{"id":460425,"date":"2005-03-01T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2005-03-02T02:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=90655"},"modified":"2024-01-08T14:17:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:17:56","slug":"francis-bradley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/francis-bradley\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Bradley"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Francis Bradley, the 1962 Canadian Road-Racing Champion, was born in Germany and raised in England, and served during the Second World War as a motorcycle dispatch driver. He made his way to Canada, as many others did in the early 1950s, to discover a burgeoning motorsport scene. As so many other Canadian drivers of that era did, he started his competition career through ice racing and went on from there to compete in some of the faster machinery available against some top international competitors, becoming the 1962 Canadian Champion in the process. However, although he was never fully a professional race driver on the track, he was a professional driver on the street as a bus driver for the Toronto Transit Authority! In fact, Len Coates, a sports car\u2013oriented scribe for the \u201cToronto Star\u201d in the earlier days of the reporting of motorsport events in Canada, called him Canada\u2019s fastest bus driver, a title no other bus driver ever contested. Today, although he is fully retired from bus driving and competitive driving, he still competes in tennis, a sport he plays virtually everyday of the week. Our man John R. Wright caught up with the Toronto native to discuss his interesting career.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_718743\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-718743\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-718743 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1-71x100.jpg 71w, https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p1-293x410.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-718743\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francis Bradley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Can you describe your first experiences in motorsport in England?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francis Bradley, the 1962 Canadian Road-Racing Champion, was born in Germany and raised in England, and served during the Second World War as a motorcycle dispatch driver. He made his way to Canada, as many others did in the early 1950s, to discover a burgeoning motorsport scene. As so many other Canadian drivers of that era did, he started his competition career through ice racing and went on from there to compete in some of the faster machinery available against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":718744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11272,18114],"tags":[2727,18322,18435,16462],"class_list":["post-460425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members-only","category-people","tag-1960s","tag-2000s-all","tag-people","tag-interview"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Francis Bradley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John R. 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Wright speaks with \u201cToronto\u2019s Fastest Bus Driver\u201d about his racing career that spans everything from racing VWs to winning the 1962 Canadian Driving Championship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/francis-bradley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-03-02T02:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-08T14:17:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/03\/INT200503-p2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SportsCarDigest Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SportsCarDigest Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SportsCarDigest Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa\"},\"headline\":\"Francis Bradley\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-03-02T02:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T14:17:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3114,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2005\\\/03\\\/INT200503-p2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"1960s All\",\"2000s All\",\"People\",\"People Profiles (Interviews)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Members Only\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/\",\"name\":\"Francis Bradley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/francis-bradley\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2005\\\/03\\\/INT200503-p2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2005-03-02T02:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-08T14:17:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51d193ee53f997a3f6d82ce34de31baa\"},\"description\":\"John R. 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