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Chum Taylor
Edwin Vernon Thomas Taylor (born 4 April 1927) is a retired Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Australian Individual Speedway Championship in 1966. He was known as Chum Taylor by the press and speedway public.[1] He earned 28 international caps for the Australia national speedway team and one cap for the Great Britain national speedway team.[2] BiographyBorn in Perth, Western Australia, Taylor received the nickname 'Chum' after his grandmother's comment of "oh, my little chum!" on first seeing him when he was a day old.[3] He competed as an amateur jockey and worked as a cooper at the Swan brewery near his home, which allowed him to buy his first motorcycle.[3] After trying road racing and scrambling, Taylor began his speedway career at the Claremont Speedway in 1948.[3] Early success led to an offer to ride for the Ashfield Giants in the United Kingdom, going on to ride for Cardiff Dragons for two seasons.[3] He raced in Britain for several teams from 1951 to 1966 including Ashfield Giants (1951), Cardiff Dragons (1951-2), Bristol Bulldogs (1953),[4] Southampton Saints (1958-1961),[5] Oxford Cheetahs (1963), Poole Pirates (1964) and Cradley Heath Heathens in 1966.[6] He represented Australia in the World Final in 1960, finishing in 11th place. He won the Western Australia Championship on a record five occasions (1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, and 1970), all at Claremont, and won the Australian Solo Championship in January 1966 at the Rowley Park Speedway in Adelaide.[3][7]
He retired from racing in 1973 at the age of 46 after a crash in a second half race at Crewe in which he broke his shoulder blade.[6] The Chum Taylor Cup is contested annually in his honour at the Pinjar Park Speedway north of Perth.[10] Chum Taylor's autobiography, A Dangerous Life, was published in 1986. In November 2013 he was inducted into the Motorcycling Western Australia Hall of Fame.[3] World Final AppearancesIndividual World Championship
References
Further reading
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