to pussyfoot around so you expected it to be hard, I was hard if I had to be hard, didn’t matter if it was a qualifier or a final I raced to win. I had very good races with Peter Collins who was a great racer and a great friend, the deal with Kenny Carter was really different, we didn’t like each other we really didn’t, the times we met there was always hard racing, I didn’t like him, I respected him as a rider back then but now for ultimately what he did which is a cowardly act I call pre meditated murder, back as a rider, Kenny was tough but Michael was harder, I also had great rides with Ole Olsen, Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen.

PS. Do you think Kenny Carter was jealous of your success?

BP. I tell everybody this now, I think Kenny Carter was the way he was cos he was mental, it’s no joke, when a guy murders somebody, they’re not all there up stairs, there's something going on that’s not right, when I first started racing against Kenny Carter way back when, I think it was 1978, if you look in some blokes face, someone’s eyes you know that this blokes not all there, I’m not the only one who’s said that, several others have said the same thing, a lot of people say speedway riders are crazy but not to that extent, did I add fuel to the fire, sure, but a lot of the American riders did, I’ve gone on record a million times saying, what the Americans had at the time was real professional in terms of camaraderie, friendship and respect amongst each other, it was very obvious that we liked each other and we liked our country, we would go above and beyond to do whatever it took to win for our country and I think Kenny Carter always resented that and I think Kenny always thought we we’re much bigger than him, that wasn’t the case, we we’re just proud representing our country, didn’t matter where it was, Britain, Sweden etc. We just wanted to win, we just happened to base ourselves mainly in Britain.

PS. So very different in this day and age ?

BP. It is, it’s very different, when we first arrived in Britain it was very different, I think we brought a different style and for the most it was pretty evident that we had a good following amongst the British fans, certainly myself at Cradley or Dennis(Sigalos) at Ipswich or Kelly(Moran) at Hull.

PS. Who was most instrumental in you coming to the UK to race?

BP. I would say PC and Doug Wyer, they helped me with my contracts before I left, Jimmy McMillan, Barry Briggs helped a lot also, Ivan I rode with him on several occasions with his troupe Down under but he wasn’t instrumental in getting me to a track, I think because I was pretty much aligned with PC, when I got over there George Hunter was a great help so was Bob Wasley the old Cradley manager, the list goes on, Eddie Bull, Jurgen Goldstein over in Germany, you can’t do this and be successful unless you are surrounding yourself with A+ people, I’m talking about your mechanics, girlfriends, health, nutrition, you miss a piece of that puzzle you will never put it together, you may be good or pretty good but you will never be a champion.

 PS. What is your opinion on the Grand Prix format and how does it compare in your opinion to the old One off finals?

BP. I’m a fan of the GP’s, I don’t know if I’m a fan because I’m really happy to see the nice stadiums they ride in and the amount of crowds they are getting I think that I really like the format the way it is but I kind of believe it’s taken racing away a bit from British speedway, I’m pretty adamant about that, the unfortunate thing is that it’s going to affect all of the grass root kids, some of these kids won’t make it as far as a GP and its going to starve them for pay, that’s what I see, the GP system is awesome, but we’re only going to see the top 15 or 20 riders or whatever.

PS. Would you say that the GP’s we’re similar to the Masters of speedway series which you won?

BP. Well its certainly brought the absolute best riders, I loved the Masters of speedway because you know it was over a period of 6 races and i really liked that and almost in a sense everybody thought well first of all you’ve got your regular one off final and have a very strong half the programme of guys and the other half aren’t going to be as strong, because back then, Russia didn’t have any top guys, the same as the Czechs etc, whereas the Swedes, The Danes and the British boys, if you look at the riders back then, Ole (Olsen) picked the best riders he possibly could, the absolute best riders, unfortunately it didn’t last very long but I was a big fan of it all, it would be great to see that in Britain now, basically that’s what the GP is but on a much larger scale, it would be great to see it around Britain, you know do about 7 rounds of Masters of speedway, I liked it.

PS. How good were Weslake machines compared to Jawas?

BP. I started riding Jawas when I first started but I had a ride on one of Bruce Cribb’s Weslakes and I really liked it. Actually getting a factory ride was great, Eddie Bull used to do my motors and we had a good relationship, you have to have a good mechanic, good bikes, luck and a lot of focus to be a champion and to win but in speedway it’s not like we had Honda or Kawasaki where they we’re spending millions in the Moto GP, we didn’t have that, I mean if you went down to the Weslake factory down in Rye harbour, a couple of the shops had dirt floors in them! My bikes we’re set up for my riding style and Eddie would take those from the factory and he did his thing on them, I had factory support meaning they gave me everything I wanted but Eddie did all the work, but I had Eddie do it because he was the best, don’t get me wrong Jawas are good motor cycles also and I’ve also ridden GM not so long ago, but speedway motorcycles have come such a long way and they are much better, but back then what we had was great.

PS. 1981 Final at Wembley, 2 nail biting rides against Ole and Tommy Knudsen, which in your opinion was the best?

