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Post by rodders on Jun 14, 2019 21:51:39 GMT
Whilst I am not that old my Speedway history goes back some time. I have actually seen in action such stars as Bill Kitchen, Jack Parker, Tommy Price , Cyril Roger , Fred Williams ,Jack Young, Aub Lawson, Peter Craven, Split Waterman and others of the past. Tracks were black in those days
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Post by Hodgy on Jun 14, 2019 22:39:35 GMT
Whilst I am not that old my Speedway history goes back some time. I have actually seen in action such stars as Bill Kitchen, Jack Parker, Tommy Price , Cyril Roger , Fred Williams ,Jack Young, Aub Lawson, Peter Craven, Split Waterman and others of the past. Tracks were black in those days Can I have your stapler  Lee, Jessup, Carter, Mauger, Nielsen, Wigg, Tatum, Louis (J), Gunderson, Penhall, etc... were my beginning. Not forgetting the best days; Dickie, Hawkins, Buck, Hines, Flatman, Barney etc.. Adrian Pepper’s 15 mins of fame. Hume 16 at Canterbury. Great times. |
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Post by admin on Jun 14, 2019 23:37:31 GMT
Only go back to 1972 myself as a snotty schoolkid who tagged along with my sister and her boyfriend; but funnily enough I was thinking along similar lines today about how the sport is down the toilet now and how lucky I've been to see Peterborough's best seasons (I'd been reading the Belle Vue thread on the BSF and felt like topping myself). For most of those best years, Friday night was speedway night from March to Oct and if you've never experienced that then you'll not appreciate how good that was. Waiting all week to watch Jason Crump hunt somebody down at the EoES, money can't buy that these days!
Looking at Panthers history pages I'd say that 1992 to 2003 were my Panthers halcyon seasons, obviously with a special mentions for 2006 & 2007 as well as the Frost/Mahoney years which were never dull and presentation wise (PA apart) those meetings were second to none. Only thing they consistently got wrong was the team until it was too late but I enjoyed their time all the same.
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Post by davet on Jun 15, 2019 10:24:23 GMT
1960 for me. Yarmouth had just dropped out of the Provincial League, so no big names (Ivor Brown and Johnny Fitzpatrick were heat leaders). Great entertainment though. My introduction to the noise and the smell which are sadly lacking now.
On to Hackney in 1966, and the single, British League. Colin Pratt was captain (yes!) Roy Trigg and Bengt Jansson were notable heat leaders, and I recall Richard "Buddy" Greer as a second halfer.
Now, with H and S and noise restrictions reducing the spectacle, the present management has been the last straw and I haven't been to EOES at all this year. Would love to see a return of 20th century speedway, but it's not going to happen is it?
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Post by rodders on Jun 15, 2019 10:36:46 GMT
Brian Crutcher remains my favourite rider of all time.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2019 11:36:46 GMT
Only go back to 1972 myself as a snotty schoolkid who tagged along with my sister and her boyfriend; but funnily enough I was thinking along similar lines today about how the sport is down the toilet now and how lucky I've been to see Peterborough's best seasons (I'd been reading the Belle Vue thread on the BSF and felt like topping myself). For most of those best years, Friday night was speedway night from March to Oct and if you've never experienced that then you'll not appreciate how good that was. Waiting all week to watch Jason Crump hunt somebody down at the EoES, money can't buy that these days! Looking at Panthers history pages I'd say that 1992 to 2003 were my Panthers halcyon seasons, obviously with a special mentions for 2006 & 2007 as well as the Frost/Mahoney years which were never dull and presentation wise (PA apart) those meetings were second to none. Only thing they consistently got wrong was the team until it was too late but I enjoyed their time all the same. 1970 for me and can agree with most of that. |
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Post by Bigcatdiary on Jun 15, 2019 12:28:23 GMT
The very first meeting ever at Peterborough for me and my future wife came for the second meeting, consistent Supporters ever since although 1976 to 1986 we lived and worked in London so only got to Alwalton once a month, although I still got the star and went up the road to Rye when Panthers were there.
The 90,s were the era I most remember with fond memories and 2006 was special as well, as for promoters we have had some good and bad but the Lynch, Jarvis, Wing was the best era for me which was promptly followed by the disastrous Horton years.
I had high hopes with the Frost Mahoney era but despite big money they delivered nothing trophy wise and put the club through a difficult time with the authorities.
