E I Addio

Undoubtedly without Len Rye House would have ceased to exist years ago. What his critics don’t realise is that his “budget “ was the profit from his Silver Ski business that paid for his purchase of the track and balancing the books on the running of his loss making speedway team. There would be no Rye House without Len undoubtedly. Before that he worked extremely hard, “ above and beyond “ to keep the crowds coming to Hackney. Far more than most promoters would do. Speedway owes him a lot. With his organisational talent he could certainly have been a wealthier man if he never got involved with Speedway promotion. I think he became a big old school in his presentations in the later years but that’s hardly a big deal. As for Boxall and Doyle I don’t think back in the days when Doyle was a reserve at Poole that many people would put money on him becoming world champion. On the other hand I think Boxall really was was one of speedways lost talents. He had great natural ability on very poor and unreliable machinery and could have been a pretty decent rider had it not been for an unfortunate combination of injuries mechanical problems, lack of sponsorship/funding, and mental attitude. He just needed someone to get him to focus more, but in terms of natural ability he was very good.

Great ! No rain offs either

I was commenting more on Len’s account of his time as GB team manager. The job was run on such a shoestring he even had to buy his own jacket . Its a few years since I read his book and can’t remember all the details but that aspect was not a glowing account of the inner workings of British speedway . Undoubtedly Len Silver is a very single minded character, but the same single mindedness that makes him a very difficult man to work with, also bred the commitment that kept Hackney and Rye House going against the odds for many years. He was undoubtedly a good servant of speedway, did his best for the riders and was a showman who engaged with the fans (although he did eventually pass his sell-by date) . He wasn’t the only one like that of course but if a few more showed half his commitment the sport would be in a better place IMO.

You mean like this ? オートレース ロケットスタートVS鬼の追い足 （Auto Race Rocket starter VS Chaser) - Bing video

I have a copy of Speedway News dated April 1939. It emphasises the need for teams to be equally balanced. More than 80 years later the penny still hasn’t dropped and self interest prevails among the BSPA who seem to still go from bad to worse. If it hasn’t happened in 80 years I don’t think you are going to see it now.

One thing that comes over in Len Silvers book is how many of the promoters are back stabbers. According to Len, when he was England or GB manager there was a lot a jealousy among those who thought they should have the job. That was purely Lens view of course but the way he openly describes it has the ring of truth to my mind, especially as it seems to have been borne out by events down the years

There was a time, years ago when a team six or more points behind would not only have choice of gates but there there was no rule to say which rider had the inner of his teams gates. Usually the heatleader chose. It only failed to work in the KO cup at Jon Cooks suggestion because riders never pay much attention to rule changes or take much notice of the score line and were still going out to their programmed gates when they could have had a choice. The idea of gates being prepared for the home team is over stated. Professional riders visiting the same tracks every season get to know the track prep and often would have ridden in the past that they now come to as a visitor. Riders talk and most of them are using more or less the same set ups anyway. It’s goes on to a point but probably not as much as people think.

Perhaps someone could fix it for Godfrey and Chapman could be given one of those visas. That really would be “ in the best interests of Speedway”!

I know. I can only assume that like a lot of other things in life if you are working with good quality people it brings your own standard up. All those who excelled, Chris Holder etc weren’t suddenly produced by Middlo, they were good a anyway. I think that both Middlo and Peter Adamd were pretty close socially to their riders and that may have had something to do with it. I suppose what I am saying really is that the TM is to some extent what you make of it. In some cases it really is just picking a t/s or heat 15 in others they work a lot harder. One of the worst T/ms I ever saw was Neil Vatcher when he was at Lakeside. Nice bloke but no communication skills with the riders at all.

I think it’s a bit of a circular thing really. A team manager is ultimately as good as his riders, by which I mean he has to have suitable riders to work with. Many professional riders, riding for possibly three teams in different countries feel they have heard it all before and are going to do their own thing whatever anybody else says. I remember Kelvin Tatum saying that if a rider is riding at a track he doesn’t like he will take it easy if he knows he has a potentially big pay day in a couple of nights time at one of his favourite tracks. On the other hand some riders will show great commitment even if they are only a guest rider . There are many variable factors a good TM needs to keep in mind . Its true that Middlo has a good track record but he was provided with some pretty good names in his squad ! I often wonder what he would have done with a team built on a low budget. Equally I think there are others who could have been successful if they had the sort of teams Middlo had . For a good team manager there is more to it than picking a t/s or heat 15. Peter Adams, at his best a few years ago was IMO the epitome of a good manager . His mind was like a computer. He would think ahead all the time plan for every eventuality. If a rider touched the tapes he knew in advance , all worked out ,what he was going to, whether he would put him on 15metres or who he would replace him with and how it would impact on the remaining heats, and all these unexpected things all taken into account as the meeting progressed. Of course , at his peak he had some pretty decent riders to work with, especially riders like Freddie Lindgren and Peter Karlsson who were good friends off the track and a good partnership on it. All these details contribute to being a good TM.

