Column: The tale of two brothers and the alluring power of sport

JIMMY GEOGHEGAN

Sport, bloodly hell. What emotions it can stir up. You can see that at events of all kinds. Sometimes it provokes tears from normally stoic men and women not accustomed to revealing their deep-rooted feelings. It can provoke great joy too - and deep rooted sadness.

Sport can also bring people together like few other things can. This column recently came across an example of that when two brothers, Jimmy Rispin and his younger brother Tony Rispin, met together for the first time in 37 years some months ago. They met in England and celebrated their reunion by taking part in a sport both have passionately engaged in throughout their lives.

Jimmy and Tony grew up in Kildalkey but life was to lead them down very different paths in very different parts of the world. Like so many young Irish people in the mid-1980s they moved abroad to find work. Had to. Tony emigrated to the US, Jimmy to England. They went about the task of shaping their lives and careers and like anyone else they, no doubt, had their setbacks and triumphs. Tony met his wife Mary and they have a family of three. Jimmy carved out his own life, married Margie, and they also have a family of three.

Both are in their sixties now but back in the 1970s and '80s they engaged in the sport of stock car racing - and they were very good at it too.

Both men became mechanics, extremely talented mechanics too (I’m privileged to know them both), capable of building a car themselves if required. They used that rich talent to not only carve out careers for themselves, they also became successful performers in the minority sport of stock car racing. It is part of what they are and both still drive in races.

At one time stock car racing was all the rage in Meath. It is a sport that has slipped off the radar somewhat but it is still engaged in by many. There is at least one track in the Royal County. It can be found in Coolronan near Balllivor, where the sport's local aficionadoes hold events.

As a youngster in the late 1960s Tony recalls going with Jimmy, and their father Andy, to a stock car racing event in Fordstown.

"I recall looking at all these cars painted up, speeding around with no windows, and I thought: 'Wow this is something else.' Jimmy became very involved in the sport and as I grew up so did I," Tony told this column from his home in snow-covered Pennsylvania last week.

While most young men of their age played hurling and/or football on Sunday afternoons the Rispins headed to the track. "Years ago we raced outside Trim in the Rock. Then when the Rock closed down we moved to Longwood, Maguire's sandpit in Longwood. Later we went to drive in Santry in Dublin, that was where the main track was," Tony explained.

"That was the beginning but it's addictive, like football is, I guess, for others. I never played football but so much work goes into preparing cars for racing, it's like, I guess, a team getting ready for a football game."

From the early to the mid-eighties Tony won a number of 'Driver of the Year' awards. Jimmy too excelled in the sport. The cars were adapted for racing in that windows were taken out and perhaps some work done on the suspension but there were no major changes to the engines. The brothers loved their Sundays in places like the Rock (the home of the South Meath Stock Car Club), Longwood and Santry but there was another reality.

With Ireland mired in a deep recession in the 1980s the brothers were compelled, like so many others, to look elsewhere for work. Tony headed west. Jimmy east.

The years passed and distance kept the brothers apart. The opportunity to meet up just didn't arise - until events conspired to bring them together in England. They went to Swaffham in Norfolk to race - and for the first time in 37 years they raced together, Tony in a car borrowed from a local driver, James Taylor, and Jimmy in his motor; a rear-wheel drive V8 buggy.

It was a special moment but one tinged with sadness too. Jimmy's machine had the name 'Mary' emblazoned on it in memory of their one and only sister Mary Rispin, later Mary McKiernan, who lived in Rath Chairn and sadly passed away all too young two years ago. It was poignant aspect to an emotional day.

Jimmy and Tony were accompanied in England by their great friend, Robbie Turner, (who spent much of his youth in Kildalkey) and shares the brothers' passion for stock car racing. It was a memorable day for all concerned. One of those special days in people's lives.

Sport can help create those days.