BP. I think together they we’re so close and exciting but I think the Ole race was really good because I didn’t race hard on him, Tommy’s race I had a really good first corner but a terrible second corner and I left the door open for him and he got by me, I should have been ahead of him but I left my guard open, both we’re really great races and in Ht.3 I was up against Michael Lee, Erik Gundersen and Jan Andersson, that was my first heat of the night and those guys we’re going really good, it was nice to get that out of the way and get a win and get my confidence up for the next races that we’re about to take place.

PS.  What is your opinion on laydowns vs. Uprights?

BP. I’ve ridden both and I think the laydown is much harder to ride and they are more powerful and certainly on these Californian tracks they are a handful, the motors run up a lot higher regards RPM and never seem to stop driving, they are good but hard for me to get used to especially when I jump on one every 4 years! I think they are more forgiving because the suspension on the front end get through the rougher tracks and they are fast, as far as the riding of them, all the tracks seem to be slicker and there's not a lot of grip on them so it’s like a lot of follow the leader type of stuff, they make these tracks so its affordable and don’t have to keep putting new shale on every night, a lot of it is down to cost.

PS.  I saw in a recent edition of Backtrack magazine that a collector has quite a lot of your stuff, leathers, race jackets etc. Have you kept any mementoes?

BP. I have my 1982 World final motorcycle, my 81 bike I gave to Eddie Bull he has that so we can kinda share that but it’s at his house and has never been to America! I thought a lot of my stuff was better in somebody else's hands where it can be displayed instead of gathering dust in the garage, I have my Wembley perpetual trophy, but the FIM trophy I had to hand back.

PS.  Do you think a GP would ever go to the US, if so what venue, the Coliseum?

BP. I don’t know if speedway around here is really hip, it’s probably at its all time low or close to it, I don’t know if there’s a promoter who’s willing to take the risk, we had the 82 World Final here and I think we only got 40000 people,  there are several great venues, mainly baseball stadiums and for that reason it would be hard, not all the seats would be perfect for speedway, it has to be like a Wembley type of stadium, I don’t think it would ever go back to the Coliseum, it’s in a rough area right in the heart of Los Angeles, there used to be a lot of problems and fans stopped going because there was so much crime, it’s got a lot of history to it but I would not think they would go back there.

PS.  What is your favourite memory from Speedway?

BP. 1981 Wembley without a doubt, 1982 at the Coliseum was great but it was clouded in so much controversy, but to this day I truly believe the Carter incident was not my fault and when you look at the CHiPS footage it is obvious, but Wembley 81 stands out for me without a shadow of a doubt.

PS.  Will Bruce Penhall, ever be involved in some capacity in World speedway again?

BP. I was involved with Industry speedway back here, but I just didn’t have the time to commit to help my friend Jeff Immediato,  I couldn’t afford to take the time off work, it needs a lot of help and the problem is there is not a lot of riders and there’s no money and having a Wednesday track and a lot of the riders in the North we’re working as well and they couldn’t afford to take the time off and travel and then race on their own track on a Friday and make it back to Costa Mesa for a Saturday night so we suffered by not  having good riders because of the night of the week.

PS. We have American/NZ Ricky Wells joining Stoke for 2010 what are your thoughts about him?

BP. I really like Ricky, he’s a good kid and he’s been going good around here, I don’t know what the problem was at Coventry, I hear he tried several different motors and set ups what didn’t seem to work for him, perhaps he was a little bit early going over in terms of that level of racing but he’s good and he listens and tries, I would have thought he’d have been a little better at Coventry last year, riding at a lower level will hopefully give him a chance to get his confidence back, I think Ricky has a real good chance of getting some confidence and getting some points, I think he was thrown in at the deep end but usually it doesn’t take that long to get your equipment right it really doesn’t. Most Americans really struggle when they first go over there because it’s so much different.

PS.  How nervous were you on the day of Wembley 81?

BP. Peter Adams helped a lot that day, he did a fantastic job, he had me walking all around London and I was cursing him!

PS. When do you see your protégé Gino Manzares coming to the UK?

BP. Not for a couple of years, he’s only 16, he’s got a lot to learn, he’s got some really decent talent you know, I think he really wants it and right now he does, let’s hope he doesn’t get distracted, distractions in America or anywhere in the world and if you are not totally dedicated to the sport and I’m talking sacrifices, you have to love it so much that it’s all you think about, then there’s a good chance you will fail or become a mediocre rider, the way it looks right now he’s really into it but time will tell, I’ve worked with Gino and to try and shorten his learning curve takes a whole lot of time and I don’t have the time, I wish I did but I’ve got my own kids and my business and its very tough, I can only do so much, you need to spend all of your time with kids like this in the hope they become sensational.

PS. Do you think any of your boys will get into speedway?

BP. My younger boy Connor was riding some junior stuff for a while and had a blast with it, but his love was MotoX, I had to have him make up his mind, speedway or MotoX cos we really couldn’t do it all and I’d hate to see him do speedway on a part time basis and not be any good, speedway takes full time as well and if you don’t then you are just wasting your time so he decided to race MotoX, my other boy Ryan today actually said, hey Dad can you get me one of those steel shoes I really wanna go try some speedway! He’s got a buddy over here who was in the Dream team who wants to take him out, I think it’s great, let him go try it!

