iris123

1926 and maybe the first ever speedway strike !!! Before a crowd of 35,000 4 riders went on strike for more money. The management refused their demands and had them escorted from the track It seems that a Jones a rider from the south was promised he could make 70 pounds from the meeting, but on arrival it was discovered only 45 was possible. So with his father who was manager he asked for a match race with Frank Pearce for a sum of 60 pounds to be split 40-20 or 30-30. The management refused the request. He then refused to race in the meeting. Shortly after a written request for substantially more money was handed in from Charlie Spinks and Frank Pearce, who then refused to ride after a rise of 20 pounds was given on account that they had given their word to stand by Jones and his fellow rider from the south Leo Melville. According to the management the total demands came to a sum of 240 pounds !! In another account all the riders were brought together for a conference and one, Yenson was heard to be arguing with the strikers, but they couldn't be convinced to back down and were even joined by another, Bob Gream also from the south In an interview Spinks, Pearce and Melville said they was offered money, but wouldn't 'scab' on fellow rider Jones. It seems the crowd were voiciferously behind the strikers and shouted 'scabs' at the others and were booing the announcer and cheered a couple of riders they mistakenly thought were joining the strike A letter from one of the spectators reads ' Sir- as a spectator of saturday night's upheaval in the Speedway's hitherto well arranged programme. I was one of a crowd of spectators loyal to the local riders, who I see in the mornings paper have been expelled from the track for good. I for one, will not be a spectator again until these boys are re-instated....' Another wrote ' Sir,- I wish to express my admiration of the speedway riders who went on strike last saturday night. As one who has attended every meeting held and noted the steady increase in the number attending (17,000 to 35,000) I imagine the money receipts must make the thing a huge financial success. I have often thought how ill repaid the riders were for the risks they run in order to give the public a comparatively cheap thrill....' The management held a meeting on the Monday night with all the riders apart from those banned and gave them a bonus for their loyalty and set out their financial case on all the costs they had to pay out in keeping the speedway running. They also stated that one of the strikers had actually received 4 weeks pay for an injury not involving the speedway. They also announced a rise in prize money for the holder of the Golden Helmet etc. It stated the total prize money would be 300 pounds, which was almost double what the Speedway Royal in Sydney was paying out(160) Frank Pearce also sent a letter admitting it was a mistake and so the management lifted the ban on him, as did Leo Melville. I guess Charlie Spinks took a while longer as he spent a month riding in Sydney before his return

The 1937 Derby meeting results Ht 1. B.Wilkinson, T.Croombs, S.Langton Ht 2. W.Little, C.parkinson, A.Fenn Ht 3. V.Huxley, N.Parker Ht 4. V.Duggan, B.McKinney, J.Parker Ht 5. W.Lamoreaux, R.Sulway, D.Case Ht 6. J.Milne, J.Chigwell Semi 1 Wilkinson, McKinney, Little Semi 2. Huxley, Parkinson, Duggan Semi 3. Lamoreaux, J.Milne Final . Wilkinson, Milne, Huxley, Lamoreaux Under adverse conditions, Bluey Wilkinson, after a hard fought battle with Jack Milne won the World's Speedway Derby at the Showground on sunday night. For the last half lap of the race Wilkinson rode on a flat tyre. Wilkinson kept the lead from start to finish.The American Milne was always on his tail. The winners time of 61 sec was the fastest of the night. Vic Duggan, who at the start of the season was riding as a novice did well to beat Byrd McKinney and Jack Parker in the 4th heat, but was eliminated in the semi. He led the field in the consolation scratch, his time was 44.2 for 2 laps

