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Igor Plechanov 26
July 1933 - 1 August 2007, born and died in Ufa at the foot of the
Ural Mountains, Russia.
Igori Plekhanov (his Russian name) was born on
26 July 1933 in the city of Ufa, to be more precise in Nijegorodka.
Sports
Achievements of Igor Plechanov
Individual World
Speedway Finals -
1961 Malmo, 13th 4
points winner Ove Fundin
1962 Wembley, 10th, 7
points winner Peter Craven
1964 Gothenburg, 2nd,
13 points winner Barry Briggs
1965 Wembley, 2nd, 13
points winner Bjorn Knutson
1966 Gothenburg, 8th,
8 points winner Barry Briggs
1967 Wembley, 4th, 12
points winner Ove Fundin
1968 Gothenburg,
Reserve, points - did not ride, winner Ivan Mauger
The
Honoured Master of Sports USSR on motorsport (1965); Master of
Sport of the USSR (1959); International Master of Sport on track
motor races (1965); He graduated from Leningrad State
Institute of Physical Culture of Lesgaft in 1969. Bronze
Prizewinner of Europe Championship (1961, 1967). The
Champion of the USSR Nations Sport Festival (1965); Silver
Prizewinner of the USSR Nations Sport Festival (1967); The
Champion of USSR (1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1968); Silver
Prizewinner of the USSR Championship (1959, 1962, 1964, 1967);
The Champion of Russia Republic (1960 - 1962); Silver
(1964, 1966 and Bronze (1967). The Champion of
the USSR Team Championship (1962, 1964, 1967 - 1969). The
winner of The Gold Helmet of Czechoslovakia (Pardubica 1964, 1966).
Six times he was in the Individual World Finals. He was
the first Soviet racer who appeared in the World Final (1961).
He participated on 19 tracks of 8 countries in World Championships in
total - on more than 130 tracks of the world. He
established speed records on 10 of them. He was a coach of
the Speedway National Team of the USSR (1970-1972). He was
decorated with an Order of Bashkiria Friendship of Nations (2004),
awarded with honourable diplomas of Presidium of Supreme Court of
Bashkiria (1959, 1968), and honourable medal "Notable Sportsman
of Bashkiria" (1993).
It is
Igor Kalashnik of Moldovia, a speedway enthusiast and representative
of Moldovia, who has brought Igor Plechanov in recent years to
the forefront. He contacted Ove Fundin several years ago
and it was Ove who raised the question to me - "Do you
think we could bring Plechanov to the VSRA Dinner in March
2003"? As a member of the VSRA Committee,
I said I would put it to them, which I did but as the funds would not
stretch to bringing Plechanov, Kalashnik (friend and interpreter) and
Plechanov's grandson, Kirill, I said I would raise the funds.
I telephoned a number of the VSRA members and raised enough money by
donation to bring all three to England for 11 days.
Eileen
and I met the three Russians at Heathrow on 7 March 2003.
It had taken Igor Plechanov three days on the train from Ufa to Moscow
to catch his flight to London. His grandson, Kirill, at
that time was living in Moscow and was a member of the Moscow State
Circus. We drove up to Coventry ready for the VSRA Dinner
on the Saturday evening where Plechanov was Guest of Honour and where
he received a tumultuous welcome. On the Sunday, we
travelled to Stonebridge for the speedway Promoters' Exhibition Day
which included memorabilia stands. The Russians had
not seen anything like it and loaded themselves up with parcels of
goodies. In the evening, we were present at the Allesley
Hotel, Coventry where Plechanov was part of a public talk-in with Ove
Fundin, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore and Freddie Williams.
On
Monday, 10 March, the two Igors, Kirill, Eileen and I travelled
to Henley which was to be the Russian's base for the next week.
During this period, Eileen and I were their tour guides taking in the
Windsor State Apartments, Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guard,
The Savoy Hotel, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester
Square, The Tower of London, London Bridge, The Ramsgate Pub at
Wapping, one of the oldest on the Thames, St Paul's, the London Eye,
Downing Street, Horseguards Parade, the Embankment, St Katherine's
Dock, Covent Garden and the Actors' Church - St Paul's - in Covent
Garden. We took a trip to the Midlands taking in the
British Motor Heritage Museum at Gaydon, National Motor Cycle Museum
at Coventry and Coventry Cathedral before attending Coventry Speedway
that evening, Saturday, 15 March. The next day, we had a
drive to Newport Speedway where Tim Stone and Neil Street made us most
welcome. All too soon, it was Monday, 17 March and time
for Igor Plechanov and Kirill to depart Heathrow for Russia.
The five of us had a wonderful time together despite the language
barrier and enjoyed several dinners at the Fearman home in Henley and
several at nearby restaurants. With every alcoholic drink,
there was a toast, Russian-style. (Not quite Russian style
which involves throwing the glasses into the fireplace!)
Before
doing so, we took them to the Phyllis Court Country Club in Henley
where we rendezvous'd with Tony Gyselynck who was an eminent grass
track racer in the 1930's and turned his hand to speedway as War broke
out in 1939. In the late 1940's/early 1950's, he was
a junior at Coventry and was a regular on their programme.
He realised he was not going to break into the team and so returned to
his grass track roots. He later became a Flight Engineer
and pilot with BOAC. In 1967, he started a
flying Club at Wycombe Air Park which was very successful and still
going strong.
During
the time we spent with Plechanov, there were many opportunities for
discussion about his career and life. He told us that as a
top Russian speedway rider, when he raced abroad he had to
collect the money due to himself and other riders and take it to the
Minister of Sport in Moscow. He was allowed to retain
10%. At one time, he had an apartment in Ufa and a dacha
in the country by a river where he grew his own vegetables.
Under the Communist Regime, as a top sportsman he had a good pension
which was lost when The Soviet Union was disbanded and Russia became a
democratic state. Some little time after his visit to
England in March 2003 he
became ill with heart problems. He had several strokes and
was paralysed down one side and lost his speech. He had
not spoken for the past year. For the past 18 months he
spent his time in hospital and at the home of his daughter, Veronika.
At the end, although he was one of Russia's elite sportsman, the State
failed to serve him well. He died almost destitute
and leaves a son, Igor in Moscow, a daughter Veronika who is a doctor
in Ufa, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Igor Plechanov with Reg and
Eileen Fearman in front of the Royal Train taken
at Windsor in 2003 
VSRA
Dinner Dance March 2003 Igor
Plechanov seen dancing with Mrs Eileen Fearman
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The
speedway world lost one of it’s greatest characters when life long
speedway fan Fred Martin died last week aged 82 years. 
PETER
JARMAN