Which clubs do you reckon are averaging 2000 spectators per meeting throughout the entire season? I would be surprised if many are.Whatever the number you have to factor in concessions, kids for a quid and all that Not sure where the £350 per point comes from. I doubt if many get that much. According to the late Jon Cook it was costing around £20,000 to host a top league meeting in 2018, depending the cost of hiring the particular track. I doubt if that cost is any less today ( that would be the all in cost including points money etc. ). However what is abundantly clear is that whatever way you do the sums there is a massive shortfall between costs and gate money to be made up by sponsors. I don’t don’t how much sponsors pay but unless they are dyed- in-the-wall speedway fans sponsorship has to be at least in part a commercial decision based on exposure to size of audiences and frequency of meetings . The smaller the crowds the harder it is to justify sponsorship. In addition average age of the average speedway fan means there are less and less products to attract them. In a nutshell, I think it is a wonder many teams stay afloat financially. I hate to be negative but I see no way that the decline of this fantastic, unique sport can ever be reversed. I think we also have to face the fact that the world has moved on since speedways Golden Age. Young people these days live a different life and are interested in different things. Less and less people want to hang around in often cold stadiums when they can stay at home and watch Netflix or whatever.

The Story Of Steve Boxall’s career I’m afraid. To be fair injuries at the wrong time haven’t helped on the financial side, but he is/was quite a talent. Like others I would love to see him do well but he is running out of years now. I dont begrudge him whatever success he may achieve in the lower league but I think too late now to really cut the mustard in a big way.,

You need to find out what the “certain standards” are. According to the ACU track racing regulations helmets for speedway , grass track and moto cross have to have an ACU silver stamp but they don’t specify what standard has to be reached to get the stamp. The machine examiner just has to check that the helmets have the appropriate stamp and that’s it. However the ACU regulations give Youth riders the option of either full face or open face ( because of the difficulty in sometimes getting a full face helmet to fit a small head properly). Since no similar option is given for adult rider one presumes open face is not an option. In the Speedway Office at Lakeside there was a poster on the wall with specifications for crash helmets and since only a full face one was shown I presume open face was not acceptable. Like a lot of things in Speedway it’s not at all clear what the regulations actually do say but I’m reasonably sure they don’t put the silver stamp on open face helmets any more.

They are. There are strict regulations about the design of crash helmets including the fact the the riders hair shouldn’t be sticking out of the helmet, although that doesn’t seem to bother Richard Lawson !! I remember one incident when the referee , Paul Carrington, ruled Ales Drymls helmet illegal for some reason ( I think it was either too old or damaged ) , Dryml protested and said he had worn the helmet at other meetings. The referee asked him for details of the other meetings he had worn it it. When Dryml asked why , Paul said he was going to fine him £300 for each meeting. Dryml quickly withdrew his complaint and found another helmet !

Yes, according to the Speedway Plus website Briggo was the first to wear one in 1969. I stand to be corrected if anyone knows different but I am pretty sure that Briggo, who had a handy sideline in marketing various items of Speedway equipment, marketed his own brand of full face helmets specially designed for Speedway. Full face helmets originally were made for car racers but for some reason were not really suitable for bikes until modifications were made.

Not sure about the film but I have read that he both amassed and spent a fortune. At one time he was said to have been living at some top London hotel but didn’t look after his money and apparently died penniless. Others may be able to fill in more details.

To be fair , I think the g council were at best luke warm towards the sport but the local MP , Jackie Doyle- Price was very supportive and even attended a couple of meetings but there was little she could do on her own.

Or maybe it’s just Busters head that’s damaged ?

Indeed. I still remember him postponing a meeting a few years ago because he supposedly couldn’t get an electrician to change a fuse on the track lights. It’s hardly unexpected for a stock car to run into a safety fence is it ? One wonders how it passed the safety check in the first place if it won’t take a few crashes.

Norman, like Bjorn Knutson, was a rider that suffered badly with nerves on big occasions. In an interview with Classic Speedway magazine he said he travelled to a lot of meetings with Ken McKinlay and Ken could always tell when he was nervous because he would start clearing his throat a lot. Norm said he wasn’t nervous about getting injured but he felt the pressure to do well. We can only speculate what might have happened if that cruel injury had not intervened but if, with experience he managed to conquer his nerves, as Knutson eventually did, I like to think he would have made an impact at World class. He had already shown he had the ability to beat everybody who was anybody, including Fundin, so who knows how far he could have gone.

Not just your opinion about Norm reaching his peak when he had his accident at Prestatyn Bobbath, the man himself thinks he was in the form of his life at that time. He was called up as reserve in the 1968 World Team Cup and won the one ride he had, beating Anders Michanek of all people. In 1969 he beat both Briggo and Nigel Boocock to win the Midland Riders Championship, averaged 10.35 from his first 15 official matches of the season, and was top English rider in the World Championship qualifying rounds to reach the British Final when his big crash intervened. I would say therefore, that there must have been every possibility that he could have been a significant performer on the World stage over the next few years.

Wasn’t Tony a road tester for Triumph at one stage, along with Road racer Percy Tait ? I might be wrong but I have a feeling they were both involved with developing the Triumph 3 cylinder 750 cc.

Hi, Bobbath , Could you Just remind us who the last 16 are? Thanks

Time moves on and these sad events are inescapable, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see the sports rich history and the riders that made it, fading into the past.

Jack Scott wasn’t it ? I remember the name from the history books but never saw him race. A part of the sports rich history gone though.