Found it. Pt 1 of the Ernie Evans story Started out when he was in fact too young to hold a licence and an old lady told once said ' He ought to be well spanked and put to bed instead of flying round there like a mad thing' He was coached by Reg West and soon started winning and making money, and after two seasons at Melbourne decided he wanted some of the 'gold' that Huxley etc were making and set off for England. He soon learned the streets of London weren't paved with gold as nobody believed him that he was Australian. Apparently a number of english riders were at the time pretending to be Aussies and had been found out !!!!(one of his half truths or real ?) Ended up at Belle Vue and was given a chance by E.O.Spence ,The king of the North. And was racing 5 nights a week and was given 12 pound appearance money and at the end of the season was invited by A.J.Hunting to join the group of riders to race in South America. First port of call was Rio and 'we thought the city had gone en fete for us. As we sailed up the harbour guns were fired - as we thought in salute - but we were disappointed when we found out it was only a periodical revolution and were not allowed to land........on arrival in Buenos Aires, we were divided into two teams, one to ride at La Huracan speedway and the other at La Plata. The tracks were perhaps the finest in the world, being surfaced with brick dust, but unfortunately when it rains they become a sea of mud. We raced 4 nights a week and were always assured of at least 30,000 spectators......ordinary racing such as we have in Australia or England would not satisfy them They must have thrills and crashes all the time.......No crowd in the world is as ready to applaud as they, and of course to condem. In fact one night to show their disapproval of their champion Juan Pagano, who struck engine trouble, they burnt down the grandstand ' !!!! 'A couple fo shootings among the spectators was no rare event. But fortunately they didn't pick on us ' He describes the strange situation of spending a night in a cell and being fined 50 pesos for a traffic offence, but someone had been killed while he was out shopping with Pagano almost before their eyes and yet got off scot free !! After a few weeks he was loaned out to a new speedway in Rosario(3rd Argentine track), which turned out to be an old trotting track and the locals were on pre-WW1 machines. Evans was billed there as 'the greatest rider the world had ever seen' and towards the end of the meeting he was giving the locals a 2 lap start in a 6 lap race !!! 'During our stay in Buenos Aires we raced quite often in Monte Video which is just across the River Plata. We travelled back and forth on Pan American Airways' 'I found my visit to the Argentina all too short and was reluctant to leave at the end of 7 months, but with the close of the dirt track season there was nothing to hold us...'

Seeing as I typed it all out, seems a pity not to put it on the Lokstedt thread for the very short 1933 season Now looking at my info, it was probably 26th April 1933, which was the opening meeting of the season. The next meeting was the meeting v Australia in May 10,000 came, which was not bad and the 4,000 for the next meeting was quite a drop!!! Grosskreutz won all 5 of his races including a match race v Rumrich. Case won 4 out of 5. John Glass, Dicky Wise and Ernie Evans were riding and Herbert Drews was the best local rider on the night. The newspaper report states Grosskreutz, Case in partnership with A.J. Reynolds got the Dirt Track back up and running Can add some info that was sent to me from an article in Speedway Star and news May, 1959 about Grosskreutz In 1933 he travelled to Germany with Dick Case and several other riders to race at Hamburg but at the time the Nazis were coming to power and they frowned on the venture. At the very last meeting Case and Grosskreutz were desperately short of money. The only solution they could see was to stage an International All Star meeting for a valuable gold cup. Minus money, they sought out an enterprising pawnbroker and borrowed a gold cup from him with a promise to return it on Monday morning, the meeting being raced on Sunday. There was no doubt in either Case's or Grosskruetz's mind that they would be able to do this, for both were far ahead of the German and Danish riders who were to race against them. Unfortunately their plan misfired. Max had engine trouble in his second outing while Case when well placed in the lead broke a chain. This meant that a tough German farmer won the cup and refused point blank to hand it back. "I've win, I keep " he told them. They offered him as much money as they could raise: they asked to borrow the cup for a short while, but the German refused and they eventually went home..... I am not sure of the truth in this though. I only have found record of a third meeting, the next Wednesday 10th May. No mention of the above happening and it seemed the seasons meetings were all on a Wednesday, not Sunday as mentioned, but in the final Rumrich won after a great race just beating Grsskreutz with Case 3rd and then Drews in 4th. So it is possible this was the race everything hung on and it was Rumrich that refused to hand back the gold cup........No crowd figure given, just a note from the journalist that it remains a mystery why the Hamburg public don't support what is a great sport....... After that it was announced a short break of a couple of weeks would take place, as I stated above....... And the Ernie Evans version Found an interesting version of the story from Ernie Evans, told in 1936,so not too long after, but still not tying u with the facts that I have from local papers At the completion of the season in England I returned to Australia and while riding at the Exhibition speedway, Melbourne won the Victorian Championship On arrival back in England next season I was offered many lucrative contracts from the speedways in London and the provinces, but I listened to the tempter Dick Case, who had remained in England during the winter and had formed the opinion that there was a fortune to be made on the Continent for enterprising speedway riders. He found out that in some places the sport was booming and good speedway riders were scarce. Also that there was a track in Hamburg that could be leased for a reasonable amount. He put the proposition to Grosskreutz, Wise, Murphy, Cantwell and myself, so we decided not only would we ride but make a fortune by acting as our own promoters In our egotism we felt that none of the German riders could come within coo-ee of us. so we decided that while we were about it, we would have a decent trophy. Dick Case, the bargainer spotted a magnificent gold cup in a pawnshop, so he 'hicked' one of our machines for it on the understanding that when one of us won it the machine would be redeemed. On the night of the championship we all struck engine trouble and a Bavarian rider Sebastian Roth riding a fast JAP had no trouble winning the championship and incidentally the cup. Strange as it may seem we could not prevail on him to return the trophy. The championship fiasco was a severe blow to our finances, so when we discovered that there was to be a public holiday the following week we thought that it was a heaven sent opportunity t recuperate our losses. Little did we know it would end our stay in Germany. On the day of the holiday everything was ready, but when we arrived at the track we were surprised to see that there was not a spectator on the ground. Usually there were a few spectators who arrived early to watch the practice runs. As time went on still no spectators appeared, and then we really began to get worried. At last people began to arrive, but to our consternation they were in uniforms and were Hitlers stormtroopers sent to see that nobody entered the ground. It was then that we were informed that Hitlers birthday was a close holiday and no sports or any other amusements are held. We did not know until after we left Germany that the Hamburg papers had been writing about us for daring to desecrate Herr Hitlers birthday, a holiday which is regarded in the same light as Anzac day in Australia. To this day we blamed our publicity agent, as he should have told us of the mistake we were making. We thought we had our own back as we pinched his car when we decided to seek fresh fields to conquer.... Again the trouble with this story is Hitlers birthday, which was a public holiday in 1933 was 20th April, which was before the opening meeting of the season.....

