miro

Who I understand was the first American to appear in the British League in 1969 when he joined Leicester. (If this is wrong information blame Alan Jones. Sadly Dewayne lost his life 6 years later in a track accident at Ascot Park in California. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I remember seeing him that year. I believe he was a general motorcycle racer who hadn't ridden speedway proper before he came over, is that so?

Thanks for the confirmation Norbold. I had Miny Waln in my first post above.

Did Art Pechar actually ride for a league team? also was Cecil Brown who rode for Wimbledon in 1929 American?

Dewayne Keeter Sumner McKnight Benny Kaufman Ernie Roccio Byrd McKinney Miny Waln

The film was The Long Good Friday, and as far as I know the filming was done at the Harringay stadium in London in 1979, the year it closed, now a supermarket.

Today on the BBC news website http://news.bbc.co.uk/ theres a clip of racing at Wimbledon in 1946, go to the story 'rude interruption' about the return of BBC TV after the war - it looks like a 60 year old tv picture but ... heh.

Bob the last time I saw Joe Gooddy riding for Crayford he was on a Weslake, and it wasn't falling apart either.

There was a race between four riders on a one mile horse racing track in Los Angeles in May 1901, won by Ralph Hamlin riding an Orient. The first motorcycle track race was at Sheen House in Richmond, Surrey, on November 29 1897, won by Charles Jarrett riding a Fournier. The Sheen House bicycle track was a 536 metre cinder oval ...

Jackie Hart

Kevin Hayden Merv Neil Bruce Ovenden George Mudgway Peter Dykes Mick Holland Ron Johnston Harold Fairhurst Don Cuppleditch

Maury Dunn Wayne Briggs Trevor Redmond Geoff Mardon

correct DAVE Whitaker of Plymouth

Paul Whitaker Murray Burt

Do you mean the British League or in league speedway in Britain? these rode for Oxford: Bill Thatcher Frank Boyle Bob McFarlane Charlie New Rick Timmo Spencer Timmo James Moore

Fundin would have been wearing the eyeshields he always used, known as 'gas goggles'. These could be had from army surplus shop and had their origins in WW2, perhaps before, and came in a brown cardboard wallet. There was a clear, shaped variety, a tinted version some riders wore as Fundin sometimes did, along with a wider flat one which was worn on the peak, as Ken McKinlay used. They were nothing more than a sheet of clear soft plastic with a strap and a glued strip along the top.

Grachan I remember the moped 'race'. Could you imagine what would be said on this forum if that kind of thing went on today ...

Yes I believe Ulf is the rider in blue, long time ago now! I can be a very sad person when it comes to Speedway trivia and I hope I've got it under control these days! God no I'm not planning a book about face masks, and I wonder now at how much I once noticed, every detail fascinated me back then, and there was so much variety and individuality. Superb race between Ashby and Kennett. I enjoyed going to Swindon on a summer saturday evening and watching Ashby (and I'm sitting here in Oxford saying that!). Cheers

In the Oxford clips from 1974 the other home riders on view look like John Davis (briefly), Ulf Lovass and as you say John Dews. (Dews in fact wore a white face mask whereas Ashby's was of a different design and light grey in colour, look out for my forthcoming book 'Classic Speedway Face Masks'). 3000 people at Cowley for the 1975 Midland Cup Final on a Sunday afternoon, this was supposed the be the last ever meeting there ...without getting the programmes out I believe Kennetts partner was Trevor Geer, looks like him anyway. Thanks so much for that, happy days at Oxford and Swindon

Two promoters who blew in from nowhere (well the West Country actually) driving matching Volvo sports cars and had instant success were the now forgotten Cy Melville and Rodney Rycroft at Oxford in 1964. Hiring a team (as legend has it in a meeting at the buffet of Paddington station) just two weeks before the start of the season they went on to win the treble of National League, National Trophy and Britannia Shield, a phenomonal first season, in the last year these competitions were staged. The double act quit at the end of the campaign and were never heard of again, allegedly because they were only getting gates of 3000, when they thought they should have held the 9000 they claimed for the Good Friday slaughter of Swindon, happy days. Melville, I believe, held important talks with Mike Parker towards the ammalgamation of the PL and NL and obviously was a promoter who should have been kept on board, but it was the old guard NL promoters who did for them I suspect, as stories at the time circulated ... Oxfords historic role in the sport has been to make up the numbers as another successful outsider, Steve Purchase, discoverd years later...

Now you say it Norbold I can't picture anyone in the pre-war years wearing a yellow and black helmet colour, all very ad hoc in those days of course. The black and yellow halves were from the 1940s to 1956 when the quadrant came in then I guess. The Swedes used plain yellow and a black cross on yellow too. Ah Speedway trivia, you can't beat it to pass the time.

The speedway helmet colours come from Greyhound racing traps: 1 = red, 2 = blue, 3 = white, 4 = black combined with 5 = yellow. Some early league meetings had both home riders in red and away in blue. The covers themselves were, I believe, originally waterproof covers worn over cork crash helmets, as used by early aviators and I've seen pictures of riders in the IoM TT wearing them in the '20s.

As mentioned above, anyone remember what Henryk Zyto was riding at Coventry in 1960? Speaking of early users of the Jawa/ESO, http://speedwaybikes.fortunecity.net/esostory.htm offers this from 1957: "The speed and reliability of the ESO speedway machine drew attention also of foreign riders, many of whom are now riding these machines. Of the best known are K.Killmeyer, Kupczinski, Anderson, Siegi, Seemander, Craighead and Bishop must be mentioned" (1957) Meaning Karl Kilmeyer, Edward Kupczynski, Henry Andersen (?), Georg Siedl or Albin Seigl and Rune Sormander I guess, the only Criaghead I can think of is Roy and Phil Bishop? Can anyone add any more info on the last two?

I believe, unless memory tricks me, that the last JAP I saw being raced in a league match was ridden by Terry Kelly of Workington at Oxford as late as 1981, he scored 1, Oxford winning 62-15

Conny Samuelsson rode for Oxford in the first few months of 1969. His form in the UK was a mystery - he scored a superb dozen at Swindon and broke the Coventry track record and yet the next moment he was hopeless, only scoring a handful of points in his other meetings before being released. He had everything going for him back then but couldn't adapt to racing outside of Sweden I guess, I remember him only being completely useless around Cowley. As you say he was successful on Ice and Longtrack but his main claim to fame was his record for Njudungarna/Vetlanda in the Swedish leagues, representing them during each season from 1964 to 1999, an incredible record and the only answer to the old question of who was the longest serving rider, Oxford was his only other club in all that time.