[1] On Wednesday, 21 May 1986, he shot dead his wife, Pam, and then killed himself, orphaning their two young children in the process.
Following this, Carter walked onto the track and stood at the starting tapes in an attempt to prevent the re-run heat going ahead without him, with most of the 40,000 strong crowd at the Los Angeles Coliseum (who were firmly behind home town hero Penhall) booing him loudly.
[13] Carter finished 5th again (for the third successive year) during the 1983 Individual Speedway World Championship at Norden in West Germany.
In a television interview during the 1984 British Final (which he won despite a broken right leg) he stated that some of his England team mates had been verbally criticising him for his desire to continue riding.
Less than one year later, Carter shot dead his wife, Pamela, before turning the gun on himself at their home, Grey Horse Farm, in Bradshaw, West Yorkshire.