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Post by admin on Jun 15, 2019 13:42:49 GMT
as for promoters we have had some good and bad but the Lynch, Jarvis, Wing was the best era for me which was promptly followed by the disastrous Horton years. I had high hopes with the Frost Mahoney era but despite big money they delivered nothing trophy wise and put the club through a difficult time with the authorities. I don't normally stick up for Horton but, if my memory serves me right, he also had to deal with the continuation of Mercer arriving and all that that entailed regarding EoES useage. The club has never recovered from that period and Horton really did draw the short straw. Whether he could have made it work without the Mercer interference is open to question given his track record but it wasn't all bad then but would probably have finally turned as it did anyway. I remember one forum, when I used to go to such things, where he said something along the lines of (don't quote me) wanting to sign Jason Crump but when they spoke to Crump he said that he didn't want to come (that might have been the year that we got Lee Richardson or Lukas Dryml instead?) and as a fan I was gutted. I e-mailed Crump or used whatever mechanisms we did then and Crump said that he'd had no contact from Peterborough. Alarm bells As for Frost and Mahoney, was it causing trouble with authorities or their vision that the sport needed to go in a direction that the dinosaurs didn't? Given where the sport is now I still say that they were more in the right ballpark than Rodders Mafia. |
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Post by admin on Jun 15, 2019 14:00:16 GMT
Now, with H and S and noise restrictions reducing the spectacle, the present management has been the last straw and I haven't been to EOES at all this year. Would love to see a return of 20th century speedway, but it's not going to happen is it? Good points. Anyone who saw a full EoES stand, people able to stand at the back, no stewards to note, kids running to the fence to clamber up and give riders High Fives on their victory laps, realises how sterile and unappealing the place can be at times these days. That's not to say that even now it can still be good; as the last two meetings (remember those, sometime in May  ) proved. Glad you brought up the noise because that's something that grates with me more as time goes by. The bikes sound so weird these days and the noise just doesn't deliver the feeling of power and/or speed as it once did. Gone very much in the same direction as F1 in that respect. It wasn't too long ago that, at Silverstone, you could sit in Woodcote or stand at Copse withing metres of a screaming F1 car but now those areas have been moved back a long way and the cars sound bloody awful! |
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Post by rodders on Jun 15, 2019 14:10:14 GMT
Not sure when I first went to Speedway but it was prior to 1948. I know this as Wembley home meetings were in the main held at Wimbledon as it was the year of Olympic games. I never went to any of those meetings but had certainly been taken by my father to Wembley prior to that.
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Post by davet on Jun 15, 2019 14:27:04 GMT
Were the bikes silenced then? When I supported Hackney the bikes were mainly JAPs with a few Jawas (ESOs) with straight through exhausts, and, after ten years exile from Speedway it came as a shock when I went to Peterborough to find almost everyone on Weslakes with silencers. The smell of Castrol R had almost disappeared as well. Although I didn't realise at the time, this was the thin end of the wedge, with engines becoming increasingly revvy, and the noise less and less, and, to my mind the appeal of the sport has reduced at the same time.
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Post by rodders on Jun 15, 2019 14:34:33 GMT
The bikes were not silenced , I do not think silencers came in till the early seventies. All the bikes were JAP's the Jawa then known as ESO's were introduced by Barry Briggs in the late sixties I think and thought at the time to be unreliable. At the time the Jap's still had more power at the bottom end but the Jawas thought to have higher top speed. By early to middle seventies four valve engines were emerging followed by the Weslake. Neil Street built a four valve JAP which was ridden for some time by Phil Crump.
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Post by davet on Jun 15, 2019 16:56:59 GMT
Yes, the ESOs were more revvy than the JAP, but the JAP had more lower end torque. The crackle of an unsilenced JAP sounded wonderful and, to my mind this noise and the smell of vaporised Castrol R were a big part of Speedway's appeal. It used to be said that Speedway had to be watched live, and didn't come across well on TV, and I'm sure this was the reason why. Nowadays the TV presentation has improved and the live appeal reduced, which may be why people prefer to stay at home and watch on the box. Progress??
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Post by rodders on Jun 17, 2019 16:30:11 GMT
Immediate post war years were grey and bleak, few had radios and even fewer televisions, for most entertainment consisted if you were lucky a once a week visit to the cinema. Where I lived at the time there was also depending on the time of year Wembley Speedway and Ice Hockey.
On a Thursday night from the moment you got off the tube and started up Olympic Way ( it is still called that not as some would have it Wembley Way) you were in a different world. The road was lined with vendors selling rosettes , badges and the many Speedway magazines avail able at the time. For a boy it was 1/6d to get in including a programme. Sharp on 7.45 March of the Gladiators would be played followed by track staff marching with military precision and dressed immaculately in white polo jumpers and berets with Wembley insignia.
Meetings were generally preceded with Golden Helmet match races or demonstration races of leg trailing rolling starts or tests of early dirt deflecting devices.
After each race the famous red and white Wembley tractor would do two track grading laps whilst bikes were pushed out on the track ready for the next race. There was even then a specialist track grading device towed by the tractor.
During the interval there would be such things as mechanics races ,wrong way round races, even on some occasions young lads were given an opportunity to race their own motorcycles around having disconnected the brakes. Other entertainments included motor cycle display teams.
