TonyMac

OK, now you're all warming to the theme, how about helping me with some pointers for our feature... Which individual visiting riders were regarded, by home fans, as the 'enemy' at The Weir? And I don't just mean the whole Romford team. Which visiting rider would have hated Rayleigh the most (serious injury, etc)? Who were the home riders who struggled most to make their mark at The Weir? Who was the biggest Rockets hero in the Div 2 (1968-73) era? - Maloney? Saunders? Young? Peter Claridge?! Greatest achievement by the Rockets there, in terms of team performance/result? Cheers!

Rob, General consensus on the second pic (71-1) is that it's Bob Young, which I've gone with now on the basis that the style is very similar to the other one from the 1971 season (71-2). I did originally have the man in the black leathers (70-1) down as Rackett but now I'm not convinced. Could he be Roger Wright? That action shot was definitely taken at Reading in the 1970 season, so can anyone shed any further light on his identity? Freebie? Much as I'd like to do it for old time's sake and your toil for the Mail, three pages on your beloved Rockets has to be worth 16 quid of anybody's subscription money! There you go... http://www.retro-speedway.com/page.php?11

Rayleigh will be the subject ol our regular 3-page Defunct Tracks feature in issue 24 of Backtrack - on sale Feb 9. Meanwhile, pse enjoy these nostalgic pics of former Rockets... Perhaps someone can help identify the 'unknown' riders on the second page? http://www.retro-speedway.com/extras/autog...ders%2FRayleigh

Bryn, get back to work old son! I don't do West Ham aways, only homes - prefer the real ale at the O's to the motorway grind.

Think you'll find a new stadium, and the area around it, is going to be used for some kind of athletics thingy (which has already cost the government and, us, the tax payers, too many millions - no, make that billions) around 2012! After that, Leyton Orient FC reckon they'll most likely be moving into a scaled-down version of the new Olympic Stadium. While O's chairman and owner Barry Hearn, being the multi-sports entrepreneur that he is, might be persuaded to operate alongside speedway, where will the fans come from to support a shale revival? The demographics and culture of that part of East London have changed beyond all recognition since speedway closed at The Wick, although, as I cynically suggested to Uncle Len last year, if he reopened at Hackney with a team of Polish riders (instead of Plech-Jankowski-Huszcza), he might run to sell-out crowds. Always said Len was ahead of his time! (Before the PC brigade get all touchy, that's not racist, just an observation on how the 'local community' has alterered in those parts, from someone who regularly alights at Leyton tube for Orient home games!)

The best, and fairest, racetrack in the south of Britain (Hyde Road, Belle Vue was best of all)... ...The Magnificent Seven march-out tune... Plechy with his back wheel pinned to the safety fence for four laps on his arrival at the end of '75...in fact, not much changed with him after that either! ...Thommo blazing round a helpless Mauger AND Autrey to win the final heat v Exeter - and hand the league title to White City in '77. ...Banger feigning to go round his opponent on the pits bend, only to totally bamboozle them by chopping back to the line in the race to the flag... Dave Morton, only ever starting off gate 4 or 1, and then heading straight for the boards before surging past with his handlebars touching the wire fence... Chalky White holding the team together throughout an injury-ravaged '77... ...Big Dave Erskine... The Flying Cucumber, Steve Lomas, hugging the white line...and beating Anders Michanek in the end-of-season Champions Chase KO... ...Requring at least six biros to get through the Champions Chase programme... ...Ken Archer in the pits...'Jack' Jackson on the track...Bert Busch in the workshop...dapper Alf Weedon on the centre green...Rose making the tea in the pits... Hawkeye digging out Wimbledon (The 'Fickles') in his programme notes... ...waiting for Miroslav Verner to arrive at the start of '71...and I'm still waiting! ...Len explaining why the PZM had caused Zenon to miss another meeting... ...Dave Kennett locking up hard on the slick... Snoopy's/Cherry's nightclub... The steep steps between the pits and the terracing on the 4th bend, where the souvenir kiosk at the top... ...Snowy doing the interval draw with Len and a rider... The main stand bar(s) and watered down lager... A flooded track on Good Friday '77 for the return home clash with Ippo...even though it hadn't rained in East London all day! We still got stuffed, as usual. The stench from the nearby Oxo factory... The gipoe's who moved in (early 80s) down Waterden Road to test the security of parked cars... ...Garry Middleton testing the starting gate elastic... The dulcet tones of Ted Sear... ...Big Fred on the coach to away matches...and the Sampson coach breaking down at Cradley one night in '76... Must go ... got work to do! But feast your eyes on these pics by clicking the link below...there's hundreds more to be added yet... http://www.retro-speedway.com/extras/autog...iders%2FHackney

