AndyM

I remember the Aces coming back from about 14 points down to win at the Shay, many moons ago, but not the one you mention. Pretty sure the score was 15-3 after 3 heats then about 22-8 after 5. As I recall we ended up winning quite comfortably!

What I miss most about speedway in the 70s: Hyde Road, best track ever! Big home crowds, week in week out The wealth of different teams - more variety Riders were characters in those days The amazing skills of the likes of PC and Mort The sheer passion and excitement of speedway

Well said! Would that everyone acknowledged their mistakes in such an open way. Credit to CMV06

We do have young talent but we don't develop or market that talent to maximum effect and don't honestly seem very bothered that we can't get riders into the top 3-4 in GP circles. Given a young lad who can deliver genuine results through the world rankings AND be a pin-up for the papers, you may have a case... so where does all the top motorcyling talent go?

I've long been saying that unless radical action were taken, British league speedway is destined to be uneconomic, unattractive to crowds and unviable, though sadly we lack the visionary strategist to take us forward. You would have thought the GP circus had at least some of those skills, but it too appears to be heading for the doldrums. It comes down to a simple question of whether the sport believes sustainable recovery is possible and whether anyone actually gives a toss to try turning the sport around. If not, it could quite easily be dead within 20 years if costs continue to rise, long-term attendance trends continue on a downward spiral, and media/commercial interest is not aroused. Brutal but true.

Although i never went to Wimbledon, I do recall the start and finish lines being in different places, though why that would make it the only legal speedway track i can't imagine. Getting back to the question, we now have far too many tiny tracks and not enough of the big, wide open spaces. A couple of tracks the length and width of Hyde Road with multiple riding lines would improve speedway dramatically IMO!

You could still have lots of youngsters from Dagenham wanting to enter the sport, even if there was no Dagenham speedway for them to learn at!!

Why does it not still act as a hotbed of talent, though?

So not "Council Housed And Violent" then?

Don't disagree with what you say - just think that the core product will not attract and sustain a mass audience any more, whatever facilities you provide. There needs to be better value in the speedway itself - more thrills, easier to watch anywhere.

Surely the ability to attract and sustain a regular and viable crowd is most important in any location? We still haven't solved the long-term structural decline and found ways to bring through generations of new followers. As I said before, speedway in its current guise and presentation is maybe not going to achieve this, hence my suggestion of "reinventing" a version of the sport to fund the development of traditional speedway, much as cricket has done. It's about bringing the sport closer to spectators.

What exactly does this mean? Surely if you're retailing a product you set a price based on what people are willing to pay. Why would anyone set a price at that level, unless it was a rare first edition signed by Tom himself!!

Indeed. The alternative of choosing 16 from a wider pool of, say, 32 riders, so riders appear in different GPs in different combinations, is probably even more disruptive to league racing. The rethink has to put investment and effort into the grass roots above all else.

Quite right, Starman. The GP circus is already cutting the throat of bread and butter league speedway, the training ground from where its riders emerged. At this rate it will ultimately cut its own throat...

True, he was a disappointment. Think much of the issue was in his own head rather than anything else. Remember a match at an away track somewhere with Eddie riding with Mort. As the race progressed, Mort was second and Ingels last. Mort slowed right down, waited for the other opposition rider to try to pass him on the outside then fenced him hard so Eddie could come through on the inside. Would probably earn Mort an exclusion at many tracks!!

Good post, Tomcat. I agree totally, very necessary part of controlling costs but alone that will not revive speedway. In fact, I agree with most of the thoughtful and well-written comments on this thread - but they are peripheral to the core issue. The reason speedway had good years was because people had fewer options and were worse off. Speedway at the time was a relatively cheap form of entertainment and entrance prices were subsidised by the fact that volumes were relatively high. The sport could sustain many clubs then. Conversely, most people are much better off in real terms but still feel poor, so revenues are squeezed at one end while costs have been expanding well beyond inflation at the other. The potential for big crowds has diminished because have many options for their leisure time, not least a vast array of TV channels and lots of alternatives for a night out, and speedway is simply not the attraction it once was - there is no hook to keep potential new fans loyal and coming week in, week out. At the same time, the core audience has died away and clearly the sport has not attracted a new generation to replace them. If that in a nutshell is the problem, what's the solution? I've gone on for years about having the right skills to plan ahead and develop an approach, but in essence it's what we've already known - the promoters tinker with the sport but they're afraid to do anything radical for fear of alienating riders and fans alike. There has been no research to find what people genuinely DO want, so the sport has declined and not ventured into anything dramatic to reverse its fortunes. Taking cricket as an example, 20/20 is not universally popular with traditional but by gum, it sure created a massive new audience for a brand of cricket. Furthermore, cricket clubs charge more to attend 20/20 matches than other forms of the game, even though there's less of it - and they did a brilliant job of cross-selling to ensure more people attend other fixtures too. It helps generate funds within the game to sustain and build real cricket, and generates momentum, something severely lacking in British speedway. I'd say speedway needs to reinvent itself by creating a variant that will sell tickets big time. That requires a lot of thought and development but is possible in my view - after all, indoor and ice speedway certainly proved popular when they've been staged, so why not find something that might help win people over to real speedway? To work, we would need it to be: Profitable: cheap to run & relatively cheap to attend High value-add for customers - lots of good entertainment, plenty of passing and excitement Potential to be staged at many locations, not just existing tracks Low noise to avoid planning battles etc. The ability for many people to participate, having watched top riders do it Not subject to weather, and preferably year-round Fun! Also addictive - make it easy for people to support teams and build up atmosphere Thoughts?

I fail to see how could it be against the interests of the Polish authorities to have a Polish World Champ, even if that wasn't Plech. Surely better for them than Mauger winning again?

I remember my dad saying Belle Vue fairground was expensive relative to other entertainments in those days, though I can't remember the figures. Would be interesting to find out how much the rides cost in relation to other attractions.

Pretty sure Peter Collins did too, though I can't remember the year or the meetings. Will check my programmes when I get a chance.

Sorry, but even more predictable than that. Gollob will never win the title. He might win the occasional GP in Poland or other eastern European locations, but will never achieve the consistency needed to win the GP circus overall.

How did the world title ever get to be so closed and so dull? Well, predictable at any rate.

Sorry, mate. Will do a song and dance act next time!

Yes, quite a few of the regular contestants seem to have reached a sad or suicidal end to life, Gilbert Harding, Lady Isobel Barnett and Ted Moult among them. Isobel Barnett was caught shoplifting, but before the ignominy of a trial killed herself by putting an electric heater in her bath. Ted Moult shot himself with a double-barrelled shotgun when his farm ran into debts and he faced repossession. Harding was intensely lonely and homosexual at a time when it was still illegal, famously exposed by the John Freeman Face to Face interview. he actually died of an asthma attack at 53 on the steps of Broadcasting House, but had been quoted as saying he wanted to die.

I remember revivals of the programme but never a speedway rider either. Somehow lots its shine when miming the bulk of professions could be done in front of a virtual computer screen!

My dad was there that night. He said the atmosphere was electric though the size of the crowd was no bigger than British Final crowds in the 70s and arguably smaller than we used to get at Hyde Road for BLRC nights - but as a league match it may well have been the biggest ever. Shame speedway attendances aren't published.