Unearthing the real Shambles

I owe my interest in Keith Campbell to an English author. In 1969, Peter Carrick profiled just three riders from the 1950s in his book Motor Cycle Racing – Campbell, Werner Haas and Bob

Mcintyre. He wrote of Campbell’s eight-year battle to reach the top of the racing tree, and anecdotes from Keith’s contemporaries prompted further inquiry.

My profiling of Keith meant shoe-leather journalism, contacting his brother George, widow Geraldine (who died in 2022), key rivals, reporters, helpers, the wives of other racers, and Moto Guzzi team-mate Keith Bryen.

A 2006 visit to Cadours, site of Keith’s fatal crash, produced a lead. The local bar was the only place open to seek directions. I showed the barman a report of the 1958 meeting; he immediately knew the significance and pointed to a guy at the back. “Roger saw that accident!”

Meanwhile, George Campbell introduced me to his mate Bob Edmonds, who did the ’55 season with Keith. “Don’t suppose you kept a diary?” I asked. “No.” Pause. “But I have the letters I wrote home to my sister!” Pure gold. He also had his photo negatives, from the voyage to Tilbury to the mid-circuit laurels ceremony at the Czech Grand Prix. He even had a shot of the 1955 Dutch TT riders’ strike as the riders abandoned the race.

Internet research produced further gems. Guys who had attended their local international race as school kids were posting pictures their fathers had taken. They told of the excitement the racers brought to their town.

Don Cox’s book, Circus Life: Australian Motorcycle Racers in Europe in the 1950s, is out now.