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As Live Production: Guest research - Steve Weatherly

On Sunday, I got the chance to go to Hastings and talk to a man called Steve Weatherly, who used to be a speedway racer, who was involved in a crash in 1979 that left him paralysed, and confined to a wheelchair. I had researched him online, but there was not that much about him, so I decided to ring him up and ask if it would be possible to have a face to face talk about his past, and what he has managed to accomplish since becoming paralysed. 

 I obtained this contact through my great uncle Graham, who also used to be a speedway racer, and also had a crash that lead to him being in a wheelchair. In fact, Graham's crash was 4 years earlier than Steve's, but was on the same corner of the same track.

 From online research, I found out that Steve had been riding motorbikes since he was 10 years old, and started professionally at the age of 16. He rode primarily for the Eastbourne Eagles and the White City Rebels during his career, who won the British League in 1977, and that he was racing between the years of 1974 and 1979, until he had his crash on 8 June 1979.

I thought that my chat with steve was only going to be about an hour long, however it lasted just over two hours, which told me that he is very good at holding z conversation, so would have no problem filling his allotted time in the show.

 From my meeting with Steve and his wife, I learnt that he was in hospital for 3 months, and was actually discharged the day before his wedding, as he had been engaged before the crash. He also started Rally car racing remotely, and then got his drivers license and actually got behind the wheel, and did this for 12 years. 

 He also had a small workshop where he made various things for speedway and Rally car racing out of fibreglass, and taught young people who were interested in a career in speedway.

 This was a really good insight for me and definitely made my argument for my pitch stronger, and it was also a chance to practice my interview skills, as they need to be improved for the future. 

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