Just to let you all know that we’ve added hundreds more pictures to the Gallery section of our Retro Speedway website in the past week or so. Many images – mainly from the early 70s - have been added to most British teams and a number of international galleries, so please check it out. Some clubs have now received their first pics, including Sunderland and Scunthorpe, while the individual World Final section is also underway with images from the 1973 final at Katowice. You’ll find a few unidentified riders among them, so any help you can provide in helping us to correctly name those people would, as ever, be very much appreciated. We’ll be constantly adding more and more images from our vast library of archive pictures from the 70s & 80s in the days and weeks ahead, so please re-visit from time to time. And remember, as part of our unique photo sales service, you can purchase prints of the images on display. Here’s the link to the Gallery section… http://www.retro-speedway.com/extras/autog...autogallery.php Enjoy! Cheers, Tony Mac

I'm as disappointed as anyone that Ole hasn't been featured before now. We'd love to interview Ole but he has not yet responded to any of our three email requests for an interview. I accept that he is ultra busy with the GPs throughout the season, but our first request went to him last January. I'm now going to post him a copy of the latest issue and see if that has the desired effect. Perhaps we've upset him, although a simple 'bugger off' would at least let us know where we stand. I can't believe that OO would have good reason not to share his thoughts on his brilliant career with Backtrack readers. Watch this space!

