Dirt Tracks and Shrapnel Scars

'Dirt Tracks and Shrapnel Scars' is the story two teenage boys; Joel Armstrong and Will Roberts. They share a bond, a passion - speedway racing. Joel tells Will his all-time hero is Swindon Robin's star Jason Doyle. Will says he's never heard of him, his favourite rider is the American racer Cordy Milne, and that he first watched speedway in 1936, when his Dad had taken him to see the Plymouth Panthers when he was ten. Joel had gone to spend a weeks' summer holiday with his Grandparents. He thought it was going to be pretty boring - spending the week with a couple of oldies, but everything becomes much more interesting after he comes into possession of a glass lens; likely from an old-fashioned pair of wire framed spectacles. At first, he thinks the '1940's thing' is all one big hoax, but soon realises this is not the case, especially when the air raid siren sounds and he sees the Luftwaffe's bomb damage for himself. He questions his grandparents about the war and reads up everything he can find out about it online.Joel also encourages his grandfather to reminisce speedway stories told to him by his own father - a fan of the sport in its fledgling days. He tells Joel about the real heroes of the sport back then, not just those on track, but those who swapped their leathers for a military uniform at the outbreak of war and became fighter pilots, motorcycle messengers and a host of various other trades. There were prisoners of war, decorated heroes .... and those who never came home.Joel is a dreamer, he often imagines himself hanging out with his hero; road trips in the van, helping out in the pits. Even in war torn Plymouth he still daydreams about Jason, but now sees him as a war hero - flying Spitfires, Sunderland Flying boats, saving civilian lives and becoming a decorated war hero. The newspapers call him the 'Flying Aussie Ace.' His Gran and Grandad think Joel is visiting his new friend in the next street. They have no idea that Will actually lives over seventy years in the past.