steve roberts

I remember at Cowley on one occasion that the sound system had failed on the back straight and the fans were without public announcements for a number of meetings (?) because the owners were in no hurry to put it right and you can imagine the fans reaction?

I would generally agree...15 heats of racing isn't really acceptable in my opinion. However the biggest problem with speedway is that many promotions just lease the stadium and have no real control as regards the lack of facilities. Take catering for example. I learnt thru' Steve Purchase (nice bloke by the way) that all catering and bar sales went to the the stadium owners and he didn't see a penny. Many promoters have their hands tied and in a perfect world they would own the stadium in which they operated from and everyone would benefit? As a matter of interest how many stadiums are actually owned by the speedway promotion in this country? Buster Chapman comes to mind...any others out there?

Yes it was in PC's book and seems strange to me that there is an anomaly/inconsistancy as regards issue of passes? I've done a bit of promotion and in fact gave some talks/presentations at schools but I was let down as regards support. Steve Purchase (one-time promoter at Oxford) even invited me along to a pre-season discussion to hopefully come up with ideas to help promote the sport to the uninitiated. I even gave out leaflets at a local Tesco's branch but who's to say that sort of self-promotion actually achieves anything?...fortunately there's better people out there as I have no quick fix answers as regards getting the sport noticed!

If TikTok (whatever that is?) encourages new fans to the sport that's okay with me. Getting back to free passes it's funny that ex-ACU referees who apparently can enter any track as a "freebie" doesn't attract the same sort of reaction from posters as ex-riders appear to do?

...now there's a thought? I did submit some articles to the "Cheetahs Chronicle" many years ago. My uncle, who was the Oxford Track Photographer, published three books containing many of the images he took during the middle seventies.

Absolutely! Tony Mac has hinted at another book in the making...can't wait!

Good stuff!

Two tracks I would dearly liked to have seen!

...how dare we keep talking about "the good old days!" However the title of this particular thread is about a book which contains recollections/thoughts and therefore stimulates opinions and/or memories. Keep them coming...

Visited the Shay a few years back long after the speedway had gone. Found it difficult visualising where the track was but I believe the pit area was still in situ?

That was one track I never got to although I have DVDs of action there. Of course there was the infamous occasion that John Berry and Ron Bagley took a tape measure out to measure the width which caused all sorts of aggro and led to a hearing at the offices of the Control Board (?) in London which home promoter Ian Thomas never turned up to. Thomas later admitted that he had a specially "adapted" tape measure with the first foot or two cut off so that to anyone else the track was of the required width!

I guess many would argue that the starting gate at Cowley was too near to the first bend which occasionally caused problems on the first bend (the outside gate was always a bad choice unless your got a flier and managed to close the others down) The racing line improved when Hans joined and had the entries and exits of the bend brought in creating more passing opportunities. Of course the adverse camber on the pits bend caught many riders out although our Norwegian "Star" (won't mention him again Chunky!) had it off to an art! Ipswich was never a favourite of mine...too narrow in my opinion although I have seen some good races there! and MelvynTaylor excelled there when a "Cheetah".

Remember when "Wilkie" strode across the centre green at Cowley and ripped the tapes with his bare hands from the starting gate! Great days and as you can imagine got the crowd going and adding to the atmosphere! For the life of me I can't recall what caused the outrage? Can only guess that the referee had excluded him for some misdemeanour? Great character and sadly missed. I never got a copy of his book but I can only guess it was full of anecdotes? Imagine an interview or a Q & A session with the great man?

Just come across this thread (thanks to iris123)... Oxford, White City, Hackney (Len Silver's days), Eastbourne (before they messed about with it) & Swindon (when prepaerd properly).

PC mentions in his book the occasion that Alan Wilkinson took issue over a referee's decision at King's Lynn after an incident with Ian Turner and stormed up the ladder (after first slipping up to the cheers of the crowd!) to the ref's box to have it out with him! Got that episode on DVD...a harsh exclusion in my opinion. Typical "Wilkie" robust pass but not worthy of being thrown out of the race.

I shall do my best to oblige!

...Yep I thought so!

...I dunno Tony but the example I gave regarding Arne Pander who visited Cowley on a one-off which enticed a "lost fan" to return to the sport wasn't a bad return in monetary terms?

Although Nigel Wagstaff wasn't everybody's cup of tea he would often hold a post meeting question & answer session with a couple of riders and throwing it open to the public to join in.

Recall he rode for Cradley in 1984 (?)

That'll be interesting? Would be a good initiative for the more forward thinking promotions allowing riders access to the stadium free if in return the rider was happy to give a talk after the meeting? Obviously there are some riders who would find public speaking difficult (don't many of us?) but I'm sure some would be happy to do so given the right incentive. I thoroughly enjoyed the interviews that Lee Ashby carried out on line with former riders although I would have pressed some of the riders more with their answers to some of the questions...John Davis in particular!

Remember Graham Drury as a "Cheetah" and not being able to team ride to save his life! I recall he spoke on the microphone in 1983 trying to convince fans that moving up was the wrong way to go (Norther Sports and 1984...the rest is history) but I guess it was more a personal thing with him because he realised that he wasn't part of the bigger picture. However he successfully sued the promotion for breach of contract but I would imagine that Northern Sports didn't lose much sleep over that little incident?

I'd agree to disagree also but I would be interested to hear from Swindon Fans how popular the 'Legends Lounge' was and whether it attracted people to the speedway who otherwise wouldn't attend if only to chew the fat with ex"Budgies"?

...well the narrative on the forum is always that it's "oldies" who attend speedway so why not engage with them? I knew someone who hadn't been to speedway for years but word got out that Arne Pander was to make an appearance at Cowley and he went along to acknowledge his hero from the past and liked what he saw and became "hooked" all over again. Trying to attract a younger audience is another problem and requires a different mandate and which has been discussed time and again and there's no quick fix unfortunatey...and yes we know that it's past team members but a previous post that instigated this debate appeared to refer things were somewhat different? Just correcting that little observation to make it clear.

...there's a name from the past! Made a few appearances for "The Cheetahs" I remember. I would certainly have a chat with him but would I recognise him unless he turned up wearing his green leathers??