Issue 23 is now on sale and (Christmas post permitting) all subscribers should by now have received their copy. Look what's on offer this time... MAIN MAN – ERIK GUNDERSEN He nearly died on the track after crashing in heat one of the World Team Cup final 18 years ago, but Erik Gundersen is alive and well and talking to Backtrack from his lovely farmhouse home in Denmark, where editor Tony McDonald recently flew to exclusively interview the three times World Champion. Erik, a one-club Cradley Heath legend, gave us his most candid and heart-warming interview ever. Now 48, he recalls: *The accident at Bradford’s Odsal Stadium in 1989 that almost killed him and left him partially paralysed, and how he has learned to cope with those disabilities. *How living among the local Black Country community shaped his British League career and gave him the inspiration to become a Heathens hero. What he thought of promoter Dan McCormick and Bruce Penhall, his predecessor as No.1 and skipper at Dudley Wood. *The real inside story on his intense rivalry with fellow Dane Hans Nielsen – and how Erik was inevitably caught in the crossfire once Ole Olsen became his personal mentor. ‘Gundo’ now admits that it was wrong of Olsen to manage the Danish team AND him personally simultaneously in the mid-80s – the relationship that only deepened the rift between Erik and Hans. *Read Erik’s astonishing admission that he believes Hans Nielsen was a better all round rider than him. *But how psychology played such a huge part in helping him to win his long-running battle with Nielsen on the biggest occasions. *And why Denmark’s domination of world speedway in the 80s was “boring” and bad for speedway as a whole. *What Kenny Carter did that shocked him. *Plus much more from this ever-popular Dane who has shown such remarkable courage to earn the right to enjoy what he calls his ‘second life’. BOB KILBY One of the most consistently successful Brits of the 70s, Bob recalls his starring roles for his home-town team Swindon, plus Exeter and Oxford. The fast-starting former Robins flier, the Wiltshire town’s best-ever speedway product, hits back at those who questioned his trapping technique. “I didn’t used to cheat,” Bob protests. He explains his reluctance to move from Swindon to Exeter, and why it turned out for the best, and then his dislike of Ivan Mauger that led him to leave the County Ground for Oxford. He ended his career back at Blunsdon and Bob names his all-time Swindon Top 7. Now 63, he also talks candidly about his serious health battles, which have included three heart operations and a stroke. JIMMY McMILLAN One of Scotland’s all-time greats, Jimmy Mac looks back on the days when his small nation were an international force in the World Pairs, as well as being represented in the World Team Cup. Glasgow legend Jimmy admits that, in the interests of his career, he should have moved south earlier than he did when he became Hull’s first BL No.1, before spells with Wolverhampton, Belle Vue and Berwick, but he still enjoyed 20 proud years in the saddle. Jim, who is now technical steward for the British GP and plays a key role in the Coventry pits on race nights, also gives his assessment of all four Glasgow home tracks on which he has led the Tigers. PETE SMITH Another loyal, one-track man, Pete Smith was part of the furniture at Poole throughout the 70s, when he celebrated a well-earned testimonial before retiring to run the thriving family car business he still has today. We talk to ‘Pirate Pete’, Poole’s first championship-winning skipper, about his career at Wimborne Road and the fellow stars he appeared alongside on the south coast, including hard men like Reidar Eide and John Langfield (who he once punched in the pits) and stylish Malcolm Simmons, who succeeded him as the club’s top man. “Simmo was crapped on by the management,” says Pete. RICHARD KNIGHT One of the rising England stars of the 80s, Richard talks about his emergence from National League Mildenhall to star status with Ipswich, then King’s Lynn, before a brief spell in the sun with ambitious Berwick, where his son Jake began his own speedway career in 2007. A World Team Cup finalist in 1985, Richard also made it to the big one in 1990, but he admits now that he didn’t invest enough in his machinery before the Bradford World Final. ZDENEK KUDRNA Mad? Dangerous? They are just a couple of labels attached to Czech star Zdenek, a former daredevil who rode in Britain for Exeter and Birmingham before his tragic death in 1982. Zdenek’s widow, Jirina, provides an interesting insight into the caring husband she lost and the multi-talented tracksport star known in his homeland as ‘Demon’, while fellow Czech legend Vaclav Verner adds his views. ROD HAYNES The former Scunthorpe and Sheffield teamster with his first column – Life and Times of a 70s Racer, reflecting on his struggle to get practice and second-half rides in the north, including his first forays at ‘dusty’ Doncaster. WIMBLEDON The latest in our Defunct Tracks series, the once dominant Dons deserve their four pages of nostalgia, as we recall the highs and lows of speedway at one of the sport’s greatest venues. EASTBOURNE in PICTURES Soaring with the Eagles in a pictorial review of the 70s and 80s at Arlington, where the academy produced England discoveries such as Dave Jessup and Gordon Kennett, who went on to become World No.2s. STEVE BAST Memories of the former American ace who sadly died recently in his native California. Plus..Your letters and more great pictures that just ooze nostalgia...

For those of you who are missing issue 1 of Backtrack from your collection, the good news is that we've had it re-printed. http://www.retro-speedway.com

Former Australia and Harringay legend Vic Duggan has passed away. http://www.retro-speedway.com

There's a 6-page exclusive interview with Jimmy Mac in our next issue, on sale mid-December.

Of course, I take notice! Interviews/featuresready 'in the can' for the next issue, which we're working on next week... PETE SMITH (Poole legend, not the others!) BOB KILBY RICHARD KNIGHT MRS ZDENEK KUDRNA WIMBLEDON (Defunct track) TERRY RIPO (announcer) ROD HAYNES (with his first column) STEVE BAST Waiting on confirmation of our Main Man...phone calls, letters and emails have been made in the direction of . . . DENMARK! Also, we're on the trail of a Scottish legend.... More soon...

THE Kenny Carter book is about to sell out! So if you’ve been thinking about ordering your copy of Tragedy, then get on to us now – either by our Credit Card Hotline on 01708 734 502 or ordering via PayPal on our website at http://www.retro-speedway.com. The book was published last June and it has proved such a hit that, as of today (November 21) we have just over 100 copies left for sale. Our Malcolm Simmons book – Simmo: The Whole Truth, which was published in June 2006 – has already sold out just this week! ‘Why didn’t you print more copies?’ I hear you ask. Good question. But who could possibly predict how great demand would be for either book? We have plenty of copies left of all our other books, where we DID print more. We are too small a company to over-print in large quantities and then risk having unsold copies in stock. To be honest, we’ve been taken a little by surprise at the demand for the Kenny Carter Story, especially in the past two weeks, and we will have to seriously consider a re-print in the New Year. In the meantime, though, if you have in mind to buy a copy for Christmas, either for yourself or a friend or relative, then get in touch with us right away….! Cheers, Tony Mac

Many thanks again to all for some expert identification.

