Born in
Perth, Western Australia, Underwood's early racing experience was in
scrambles, finishing runner-up in the 1969 West Australian Scrambles Championship and tenth in the 1970 Australian Scrambles Championship (in the unlimited class). In 1971 he took up speedway, and after riding at
Claremont Speedway in 1971–72, rode in the second division in Britain in 1972 for Scunthorpe Saints (now called the
Scunthorpe Scorpions). After
averaging over five points per match in his debut season, he improved to over 6.5 in 1974, which together with some impressive performances at
Leicester Stadium attracted interest from top flight
Leicester Lions, who signed him in 1975. He rode for Leicester in the
British League and
Teesside Tigers in the
National League in 1975. He rode again for Leicester in 1976 but during the 1977 season he transferred to
Reading Racers, for whom he rode until 1979. when he transferred to
Weymouth Wildcats. He retired at the end of the 1979 season. Underwood rode internationally for Australia against the British Lions in both 1971–72 and 1974–75. ==References==