norbold

In the period we are talking about mine would be 1. Fundin 2. Duggan 3. Young 4. Briggs 5. Moore

I've just found this list in the old archives as well. It is my "Champion of Champions" list from 1946 - 66 taken from the yearly rankings (including my two made up years, 1954/55). It was produced by giving 20 points for each no. 1, 19 for no. 2 etc.: 1.Ove Fundin 209 2. Barry Briggs 199 3. Ronnie Moore 173 4. Aub Lawson 142 5. Peter Craven 140 6. Bjorn Knutson 127 7. Olle Nygren 114 8. Ken McKinlay 108 9. Jack Young 107.5 10. Jack Parker 107 11. Rune Sormander 96 12. Gote Nordin 90.5 13. Tommy Price 86 14. Norman Parker 79 15= Vic Duggan 77 15= Ron How 77 17. Split Waterman 75 18. Igor Plechanov 66 19. Fred Williams 64 20. Wilbur Lamoreaux 60

Ahah!!! After a diligent search of the Jacobs Archives I can now reveal that I have found my own rankings for 1954 and 1955, as I say based on League & Cup averages, World Championships, other big individual meetings, Test matches, etc. And here they are: 1954 1. Ronnie Moore 2. Jack Young 3. Brian Crutcher 4. Olle Nygren 5. Geoff Mardon 6. Eddie Rigg 7. Arthur Forrest 8. Eric Williams 9. Barry Briggs 10. Split Waterman 11. Fred Williams 12. Aub Lawson 13. Trevor Redmond 14. Alan Hunt 15. Arthur Wright 16. Peter Craven 17. Ove Fundin 18. Ron Johnston 19. Jack Biggs 20. Tommy Price 1955 1. Ronnie Moore 2. Jack Young 3. Brian Crutcher 4. Peter Craven 5. Ove Fundin 6. Arthur Forrest 7. Barry Briggs 8. Olle Nygren 9. Arthur Wright 10. Alan Hunt 11. Billy Bales 12. Ken Sharples 13. Ron Johnston 14. Ron Mountford 15. Phil Clarke 16. Ken McKinlay 17. Eric Williams 18. Ron How 19. Fred Williams 20. Tommy Price

Just a few "interesting" points... 1. This is for the Peter Craven fans. Between Stenners and Speedway Star all years between 1946 and 1966 are covered with the exception of 1954 and 1955. Peter won the the World Championship in 1955 so it may have been his year to top the rankings? I did once compile my own rankings for those two years, based on averages, World Championship results, other big individual meetings, Test matches, etc. though I can't find them now. I think I had Ronnie Moore top in both years, but not sure. 2. Interesting to see Ron Johnson at no.2 in 1948/49, more than 20 years after first riding. It would be the equivalent of say, someone like Greg Hancock being ranked no.2 this year.....oh.....er..... 3. Jack Biggs down at no.10 for 1951, the year he so nearly won the World Title. So, in spite of the events of that night, justice was probably done with Youngie and Split finishing first and second. 4. Double World Champion, Fred Williams, never reaching higher than 4th.

Up to 1948 they are included at the end of an article discussing the merits of the top riders written by "The Editors", i.e. Tom and Jim Stenner. From 1949 onwards they are included in an article by Jim Stenner on his own.

Stenner's Rankings: 1946/7 1. Vic Duggan 2. Jack Parker 3. Tommy Price 4. Lionel Van Praag 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Bill KItchen 7. Eric Langton 8. Ron Johnson 9. Norman Parker 10. Eric Chitty 11. Alec Statham 12. Malcolm Craven 13. Ray Duggan 14. Cordy Milne 15. Jack Milne 1947/8 1. Vic Duggan 2. Bill Kitchen 3. Norman Parker 4. Jack Parker 5. Tommy Price 6. Bill Longley 7. Alec Statham 8. Ron Johnson 9. Wilbur Lamoreaux 10. Eric Chitty 11. Malcolm Craven 12. George Wilks 13. Max Grosskreutz 14. Eric Langton 15. Bill Rogers 1948/9 1. Vic Duggan 2. Ron Johnson 3. Jack Parker 4. Aub Lawson 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Alec Statham 7. Norman Parker 8. Bill Gilbert 9. Oliver Hart 10. Eric Chitty 11. Graham Warren 12. Split Waterman 13. Ernie Price 14. Tommy Price 15. Bill Longley 1949/50 1. Jack Parker 2. Aub Lawson 3. Tommy Price 4. Vic Duggan 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Graham Warren 7. Jack Biggs 8. Norman Parker 9. Bill Gilbert 10. Dent Oliver 11. Split Waterman 12. Oliver Hart 13. Ron Clarke 14. Louis Lawson 15. Ken Le Breton 1950/51 1. Graham Warren 2. Jack Parker 3. Aub Lawson 4. Tommy Price 5. Ken Le Breton 6. Fred Williams 7. Cyril Roger 8. Norman Parker 9. Cyril Brine 10. Eric French 11. Jack Young 12. Wally Green 13. Bert Roger 14. Alec Statham 15. Ron Clarke 1951/2 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Aub Lawson 4. Ronnie Moore 5. Olle Nygren 6. Fred Williams 7. Jack Parker 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Alan Hunt 10. Jack Biggs 11. Cyril Roger 12. Norman Parker 13. Tommy Miller 14. Bob Leverenz 15. Eric Williams 1952/3 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Ronnie Moore 4. Fred Williams 5. Aub Lawson 6. Bert Roger 7. Alan Hunt 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Dick Bradley 10. Cyril Brine 11. Henry Long 12. Ron Johnston 13. Bob Leverenz 14. Tommy Miller 15.Olle Nygren 1953/4 1. Jack Young 2. Ronnie Moore 3. Split Waterman 4. Fred Williams 5. Olle Nygren 6. Aub Lawson 7. Geoff Mardon 8. Arthur Forrest 9. Alan Hunt 10. Basse Hveem 11. Tommy Price 12. Eric Williams 13. Ken Sharples 14. Dick Bradley 15. Tommy Miller P.S. The reason the rankings are over two years is because they took into account the Australian season as well.

