TonyMac

Gerald 'Jaffa' Purkiss (Canterbury) Rudy Muts (Wimbledon) Arthur Price (King's Lynn/Boston) Ivan Blacka (Edinburgh/Stoke) Karl Fiala (Rye) Robbie Blackadder (Newcastle) Jack Bibby (Crayford) Pete Wigley (Crayford) Les Race (Barrow) Frits Koppe (K. Lynn) Carl Squirrell (Ipswich) Ted Howgego (Ipswich)

Remember when Garry Middleton - Cass the Gas of Hackney fame - (falsely) accused Ivan Mauger of using the banned nitro fuel additive that caused uproar at the 1972 Internationale? This WAS the biggest meeting of the UK year, with a line-up that always surpassed the World Final itself for pure quality from 1-16. When Hedgie won the 1969 Internationale, he drove home with his bike packed into his boot. How times have changed, eh? Don't know about Halifax to Wimbledon, but for us Southerners the Spring Bank Holiday schedule was: Reading (11am), Rye House (3.30 or 4pm), then Plough Lane (7.45). What a day! Tony Mc

Too right, give the man the credit he deserves! Almost 22 years years may have passed since Bruce last rode here, but he remains the ultimate professional. He gave straight, often fascinating, answers to all the questions he faced and it wasn't his fault the mic played up a bit. He showed a lot of humility, too, in recognising that his acting career didn't exactly end at the Oscars, and was very praiseworthy of others who helped him reach the top, like Eddie Bull, his team-mates, the promoters and team managers at Cradley. He signed every autograph request, posed for countless pictures wearing Heathens' t-shirts and an old racejacket and kept smilling all the way through. Even at gone 1am, Bruce was still chatting happily, courteously and patiently to supporters in the hotel and remains a great ambassador for the sport. It's a pity the FIM does make use of his enduring charisma and knowledge of our sport. Everyone who turned up for the forum on Saturday night got great value for their £10 admission. Those who missed it missed a great night. Bruce's blond locks may have faded but he is still a top man. Tony Mc

I am delighted to announce that I am about to launch a brand new retro speedway magazine, called BACKTRACK. It will be published by myself on a bi-monthly basis, with the launch issue set for March 7 at the GB Exhibition Show at Stoneleigh (come and visit us at our stand if you are going!). Backtrack will basically cover the specific era of the 70s and 80s, including the early days of the BL2 and NL, as well as the BL1 stars. It will be packed with exclusive interviews, features and pictures. Issue 1 will be sold for just £1 (plus P&P if ordering via our website), to give everyone a taster of what we;'re all about. Thereafter this very niche magazine will have a usual cover price of £3 per issue, with six issues a year. A subscription for all 6 issues costs £16 in the UK, £22 in Europe and £30 throughout the rest of the world. Please check out more by visiting our website, which is still very much in the construction stages. It's at: http://www.retro-speedway.com This is not just a shameless commercial plug...I would be very pleased to hear your comments and any suggestions for editorial ideas, because I want to hear what real fans think. If you don't wish to go public on here, please feel free to email me in person at editorial@retro-speedway. This is a great site and I also hope to be able to help contribute to its continuation by advertising on here - so please get in touch if you are one of the administrators! I hope you will be keen to try Backtrack - for just a pound, you can't go wrong. And please help me spread the word among all supporters who still look back on the 'older' days with as much affection as I do. Thanks for taking the trouble to read this rather long announcement. All the best! Tony McDonald Backtrack Magazine

Sean, I'm sorry, you're right - that was an epic Hawks recovery at The Shay and I wished I'd have been there to witness it. We always got hammered there when I saw us, so I possibly decided to give that one a miss. Fool, because you should never have underestimated Zenon and Thommo. Norbold, that sounds like another unmissable night. Super Simmo in the making... Hackney, West Ham.. I've gotta sign off now, this is too much to bear... C'mon Northampton! Tony Mc

Top man, Roman Chyla! How are you keeping? It's good to see you are still keeping the Polish flag flying, my old friend! Zyto never rode for a BL club, though, did he? When the Poles were crushed in the 1973 World Series match by England at Hackney, for once the track didn't procide any good racing because it was very wet. A regular league meeting would have been rained off. Tony Mc

Sandman, you've drifted off the subject a bit there...but I can confirm that JD didn't succeed with any jokes at my expense, thankyou! Never chew gum anyway -horrible habit! Now what about those Poles...

