steve roberts

Good post! I'm at a loss to work out what makes young people 'tick' and how best to stimulate any interest or enthusiasm. As I've mentioned many times I work within the tourism industry and tire at having to continually hear the term 'it needs to be interactive'...which often translates 'having buttons to press' or an area that parents can leave their children to do as they please which ultimately means a play area. I see teenagers walking around at work with that bored expression painted across their faces...although I do have ways breaking that scenario by stepping into character!! The call is that speedway needs to attract a younger cliental but how that can be achieved I'm at a loss hence why I can see speedway becoming very much an amateur sport somewhat akin to grass track (which is in an even worse state).

It's a worrying trend and to think when 'I were a lad' (more years than I care to remember) I spent the best part of my formative years playing football and cricket, cowboys and indians (can hear the PC brigade now), cycling everywhere, playing in the woods and netting sticklebacks as well as putting on puppet shows! Fortunately Dad was a great speedway fan and as well as my weekly fix watching speedway at Cowley we used to travel up to 'the smoke' every Wednesday or Tuesday to watch White City and often Swindon on the Saturday. Many of my school colleagues never had the opportunity going to London but we were doing it on a regular basis! We also went to watch 'The U's' at the Manor Ground when the chance was offered. Great days...never had a boring moment during my child hood. Electrical toys? Scalextric was a favourite but no model railway...but I'm making up for that now!

Never thought that I'd be agreeing with old Shovlar!

I used to be Safety Laboratory Rep at my University Department at Oxford as well as a Safety Rep when I relocated to York at one of the main museums. Having attended the relevant courses I can see the importance of H&S in the Workplace but some of it can appear trivial. For example some people are beyond help like the time someone I knew stapled his finger just to see if it would hurt!

Good post! Agree with everything you say. I have often cited many of the same views as yourself on this and the old Oxford Forum (the one that old Shovlar never frequented!) Personally I feel that the sport has reached a critical point and just tinkering with the rules isn't going to turn it around.

Testimonial Meetings became/is a bit of a joke really. It should be 10 years spent at one track (or at least with the same promotion). Benefit meetings, however, are another matter.

...probably the impossible dream!

Probably my list would be the same Sid!

Easy one that...Ivan Mauger!

I would have thought that chanting banal songs and other such nonsense at football matches embarrassing enough...but they seem quite happy to do that!

Trouble is the speedway fraternity doesn't really know what and what doesn't appeal to a younger audience because there is a lack of engagement between the two. Personally I don't know what excites and enthuses young people (other than the usual stereo-typing) and working within the tourism industry it's still a mystery to me.

Sorry I don't I'm afraid. Extracted the information form the 1978 Yearbook edited by Peter Oakes.

Brought up in Cowley I've always wondered where it used to be? Anywhere near the caravan park that is/was?

Couldn't agree more! It makes me so angry when I read of the predicament of my old team Oxford who first operated before the war at Cowley Stadium and then from 1949 and were one of the longest running clubs only for some incompetent successive owners of the stadium to create the mess that presently presides. Oxford Speedway grew from very basic roots whereby Grasstrack enthusiasts who used to run ad-hoc meetings at Sandford-on-Thames took the initiative and had a stadium built on the out skirts (as it was then) of the city. I wish the Save our Stadium campaign all the best and hope that the facility can be saved for future enjoyment, in whatever guise, as the people of Oxford deserve better.

The bonus point issue is interesting. From my understanding they were points carried over from previous rounds...bit like the present GP system or certainly the Grand Prix Tournament that ran during the seventies culminating with a Grand Final whereby points were carried over from the qualifying rounds.

Yes I was tempted a couple of years ago but I awoke to drizzle and gave it a miss...however who knows!

Yes it's well known on here that I stopped attending when I re-located to York from Oxford. When living in Oxford (Littlemore) it was a short walk to the stadium and that was my main incentive in continuing to go as, even then, I could see that the sport was experiencing problems and was on the decline. My nearest tracks where I now live are Sheffield, Redcar and, I guess, Scunthorpe (Manchester is a pig of a place to get to on a regular basis) and it obviously would require me to get into a car and travel upwards of fifty miles one way. That's a massive dis-incentive and one I'm not prepared to do.

Reminds me of the comment John Berry once made regarding the state of the inside of Cowley track back in the seventies (it did hold stock car racing for a short while) "It looked like a place that Morris Minors came to die!"

The result was Bristol 16 (Langli 9 & Boocock 7) Belle Vue 15 (Morton 11 & Phil Collins 4) Exeter 14 (Verner 9 & Prinsloo 5) Wolves 10 (McMillan 7 & Nielsen 3) Swindon 5 (McNeil 5 & Rumsey 0) Fastest Time: 74.6 Langli

Most certainly...point being that certain people on here need to realise that instead of getting their knickers in a twist!

That would be my chosen 18 but which two would be the reserves? Now there's a conundrum!

I would also include Vic Duggan and Spit Waterman.

Having read Nick Robinson's book (BBC Political Editor) he stated that public forum's are often based on an individual's personal opinion and not necessarily based on facts.

Sad news indeed. RIP

A meeting I would enjoy watching in my fantasy world would be: 1. Sprouts Elder 2. Lionel Van Praag 3. Bluey Wilkinson 4. Eric Langton 5. Jack Parker 6. Jack Young 7. Jack Milne 8. Freddie Williams 9. Ronnie Moore 10. Ove Fundin 11. Peter Craven 12. Barry Briggs 13. Bjorn Knutsson 14. Tommy Farndon 15. Igor Plechanov 16. Tommy Price What a meeting that would be!