Two Brothers Racing
Those nine days between September 19-27, 1999, stand firm in the memory. We lost dad on day one of those nine days, mum on day seven and buried them on day nine. Life, for that period of time looked desolate. It truly didn’t seem like a life worth living anymore.
Luckily for both myself and my elder brother Lee, we had the Chrysalis Racing family and the racing family in general to depend on. We were inundated with messages of support, phone calls and comfort. One friend even visited with a week’s food shopping which was and still is such a fine gesture under the circumstances. None of us had really eaten and there was no food in the house.
But probably the most crucial phone call for our immediate future came from Honda UK supremo Bob MacMillan. He’d rung to express his condolences first for dad and then subsequently for mum. He went on to offer us any help that he could. Mum had talked to Lee after dad died about carrying on the team, defending his TT title in 2000. We suddenly knew just how Bob could help us.
Lee and I chatted and decided Bob could sort us out a couple of riders. We sat and made a list and scored each rider on a number of factors. Joey Dunlop appeared, Jim Moodie, Michael Rutter. We eventually settled on John McGuinness and Jason Griffiths who had finished first and second on our notepad scoring system. Bob held up his part of the bargain with some additional help towards Jason from the lovely Yvonne Ward.
We slogged for eight months to