Brilliant . So far only really found sketchy info. Evans broke his nose in a crash and won a match race against Salatino for instance Have an idea the piece he wrote about Hamburg, Denmark and USA was the second part of a story and the first part included Argentina. Try to find that bit later. But going by the Hamburg / Denmark piece it might not be very accurate

Think I made the mistake there -. It mentions Hunting going to South America and establishing 3 speedways and engaging 30 Argentine riders. But doesn't say 3 tracks in Argentina !! Mentions Billy Lamont will captain River Plate, so there was a team meeting ? And no mention of Uruguayan riders !!!

Oh yes. Nowadays it’s a bit of a novelty to see a British rider. A Scottish or Welsh one rarer than a penny black !!!

Yes, he posted a link from 'Make smoking history Pinjar Park' , on FB. Probably the same link. But thanks

My cousin, who has just emigrated to Perth a coupe of weeks back is live at Pinjar Park

See a report from A.J. Hunting moaning about the fickle Argentine fans. As soon as the weather isn't too good the crowds drop off !!! And of 28 planned meetings, 8 were called off, 18 were held in threatening weather, 4 on cold nights and only about 3 in what could be called good weather. But the 16 year old Ernie Evans was a bit of a sensation A later report from Hunting stating the sport in England was on a bit of a decline. The number of tracks falling from 90 to about 60 and possibly more closing. Then states he established 3 tracks in Argentina with crowds around 20,000 4 nights a week !!! The riders flying by plane to one track about 150 miles away from Buenos Aires

See Ernie Evans stating the tracks wer very hard and took some time to get used to. He also comments that the locals were more interested in chroming their bikes than tuning them !!!

I saw that and then elsewhere that 1933 was the first, which did seem hard to believe, so quick after coming to power. What is strange though is that this story was in the press in 1936, which would then be before it was made a public holiday, so Evans was predicting the future !!!! Then went on to talk about the tragic trip to Denmark and the death of Col Cantwell , again checking on his death Evans gets that wrong and places it after the Hamburg fiasco, when it was before according to Chunky’s website, and then his trip to the US One newspaper report http://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/index.php?id=dfg-viewer&set[mets]=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fzefys%2FSNP25128437-19330420-0-0-0-0.xml

Found heat details of some of the other Derby meetings 1936 1.V.Huxley,N.Key, S.Langton 2. B.Wilkinson,C.Parkinson.S.Perkins 3.J.Milne, McLachlan, A.Atkinson 4.W.Phillips, D.Haigh, B.Lamont 5. T.Stevenson, F.Pearce 6.M.Grosskreutz, C.Mitchell, R.Stobart Semi finals 1. V.Huxley, B.Wilkinson, C.Mitchell 2.W.Phillips,J.Milne, N.Key 3. M.Grosskreutz, T.Stevenson, C.Parkinson Final M.Grosskreutz, V.Huxley, W.Phillips