Second halves were more meaningful with decent prizes and stars from other teams were often booked in . Novices and up and coming lads were not forgotten either and there were races especially for them . There were lots of Para Medics and no major hold ups for crashes.
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Post by davet on Jun 17, 2019 19:14:13 GMT
Your first taste of speedway was the very opposite of mine. Yarmouth had dropped out of the Provincial League and ran in the East Anglian League (or words to that effect). The track staff also marched out to Entry of the Gladiators, but that was where the similarity ended. Nevertheless I was hooked from the first meeting I attended (with my dad) and despite the low status of the club I recall seeing such names as Billy Bales, Roy Trigg, Ivor Brown, Jimmy Squibb and Reg Luckhurst. Geoff Pymar was in the team and he had to be well into his fifties, having ridden pre war I believe. It cost a shilling for a child to stand on the terraces; and extra sixpence to go in the stand. Programme was ninepence and Speedway Star (and news) one and threepence! The track was cinders, watered only by hoses on the bends and consequently you returned home covered in black dust!
The racing wasn't brilliant if I'm honest, but the overall spectacle was excellent, and I'd gladly swap the speedway experience of the '60s for what we have today.
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Post by rodders on Jun 17, 2019 20:47:59 GMT
For some reason my fathers favoured position was on the third bend. The pits were in what was the players tunnel for football, which was effectively the fourth bend. Us kids used to go round to that area to get autographs etc, In those days riders used what were I suppose army surplus plastic goggles which they must of bought in bulk as they often gave them away to us and were a much sought after possesion.
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Post by rodders on Jun 18, 2019 7:56:18 GMT
Your first taste of speedway was the very opposite of mine. Yarmouth had dropped out of the Provincial League and ran in the East Anglian League (or words to that effect). The track staff also marched out to Entry of the Gladiators, but that was where the similarity ended. Nevertheless I was hooked from the first meeting I attended (with my dad) and despite the low status of the club I recall seeing such names as Billy Bales, Roy Trigg, Ivor Brown, Jimmy Squibb and Reg Luckhurst. Geoff Pymar was in the team and he had to be well into his fifties, having ridden pre war I believe. It cost a shilling for a child to stand on the terraces; and extra sixpence to go in the stand. Programme was ninepence and Speedway Star (and news) one and threepence! The track was cinders, watered only by hoses on the bends and consequently you returned home covered in black dust! The racing wasn't brilliant if I'm honest, but the overall spectacle was excellent, and I'd gladly swap the speedway experience of the '60s for what we have today. I recall and have seen most of those you mention. Billy Bales claim to fame was that before specialist equipment he wore whilst riding the old fashioned cricket batting gloves that had rubber spikes on the fingers |
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Post by davet on Jun 18, 2019 15:50:40 GMT
Don't remember that bit, but I do remember Billy Bales being tiny! I started to feel my age when Ray Bales (his son?) retired!
We always stood on the first bend terraces. At Hackney I sat in the stand on the back straight as the stand on the home straight was all behind glass which destroyed much of the atmosphere.
In those days of no silencers I always felt my car sounded like a Rolls Royce on the way home as my ears were almost numb from the noise!
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Post by rodders on Jun 18, 2019 17:47:54 GMT
What does anybody know of Wembley rider Bronco Wilson killed in an "accident" at Harringay in 1947.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2019 20:01:21 GMT
What Speedway is missing is the theatre that used to be created by riders and promoters alike. Cyril Crane phoning the ref from the centre green springs to mind.
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Post by Hodgy on Jun 19, 2019 21:05:56 GMT
What Speedway is missing is promoters that can ‘promote’ a very sellable sport. We missed the GP boat big time - far too much self interest. A great sport run by farmers.
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Post by rodders on Jun 19, 2019 21:38:46 GMT
The rot set in IMO once the BSPA took over from SCB and Speedway was in the hands of spivs and wide boys.
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Post by admin on Jun 20, 2019 12:36:07 GMT
What Speedway is missing is the theatre that used to be created by riders and promoters alike. Cyril Crane phoning the ref from the centre green springs to mind. Peterborough and Boston, regular Friday night and Sunday evening speedway from March to October, that's another thing that not only we, but speedway generally is missing, such regularity. |
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Post by admin on Jun 21, 2019 12:16:38 GMT
whilst bikes were pushed out on the track ready for the next race. There was even then a specialist track grading device towed by the tractor. When I first started going the bikes were on track outside pit gate prior to riders walking out and being pushed off. I've said numerous times that I don't know why they don't still do that, or re-introduce the practice at least. It's far more interesting than just riding onto track from the pits in already prepared fashion. |
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Post by davet on Jun 21, 2019 15:26:45 GMT
Yes, I quite liked the lining up of the bikes by the starting gate, followed by the riders on the centre green, as long at it didn't delay the start! It passed a bit of time watching the bikes being wheeled out one by one, and allowed at least a brief introduction of each rider before the helmets went on.
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) proved.