Sorry for the slight delay everyone, and thanks for your patience. Issue 22 is now back from the printers and will be posted to all subscribers today (Monday, Sept 24). You should receive it by Wednesday/Thursday of this week. As usual, feedback would be very much appreciated.

If there was a 'glaring error' in VSM, I would have thought it would make more sense to have pointed it out by writing direct to the magazine in which it appeared (so that they and the author of that particular piece are immediately aware of any errors), rather than making an unnecessary public issue of it by posting it on the forum. That is, unless you are deliberately looking to undermine the mag and/or the author in question? If we've cocked-up, I'll hold up my hand and admit it. But no-one likes a smart arse. Tony Mac

We're working on issue 22 right now and it will be going to print on Thursday of this week. Features to look forward to include... EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH Mitch Shirra (very, very lively and controversial!) Martin Ashby Sean Wilson Russ Hodgson Dave Baugh Marcus Williams FEATURES ON Defunct track - Middlesbrough (Cleveland Park) Where Have The Fans Gone? Part 2 (Berry's response & fans' views) Marek Cieslak Great Entertainers (National League) Simmo on our GB World Cup Flops Mastermind 2007-08 – the first lot of questions!

Even if the presenters or Booey do reflect on the tragic events at the end of Pam and Kenny's lives, I can't see how this can possibly reflect adversely on the sport itself. On the contrary. The sport needs EVERY mention, on terrestrial TV, that it can possibly get. It may even serve as a reminder to the millions watching this programme that our sport actually still exists! Whether we like it or not, it is the very nature of the subject (in this case Kenny Carter and the tragic events of May 1986) that has attracted the BBC's interest.

THE BBC have rarely featured speedway in their programming schedules, but the Yorkshire-based LOOK NORTH show is set to feature former England No.1 and current Belle Vue co-team manager Eric Boocock tomorrow evening (Thursday, Sept 6). The show will be aired between 6.30pm-7.30pm and Booey has been invited along as a guest of the show, primarily to talk about our recently published book, Tragedy - The Kenny Carter Story. As most of you know, we also published Booey's autobiography last year, titled Around In Circles. Ok, so I'm blatantly plugging the Carter book (again!)...but surely it's good news for speedway in general that a prime evening BBC show (albeit a regional one) has recognised the sport and is prepared to give it air time. Knowing Eric, he is bound to be good value, too. For those of you who can't access Look North on your actual telly, here's the link to their Home Page, where you can view the half-hour show via the internet (just click on the 'watch now' link on the right-hand side of the page) http://www.bbc.co.uk/looknorthyorkslincs/index.shtml

LATEST UPDATES FROM 1971 INCLUDE: West Ham Wembley Wimbledon Workington Glasgow Coventry Cradley Eastbourne Belle Vue Poole Rayleigh Exeter Ipswich Swindon Bradford Birmingham Teesside/M'Boro Halifax Berwick Romford Canterbury Wolves Leicester Reading Rochdale Crewe Oxford Hull Newport http://www.retro-speedway.com

More updates tonight... SHEFFIELD (inc 2 'unknowns' from 1987 - one almost certainly Ian M. Stead) STOKE SWINDON

More updates in the Photo section tonight... NOTTINGHAM OXFORD PETERBOROUGH POOLE READING (inc some young 'unknowns' from 1985 pre-season practice) RAYLEIGH RYE HOUSE http://www.retro-speedway.com

The site has been updated again this evening, with more pics added to the following teams: Hull Ipswich King's Lynn Leicester Middlesbrough Milton Keynes Newcastle Newport There are a few 'unknowns' among that lot, so any help with ID would be much appreciated (again!). Thanks for your help and interest. Tmc http://www.retro-speedway.com

An in-depth interview with Mitch Shirra has already been recorded and will appear in our next issue. I've not received it from our man in Oz yet, but he tells me it's very interesting and lively! Should be another good 'un.