PS.  How do you compare leathers to kevlars?

BP. Well I’ve had a couple of sets of them and they are really comfortable though they don’t offer much protection, a lot of guys wear under protection, they are a lot lighter than the old leathers, I saw Jason Crumps injuries and like I say they are really light but offer no protection.

          PS. Supposing you had not have retired in 1982, do you think you could have won at Norden in 83?

BP. The confidence I had back then was pretty high and I felt I had some good years left but you never know! As far as my ability, I have no doubt in my mind that I could have, that track was my kinda track it was thick and deep, I loved going around the boards, I loved grippy race tracks, it was big also, I saw the calibre of riders there that year and thought I could have had that in the bag, though it’s easy for me to say right now sitting on the couch! You never know!

PS.  How much did you enjoy the ice meeting at Telford a few years back?

BP. I was really really stressed that day, I was so stressed and it was so weird, I hadn’t been riding and was out of shape, it was so much different to what I was used to, there was a full house there and people expect you to ride how you used to ride and you don’t want to let them down, and you want to do your best and ride well and not let anybody down so it’s a lot to ask to come abroad and do a few demonstrations when you haven’t rode in a long while, the last thing you want is for the people who have held you up on a pedestal, you don’t want them leaving thing ‘oh Bruce is a w***** tonight I wish he’d never rode! On the other hand they do whatever they can to talk you into coming over and doing those things, I have more offers than you can imagine for me to come over and do demonstration matches more than you can even imagine. The last time I rode in the UK was a couple of years back for Sam Ermolenko’s farewell meeting in the snow!

PS. What do you miss about England?

BP. I miss all my friends, I made a lot of friends including supporter friends, I don’t miss the weather! I truly really enjoyed myself, I was successful and the competition was great and bar none, unbelievable and that’s what I really loved about riding British speedway, all my friends I made who I don’t get to see now, the downside was from my view the weather, that was the hardest thing for me and the food took a lot of getting used to initially but I wasn’t there for that, it’s a great education travelling around than going to school, so I travelled around learning how others lived, I learned a lot, it’s always great to relay that to your children and the experiences you’ve had, I really liked England and the people over there were great except for the Halifax people!

PS.  How did Power Boat Racing compare to racing on shale and did you enjoy it as much as Speedway?

BP. It was totally different, the great thing about it was that I shared the success with my best friend Dennis Sigalos, we grew up together as kids, in speedway we were against each other whereas boats we did it together, it’s still not the same absolute no way, there’s nothing like going to a World final at Wembley stadium with 100,000 people there and to win from the back in those 2 heats and as close as they we’re it just doesn’t get any better than that.

PS.  Did you always plan on retiring in 1982?

BP. No the plan was to do some extra meetings until the CHiPS deal arrived, however I was pretty much done with British League, my last 2 years I was racing 150 nights out of the year, I was in so many different countries, I was pulled here and pulled there and I was totally burned out, I was so exhausted with the travelling and the pressure and as much as I loved it, it was really hard, I was never going to spend a lifetime in England, nor was I going to spend a lifetime racing speedway, one day I thought I want to retire champion, 3 years before I even was a champion, it was a perfect opportunity for me to be champion in my home country and also I had a job to go to which was CHiPS,  there’s a lot of speedway riders who when they knock the throttle off and put the bike away, they aren’t really educated in things to do other than speedway so I was fortunate and lucky to go onto the show, there was a time when I wasn’t going to do the show because I wouldn’t quit when they wanted me to which was 2 months before the World final, I was going to quit at the Coliseum and perhaps go back and do the PLRC and the pairs final, then the CHiPS guys came again and said you can’t do that, production costs we’re like $100k a day and if you get hurt etc, so I had to give them my word I would not race, even if I had have lost at the Coliseum I would still have retired, the timing was perfect for me, the setting the job, I fulfilled all my goals and it was time to move on.

PS.  What was your hardest ever race?

BP. The 81 World final!! But if you look at some of the old England/USA test matches there were some great matches/races, we would win by a point, lose by a point, some of the best test matches ever, it didn't compare when we went over to Sweden and did some tests over there, back then some of the greatest matches ever.

PS. Would you say that you we’re the most charismatic champion?

BP. I’d like others to answer that, I was just being myself, I was raised a certain way, I felt that being a racer the fans paid good money to come and watch and support and I never lost sight of that, I can just say I was just being myself, it was hard at times, a perfect example, I used to visit hospitals, someone would say hey can you come down and visit such and such and I used to say yea sure no problem of course I will and I’d go and see the sick kids then a few weeks later I’d get a call saying the kid has passed away and I thought I can’t do this anymore.

PS. Finally Bruce a message to the fans at all?

BP. Yes first off all a happy new year to everybody, thanks for reading and we will do another one again someday! Ommer um bp.

 With special thanks to Bruce Penhall, PS.PP 24/01/10 and 28/02/10.