Boley Proch at Reading was 'Yogi' - so called because of the Yogi Bear emblem on the front of his Polish club, Zielona Gora's racejacket. I'd love to know what some of these characters are doing now...

You just knew that Mort, PC, the Morans would be among the usual last-heat suspects. I'm sure Cradley Heath fans will havd fond memories, too, of the exploits of Phil Collins, Erik and Jan Oswald... Tony McDonald

The thing to bear in mind when trying to compare Plech with Gollob is that Zenon usually rode on compratively sub-standard machinery - he certainly didn't have the quality engines and bikes the top riders from western Europe had at the time. At Hackney, he would not hesitate to ride on the 'track spare' - a pool bike that was supposed to be back-up for all the team's riders. He only ever thought of the team and the fans, not himself or his average. Whereas there were riders who would not go near the spare when their own bike was playing up. With Plechie, he just pointed the bike - any one - in the right direction and grabbed a handful of throttle! Great days at The Wick. All the ability, skill and courage in the world, ZP only lacked top equipment and, it must be said, the level of supreme professionalism and dedication that took the likes of Mauger and Olsen to the very top. Blimey, I'd forgotten about Zabik and Blasczak! Tony McDonald

Great memories, Sandman. I remember being lucky enough to cadge a lift to Belle Vue with Plechie and Ivan 'Jacko' Jackson, who prepared the Hackney track then. It was mid-summer 1976. Talk about laid-back. Just a couple of hours before the match, Zenon was having a whale of a time in the BV amusement park, riding on the dodgems and giant rollercoaster! Probably just practicing for the BL match to follow, eh? Has therever been a more electrifying entertainer at Hackney than Zenon? You just never knew what was going to happen next, especially in his earlier days as a Hawk. And what a bloody nice bloke, too. No matter how badly hurt he was, he just wouldn't accept an ambulance ride to hospital. Tony McDonald

If 'Happiness really is 40-38', what were the best-ever last-race deciders in team meetings over the years? Not run-offs, but heat 13s, when the match was decided with a last gasp 5-1, 4-2 or even a 3-3? At Hackney, who could forget Thommo going round both Mauger/Autrey against Exeter to win the last heat of a BL crunch match in ’77? Didn't that hand the title to White City? Some of those Mildenhall/Rye House battles in 1979 were classics, too. No doubt there were some equally memorable and titanic last-heat deciders in matches involves the arch rivals in the Midlands/North/West/East & Scotland...Ipswich/Lynn; Glasgow/Edinburgh; Cradley/Wolves/Cov/Leicester; Peterborough/Mildenhall; Halifax/Sheffield; Berwick/Newcastle; Swindon/Exeter, etc, etc....

The Polish riders who appeared for British clubs in the 70s and 80s left their mark one way or another. I thought Zenon Plech was the pick of the Poles, for sheer skill, entertainment, bravery and for what he achieved, but then I'm biased! But what do others remember about our Polish friends from their old days in the British League? Some obviously fared much better than others. To get your memory juices flowing, here are a few names to throw into the ring... Roman Jankowski-Hackney Andy Huszcza-Hackney/Leicester Eddie Jancarz-Wimbledon Greg Szcepanik-Leicester Leonard Raba-Swindon Marek Cieslak-Reading/White City Bolek Proch-Reading Adam Olkiewicz-Halifax

Kiwi, it's a pity you didn't have a copy of the 1937 World Final programme stashed away somewhere, cos it just sold on eBay tonight for £183! Speedway Stars from the 60s-70s tend to sell on eBay for around £1 each but, as Gary says, you might be better off selling complete volumes for around £15-20 if it's cash you are looking for. Visit www.ebay.co.uk and type in the word 'speedway' to find pages and pages of memorabilia...

Bo Petersen must be worth a shout. He could beat anyone on his day around The Wick and proved himself at international level for Denmark, too.

