I can't wait to return - Penhall

Speedway's golden boy of the early 80s is making a special appearance at Wolves legend Sam Ermolenko's farewell meeting on Sunday, March 18.

And the Cradley Heath superstar, now 49, confirmed that he will be riding in the event - Sudden Sam's Flaming Farewell .

Penhall had a slide in Britain at the Telford ice meeting three years ago, but is far happier at the prospect of returning to the shale."Telford - scared myself to death!" he said from the States.

"But I had a great time. It was close to Cradley and I saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Half the people there were Cradley supporters, judging by the number of fans who came up to say hello. The riding wasn't such fun because it was very, very difficult. The fence was very close and there wasn't room to make a mistake," he added.

"I was just a little bit old to be comfortable on the ice!

"I had some great, great days at Monmore Green. We're close to Cradley Heath and I'm back on the shale, which I'm a lot more comfortable with.

"I had a conversation with Greg Hancock - I'm going to start riding with him a little bit. It's not fair to anyone to go out cold turkey and do laps - plus it's dangerous.

"You never forget how to do it, but certainly you lose a little of the edge. I just want to shake out the bugs a little bit. I don't want to go over there and look silly."

Penhall looked anything but silly during five golden years with Cradley Heath - and was delighted when I broke the news to him that a proposed stadium site had been identified with a view to the Heathens returning in 2008.

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "Perhaps I will come out of retirement! Maybe not - I'm going to be 50 in May.

"Through my career I visited a lot of race tracks.

"But I never, ever came across supporters who were as enthusiastic as they were at Cradley Heath. That sport meant so much to them there.

"It was a way of life - they lived, they breathed and they ate speedway.

"People like (former riders) Peter Collins and Doug Wyer told me: 'You were right to sign for Cradley Heath. You will never realise how great the support is until you race at Cradley Heath.'

"They took it so seriously. If anyone would ever bang on a Cradley rider they would have to be escorted from the track because they would have been lynched! I'm not exaggerating!

"Man, I miss those days. They took me under their wing from day one. I struggled a little bit, but they never gave up hope of me winning races.

"They lifted me to another level. They got underneath you and lifted you on their shoulders. They wanted you to win possibly more than you wanted to win yourself.

"You did it, not only for yourself, but also for them. It's the truth."

Penhall turned his back on the sport in 1982 when aged just 25, having won the world title the previous year at Wembley and retained the crown at Los Angeles.

He enjoyed a successful acting career in the NBC motorcycle cop drama CHiPs, appeared in a number of films and now concentrates on the family demolition business.

n In Saturday's Sporting Star: Why Penhall quit - and what he said to the six-year-old Billy Hamill.