Foggy

THE CW LIBRARY

Foggy

CARL FOGARTY REGARDS HIMSELF AS "A FAR BETTER rider than Barry Sheene ever was." Same goes for other British roadracing legends such as Geoff Duke, Phil Read and John Surtees. Only the late Mike Hailwood "was any good-and he was brilliant."

In his recent autobiography, Foggy, the four-time World Superbike Champion knocks virtually everyone-including wife Michaela-with whom he's come in contact during his career. Just being honest, he professes.

A best-seller in the U.K., the book is a collaboration with Neil Bramwell, sports editor of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. Beginning and ending with Fogarty’s careerscuttling crash at Phillip Island, Australia, it deals with the gaptoothed racer’s youth (“I loathed math and couldn’t understand why I had to sit through English lessons when I could already speak the language”), his motivation and immense desire to win, contracts and arguments over merchandising rights, teammates and infidelities.

Though not terribly deep, Foggy is an entertaining read. There are even a few surprises, such as the revelation that Fogarty has a lazy left eye and can only see blurred images out of it. As a result, he’s always cheated on the FIM’s annual vision exam: “It was a lot easier than explaining the problem or having to wear contact lenses!” Maybe that explains that Phillip Island rear-ender, eh Carl?

-Matthew Miles

Foggy, Carl Fogarty with Neil Bramwell, 308 pages, $30, Harper Collins, 10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022; 212/207-7000; www.harpercollins.com.