Sharon, Just checked out the Canterbury site and it's brilliant. All those old pics of past Crusaders simply ooze nostalgia, although the pics of the overgrown old track will bring tears to a glass eye. I particularly enjoyed the 'where are they now?' section. Great stuff. We could do with a few more sites like yours. Congratulations to all involved in the construction of the site. My memories of Kingsmead, apart from Barney Kennett storming across the football pitch on the first bend, include announcer Malcolm Mitchell struggling to remember to say the winning race times! Anyone else remember him for that, or did I just catch him on a bad night? Great, jolly character, though. Regards to Uncle Ted, who I knew from his successful days at Rye House.

I hope so - he looked in good nick at the VSRA dinner in Coventry last March.

Probably the wildest of all the many East European hardmen was Czech Zdenek Kudrna. He made Charles Bronson look angelic and as well as riding ruthlessly on speedway tracks, he was lethal on the ice, too. He did plenty of damage before paying the ultimate price himself when he died in a track smash.

No one has mentioned John Louis yet, but what a race he had with Bruce Penhall at the 1979 BLRC. 'Tiger John' could mix it with the best when he had to. That meeting was better than most World Finals for pure quality, class in depth. If you scored six points you had done well!

Janice, sincere condolences from all true fans, especially those of us fortunate enough to have seen Chris light up the track with his skill, bravery and colourful character. He will never be forgotten by any of us who saw speedway in the 70s - those trademark sideburns and polka dots leathers are his legacy. One of the first riders to bring real colour to the sport.

Which riders, from the 60s-to-late-80s eras, would you pay good money and travel hundreds of miles to watch? I'll throw a few names into the ring to get the memory juices flowing...but what about some of the more obscure names we shouldn't forget? Christer Lofqvist, Barry Thomas, John Cook, Kenny Carter, Henka Gustafsson, most of the 'wild' Czechs, Zenon Plech, Chris Mort, PC, Jan O Pedersen.

Anybody know what any of the old Romford riders are up to now? Brooklands was a scary place at times, so does anyone remember any particular races and scrapes from this great, old track with its solid, concrete 'safety' fence? Remember how the 'mad Czechs' tore up the place every year? Crying shame, it's a housing estate now... I'm trying to collect every programme from Romford days. Does anyone have any they'd be prepared to sell?

It's a tricky argument - one-off World Final v GP - but in a way I'm glad for Ivan Mauger that Tony Rickardsson didn't manage to emulate his record six individual title wins this year. Nothing against Tony, of coyrse, who is a great champion in his own right. It's just that Mauger deserves to continue to reign supreme in history. Had the GP series been in place years earlier he would doubtless have been crowned champion almost every year throughout the 70s, as well as the last two years of the previous decade. Oh, what have I said? OK, PC would have taken some beating in 1976 & '77, had the GP applied then but could he have quite matched Ivan's incredible consistency. Blimey, though, remember when PC courageously ignored his terrible leg injury to race in the wet at Gothenburgh in '77? What an effort that was. I suppose the Ole Olsen fans will be on my case now, too... Why did I start this argument? No, I'm sticking with Ivan. He would have won at least 8 titles under the GP format, but I can't see Tony adding three more to his impressive haul - not now that Pedersen has broken through and Jason Crump, Ryan Sullivan and Leigh Adams are also on the charge... Well, what do you think????

Many thanks to all for your kind comments and encouragement. And also for beating me to it in pointing Sandman in the right direction of a subscription from Pete Lipscomb! So glad you enjoyed the film evening and more such gatherings should be on the agenda... The Lokeren story deserves re-telling because it had such a profound effect on those who survived and serve as a reminder of those who were taken from us. Perhaps a joint-interview with Stan Stevens and Colin Pratt, another survivor, would make interesting, if sad, reading?

Great news about Bruce appearing at Telford. The sport has never fully recovered from his absence - he's badly missed in so many different ways. Anyone got any special memories of his racing days in the UK? And please don't cane him for the all-American 'fix' in the World Championship qualifier at White City. The man did so many other really good things for the sport that, only since he quit racing, have most people come to appreciate his true value.