Dunlop test rider and driver John Peters is dead, making it slightly more difficult to get him to talk about his unfortunate link to the late Mike Hailwood than when he was alive.

Peters was a Dunlop UK employee for years, and like most locals, he frequented several chip shops.

The story, told by his friends and co-workers—including Dave Watkins—was that John came to work one March morning in 1981, excitedly sharing how he had seen and talked to the great Mike Hailwood and his kids at a local fish and chips eatery the night before. In a "Wow! Guess what happened to me" spirit, John said he spoke with Hailwood for a few moments before Hailwood excused himself, saying he needed to get the food and kids home while it was still warm.

Of course, Hailwood never made it home. He was killed just a few minutes after Peters spoke to him.

Peters' joy at seeing and talking to a legend like Hailwood was muted when his co-workers told him that Hailwood had been mortally injured in a car crash the night before, ironically while bringing home an order of fish and chips.

I spoke to Peters several times between 1997 and 2001, always trying to get him to tell the story on the record of his chat with Hailwood on that fateful night. I wanted to ask him if he ever thought about whether keeping Hailwood chatting for just ten more seconds might have led to a different outcome.

Peters struck me as a gregarious person; his outgoing answering machine message was always a classic. Yet, it wasn't until years later that a mutual friend clued me in that John actually never had an answering machine. He just did an impromptu "leave a message for John after the tone" and tried not to laugh as people replied.

But he stopped being funny whenever I asked him for his Hailwood story, and always refused the request.