Indeed, gustix, the experts chosen to compile the ratings were from all over the world. Just one thought did Eric Linden, Angus Kix, James Oldfield and Danny Carter all get one vote each!?

They were the only years the Speedway Star issued the rankings. They were compiled by asking speedway journalists to rank their top 20s and then add them all together. It wasn't done on results or averages or anything sophisticated. I have all the Stenner's rankings. I'll see if I can post them on here.

Ove 7 no. 1s; 2 no. 2s. Briggo 3 no. 1s; 2 no. 2s

Point 6 is an interesting one. As far as I remember there wasn't a significant drop in crowd numbers for challenge matches and lesser individual trophies. People liked their weekly dose of speedway at the time, so anything was better than nothing. I don't think you'd get away with that these days. People just don't go so regularly, there is more picking and choosing.

Thanks for the contributions everyone. So, it seems Len is the oldest rider in terms of age, but not in terms of when he first started.

You have a short memory, John. From the site you linked to: "As seen on the BSF July 9 2015:: norbold Posted Today, 11:16 AM Nine meetings took place on a track which had been prepared by a local farmer pouring oil on to a grassy field. The only covered accommodation was a canvas marquee which served as a dressing room and everything else. The first meeting was held on 10 August and included Freddie Williams, Bill Kitchen, Cyril Brine, Tiger Hart, Bob Wells and Roy Craighead. All nine meetings were refereed by Arthur Humphries. Although speedway did not return the following season, or ever again come to that, the meetings were well attended and had sideshows such as beauty contests and knobbly knees competitions."

That's about it gustix. The only thing I would disagree with is your saying, "With 2-man match races between star riders often the highlight of any dirt-track race meeting - the top stars were initially excluded from league race towns." I wasn't just 2-man races. There were plenty of normal 4-man races for a number of major trophies run on a sort of grand prix line over the whole season. These were the mainstay of the 1928 season. When team racing was introduced in 1929, the promoters thought that these trophies amongst the star riders were more popular with the punters than team matches and so excluded the star riders from team events to continue with their trophy races. However, they were very quickly proved wrong, and by the end of the 1929 season, the star riders were allowed into the teams.

I am indeed. Thank you for your kind comment. Much appreciated.

Having just reread this thread, I can't believe that no-one (especially me!) has mentioned Ron Johnson. Involved with the Crystal Palace/New Cross set up from its opening meeting in 1928 up to and including its last season in 1963.

I used to walk to Hackney. Twenty minutes across the marshes.

Yes, Rob. 1951 being the famous one of course and one of the meetings featured in Speedway's Classic Meetings.

I hope not as Tich Read died earlier this year.

I'm just back from the Annual Eastern region WSRA dinner at Norwich where I caught up with Len Read once again. At 97, he is still very fit and sprightly. Is he now the oldest former speedway rider still alive? He started riding in 1946. Are there any others still around who started in 1946? Split Waterman? Anyone else? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154351542414129&set=ms.c.eJxljEEOACAIw35kHGwI~%3B~%3B~_YiQcT8dq0xYTogjxDBauBSyqLD6GZvw5ndAeLncTqH2X7GPE5p9o4WSBE.bps.a.10154351538129129.1073741855.620694128&type=3&theater

I was there, Bob. Don't remember seeing you though.

In fairness I should point out that that is an extract from "Speedway's Classic Meetings", which I co-wrote with Chris Broadbent and that particular passage was written by Chris.

Yes, the Prinsloos were definitely from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Born in Gwelo.

Zimbabwe: Mike Ferreira

Fiji: Graham Warren & ? Japan: Jimmy Ogisu &?

You can collect your coat on your way out....