The four-time Speedway
World Champion has no plans
to retiring any time soon.
INTERVIEW
FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPION GREG HANCOCK
P74
good." He helped me all the
way, and then once you get over
here [Europe] and when you
suddenly have to put food on
the table, you realize, "I know it
was going to be hard work, but
I didn't think it was going to be
this hard!" Again, it's hard work,
but if you've got it in you and you
want to be the best, California
isn't going anywhere.
I don't mean to be rude here,
but to provide fans with a sort
of context of where the sport is
at for a professional racer, what
kind of living can a top rider
such as yourself make racing
speedway?
Again, this is where the desire
comes in. People think it's all
just fun and games. We work
hard for our money. It's probably
anywhere from a couple hundred
thousand dollars to half a million
bucks or something a year with
all of your racing. It is what it
is, you know? People may not
realize that you have to race
probably 50 to a 100 matches a
year depending on which league
you're riding in. I do about 70
matches a year myself, so it's a
lot of races for the reward.
To illustrate a year in the life
of Greg Hancock, how does
one pencil out a schedule of
70 races?
The main part of the financial
reward comes from the Polish
league and the Swedish league.
Those two leagues are massive.
I'll be doing approximately 20
matches a year in Poland and
20 matches a year in Sweden,
and then I'll do 11 matches for
the World Championship. The
other races that will come in for
me around it are the World Team
Championship races, as well as
some individual matches early in
the season, and at midseason,
those are more for testing than
they are for anything.
All these far-flung nations
and all these different races
and what it must take to pull all
this off, it sounds like some sort
of modern-day Jack London
adventure story.
That's probably one of the
best parts about my career. This
sport has taken me to many
places around the globe and
I can't imagine the day that I
actually stop doing this. I don't
know if I ever will. I'm based out