Found an interesting version of the story from Ernie Evans, told in 1936,so not too long after, but still not tying u with the facts that I have from local papers At the completion of the season in England I returned to Australia and while riding at the Exhibition speedway, Melbourne won the Victorian Championship On arrival back in England next season I was offered many lucrative contracts from the speedways in London and the provinces, but I listened to the tempter Dick Case, who had remained in England during the winter and had formed the opinion that there was a fortune to be made on the Continent for enterprising speedway riders. He found out that in some places the sport was booming and good speedway riders were scarce. Also that there was a track in Hamburg that could be leased for a reasonable amount. He put the proposition to Grosskreutz, Wise, Murphy, Cantwell and myself, so we decided not only would we ride but make a fortune by acting as our own promoters In our egotism we felt that none of the German riders could come within coo-ee of us. so we decided that while we were about it, we would have a decent trophy. Dick Case, the bargainer spotted a magnificent gold cup in a pawnshop, so he 'hicked' one of our machines for it on the understanding that when one of us won it the machine would be redeemed. On the night of the championship we all struck engine trouble and a Bavarian rider Sebastian Roth riding a fast JAP had no trouble winning the championship and incidentally the cup. Strange as it may seem we could not prevail on him to return the trophy. The championship fiasco was a severe blow to our finances, so when we discovered that there was to be a public holiday the following week we thought that it was a heaven sent opportunity t recuperate our losses. Little did we know it would end our stay in Germany. On the day of the holiday everything was ready, but when we arrived at the track we were surprised to see that there was not a spectator on the ground. Usually there were a few spectators who arrived early to watch the practice runs. As time went on still no spectators appeared, and then we really began to get worried. At last people began to arrive, but to our consternation they were in uniforms and were Hitlers stormtroopers sent to see that nobody entered the ground. It was then that we were informed that Hitlers birthday was a close holiday and no sports or any other amusements are held. We did not know until after we left Germany that the Hamburg papers had been writing about us for daring to desecrate Herr Hitlers birthday, a holiday which is regarded in the same light as Anzac day in Australia. To this day we blamed our publicity agent, as he should have told us of the mistake we were making. We thought we had our own back as we pinched his car when we decided to seek fresh fields to conquer.... Again the trouble with this story is Hitlers birthday, which was a public holiday in 1933 was 20th April, which was before the opening meeting of the season.....

The funny bit about the incident that at the end of one report it stated there would be a 10 lap race at one meeting, but Parker wouldn't compete because he had hurt his back !!!

Seems there were quite a few problems in speedway in the pre-war days One such incident took place just before the first Australia v England test of 1939 in Sydney Riders were informed that heats were to be run over 4 laps instead of the usual 3. Riders of both teams protested to officials of N.S.W A.C.U, but were told the instructions came from Melbourne and there was nothing they could do. 'Bluey' Wilkinson, the Australian captain stated the additional lap would increase the risk of machine failure. 3 laps produce harder and closer races. Jack Parker, the England captain was also worried about mechanical failure, but stated big meetings like tests had a bearing on what riders could earn from signing contracts and poor performances could cost them. Riders started the first heat not knowing whether it would be concluded after 3 or 4 heats. In the end they got their way and all heats were run over 3 laps !!!

In part answer to the question, at least I have seen mention pre-1928 that the A. C. U were involved in overseeing the sport in Australia, so I guess in those early days what with Australia and GB they had a fair stronghold on the sport

Mentioned above

It would be nice to read some interesting info, like maybe a report from one of the meetings, a line- up or you know something

I posted that yesterday, but let you off as it was on an obscure global warming topic

That is the problem. Where is the source of the information? One sites makes a mistake and others just share it without checking. How many sites give Hoskins credit for inventing speedway ? It isn’t how many sites get it wrong, it is how many check things they share I think I have posted credible contemporary evidence that clearly places Lammy in between Waln and Milne as 1933 champ Without getting into a Barney, I can vouch for Britmets Information having checked his piece on the German golden helmet . We also know you have a habit of sharing, shall we say dodgy info from sites.....

Yes. exactly. Seemingly with the wrong winner in 1933, which is why I wouldn’t use it. Britmet’s speedway champions site is better John

Great. Thanks !!!

Also note that Frank Pearce was born in London

Managed to track down a photo of Bo Lisman, 'Shorty' Campbell, Cordy Milne,Lammy with 'Bimbo' Seward, P.A. Bigsby, Ed Seward lined up on track in Mexico https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/motorcyclist-pictorial/