The death has been announced of former Workington Comets track curator Tony Swales at the age of 76.
Former Comets team manager Tony Jackson led the tributes today for a man who was extremely popular with the Workington fans during his time with the club.
Jackson said: “Tony was one of speedway’s nice guys and was always helpful wherever he could be, which was very much appreciated by the riders and by Ian Thomas who brought him to Workington in 1999 to relay the track that year when the Comets returned.
“He was a very well-respected track curator and often helped out at other tracks when there was a big meeting taking place and additional experienced input was required, such as at Belle Vue and Sheffield.
“Even when the weather was against him he would always try to get the track sorted and the meeting on when many others would have given up. He certainly didn’t like to be beaten by the weather – although sometimes that was inevitable unfortunately.
“But, it was not just his skills on the track that came into play at times. Ian Thomas used to sometimes refer to Tony as The United Nations as whenever there was a bit of a dispute he used to send Tony in to try and find some middle ground without upsetting anyone.
“Ian realised that Tony would be a lot more diplomatic than he would ever be so for that reason he also gave Tony the position of clerk of the course at Derwent Park in the early days, too.
“I always got on well with Tony, as did everyone, and in those early days of the Comets return there were always a fair few laughs in the pits with all those involved and with Tony and Ian Thomas.
“Happy Days indeed. Tony was a really nice, genuine man and he will be greatly missed by his family and by many in the wider speedway community.”
Tony was born at Yarm, the twin brother of Tim and both took up speedway in the early 1970s with Teesside Tigers.
When he retired from riding he took-up track preparation work and after being brought in at Derwent Park when Tony Mole brought the sport back to Derwent Park in 1999.
He also did track work at Redcar and occasionally at a few other northern tracks.
Tony and wife Catherine had three sons Jonathan, Jamie and Matthew who all rode at various times. Jonathan followed him into track maintenance while Jamie is a co-promoter at Redcar.
