Shaun Wallace - How an Englishman Ended up in Pennsylvania

The 1980 Madison Cup at Trexlertown Velodrome was a 2-day event and it was decided to expand the international aspect by inviting the British Madison Champions to compete.

I’d love to say that’s how I was first invited over, but it wouldn’t be quite accurate. Fresh out of the Junior category I was definitely NOT our national madison champion.

Fortunately for me one of the two riders who WAS British champion couldn’t make it and so the invitation was extended to the riders in second place!  Fortunately again neither of them could make it, so it got passed on down to the riders in third place, and then fourth place, and… well eventually they got down to me, and I JUMPED on the opportunity.   I’d already heard about Trexlertown as the site of the Junior World Championships two years earlier and was excited for an opportunity to head to America.

And so it was, very late one evening after my first Trans-Atlantic flight, my partner and I landed at JFK Airport and were met by Harry “Cadillac” Esterly.  In his massive Coupe DeVille Harry proudly drove us down Fifth Avenue and Broadway as I gave it my best jet-lagged effort to not be rocked to sleep, squished in the corner of the plush back seat by my huge bike box.

That first night of racing at Trexlertown Velodrome was unlike anything I’d experienced. A full stadium with thousands of keen spectators, and multiple announcers enthusiastically introducing ME  (with some generous embellishment of my achievements), a 90-degree evening with oppressive humidity, complete with the drone of Cicadas and a microlight aircraft circling overhead.  So many “firsts” for me.

Sadly, other than my first crash in a madison race, that list of “firsts” didn’t extend to my racing performance, though I did score a beautifully-executed win in the sprint event.

If I remember correctly, overall after the two days we actually finished dead last, an entire lap down on everyone else in the final madison.

But I did score something more important that night - a dream.  For the first time in my life I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be, and three years later in 1983, just a few days after graduating from University in the UK, I was on a plane back to Pennsylvania.

I didn’t win Madison Cup in 1983, but I wasn’t last either.  Nor did I win in 1984.  But eventually in 1985 I finally did, partnered with Art “the Dart” McHugh”.   I then won it again in 1986, and in 1987, and in 1988. And when I won it for the fifth straight year in 1989 Velodrome generously GAVE me the original Madison Cup outright.

Today that trophy proudly sits on my shelf at home. Not just a memory of the great times I was so fortunate to enjoy at Trexlertown Velodrome, and the wonderful fans who made me feel so loved and appreciated, but also a symbol of catching and fulfilling what once seemed an impossible dream

I spent over 15 years racing every summer in Trexlertown. It was the closest thing I had to a home at the time as I lived the gypsy lifestyle of a professional cyclist traveling the world.

These days I live in San Diego along with my wife, whom I met at “T-Town” back in the 80’s, and remain quite involved with our local Velodrome. I still race weekly at our track in Balboa Park where we enjoy an enthusiastic, albeit more modest, weekly racing scene, but one which clearly shares the spirit and energy of those unforgettable days at T-Town.