mIcK50

I can vividly recall a very nasty looking accident at Claremont Speedway, Perth, WA, way back about 1970. I can't remember the name of one of the riders involved, but he was a Scot and I think his first name was George. He had ridden in the UK in the 50's - 60's and immigrated to Oz when he retired. He made a short comeback at Claremont and this was the result. He fell in the middle of the track on the Pits Bend, in front of most of the field in a handicap race. Most of the riders managed to avoid him, but one, I think it was Dennis Carter, was crowded for room as he tried to ride around George on the inside. His right hand footrest got hooked in the back of George's old style pudding basin helmet.......and ripped it right off his head and sent it spinning down the track! I don't think many of us watching over the fence from the pits really wanted to look at George as he lay on the track. I for one, was wondering if he still had his head on! He didn't move and was taken away in the ambulance. Next week he was walking around as good as gold, except for a light brace he had to wear on his neck for about a week. And what saved him from far more serious injury? He was using all his old gear from his racing days in the UK, which included the old style helmet. The stitching in the leather harness was so old and rotten, that when Carter's footrest got hooked in the helmet, it just ripped the stitching out and left Georgie laying on the track unconscious, with the leather harness still attached to his head! I think George took that as a sign and gave speedway up for good after that!

I've just come across a write up in a local ( Aussie ) speedway paper which recalls Chum Taylor winning the Australian Championship at Rowley Park in Adelaide in 1966. I don't know if Chum had even seen Rowley Park before he trekked across the Nullabor from Perth for the '66 title, but it seems he streeted a pretty hot field and waltzed off with the big one. Some of his opponents that night included Jim Airey ( NSW ), Neil Street (Vic ), Keith Gurtner ( Qld ), Jimmy Gooch and Roy Trigg ( England ) and South Aussies Jack Scott, Dennis Gavros and Charlie Monk. I don't know what happened to Charlie Monk on the night, but back in '66 he must have been at his peak as a rider and would normally have been almost unbeatable around Rowley Park. For those of you in the UK who remember Chum from when he rode for Ashfield, Cardiff, Bristol, Southampton, Oxford, Poole and Cradley Heath, he is now 76 years of age and still very active. He is on the Health Consumers Council for the Aging and an adviser to the Ministry of Housing. He is also the President of the Australian branch of the VSRA.

I'm actually looking at a write up about Bob Andrews in a local Aussie speedway paper called Where Are They Now? There is a small bio by Bob himself and he describes his career like this; Started speedway in 1953 with Wimbledon and stayed there 'till 1964. Wolverhampton 1965. Missed 1966. Cradley Heath 1967 - 1969. Hackney Wick 1970. Cradley Heath 1971 - 1972. Continued riding in New Zealand until 1978. Won the World Pairs Final with Ivan Mauger in 1969. Qualified for the World Final in 1960, 1961 (equal fifth with Ronnie Moore ), 1962 ( equal fifth again ) and 1964. Rode in the World Team Cup in 1961 and 1962. Toured Australia with the British Lions in 1959 - 60. New Zealand champion in 1966 Bob is now 67 and retired and lives in Aukland, New Zealand. He is secretary of the NZ branch of the Veteran Speedway Riders Association.

Thanks for the info Lunchy. Just one little query about the Munro / Booth sidecar pairing; Is this Munro related in anyway to 1960's / 70's South Australian sidecar ace, Neil Munro? I worked for a short time with Neil years ago, in Perth, and not only was he a top sidecar rider, he was a top bloke as well. The only problem I had with him was he worked too hard! I was always trying to think of things that would slow him down a bit, because he was making me look bad!

Obviously, I've made a glaring error in my last post about the '69 World Final. Ken MacKinlay would have been riding a JAP of course, but so was Ronnie Moore. He had a pretty good night too, all things considered.......broken toes, years away from top level speedway and age, though that didn't slow him down much!

There was a bloke going around in Queensland years ago called Zane Harrington and over here in the west, we had a rider with the very marketable name of Guy Hawkes! I think he had a short stint in the 2nd division in England. I believe he was a school teacher by profession.

Norbold, I also remember it 'cos me favourite Haggisbasher of all time was in the race; Ken MacKinley. "Mac" was a hot chance for a place that night, with a third and two wins after three races, but he let it slip when he came in last in his his last two rides. I think he may have been the only person riding a JAP that night too.

Good onya Lunchy, love the bit about Karlis Ezergailis. It reminded me of the story going around years ago about Jim Airey and the mini-bike. Rumour had it that Jim somehow managed to get through his career without any really serious injuries, and that included a short stint of road racing, where he managed to throw the bike and himself down the track in a few pretty scarey moments. So, after he retired, Jim started a mini-bike training school, whereupon he promptly fell off one of the dinky little things and broke his arm! I don't know how true the story is, but it certainly got a lot of laughs way back then.

Well, just like everyone else, I'm suitably p**sed of over this news, especially since I had just started going to the speedway again after many years. I think the last time I went to the speedway was about the same time as when Charlie Cousins fell off the wheat silo! I went to see the state title at Bibra Lake and thoroughly enjoyed myself, with a night of good racing and no injuries. It was very well organised and having Chum Taylor there to present the prizes was a very nice touch. I hope the speedway fraternity rallies around the TQ Club and another venue can be found and in reasonably quick time. Incidently, did you know that Chum Taylor once beat Ove Fundin in a tight finish at Claremont one night, by leaning forward over the handlebars of his bike? Judge / Timekeeper, Wally Clinton ruled that Chum had "won by a long nose"!

I'd pay good money to see Ronnie Moore and Charlie Monk in their prime, because I never got to see them at their best. In fact, I'd even chuck in a couple of extra bob to be able to sit down with them and have a yarn for a while, though I don't know if Charlie would have all that much to say!

I've only ever seen two World finals and that was on black-and-white TV, years ago, but one race in the '69 final will always be in my memory. I think it was the fourth heat and the riders where Ken MacKinlay, Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs and a Polish rider, who's name I can't remember. Moore, Briggs and MacKinley, along with Ove Fundin, must have been the oldest men riding that night, but what a race they turned on for the fans! The Polish bloke had no hope, but the other three tore out of the gate and got involved in one of the best races I have ever seen, with MacKinley leading, Moore harrassing him and Briggs, on a sick bike, somehow sticking with them. You could have thrown a blanket over the three of them, they were so close. Moore somehow got passed MacKinley, but Mac came again on the last bend and Ronnie drifted out to stop him, when from the clouds, Briggs suddenly burst through the gap Moore had left and pinched the race! I had never even seen Briggs ride before then, but after seeing that race, I can fully appreciate what a great rider he must have been. I bet no one ever thought they had a race won while Briggo was on the track with them! A great memory.

So, Karl Marx was right. History does repeat itself! Reading this thread, with people reminiscing about things speedway from twenty years ago, got me reminiscing about things speedway that I read thirty years ago, after it was written by some one reminiscing about things speedway from FORTY years ago! Richard Bott, writing in the 1970 edition of The Champions Book of Speedway said, "I remember 'Tiger' Hart and Doug Ellis opening the doors at Perry Barr, Birmingham again --- alas, briefly. What a waste of a great track and all because of niggling obstacles which no promoter could hope to surmount. But what a first night, with Graham Warren, idol of Brum a few years earlier, going like the clappers when he could hardly hold down the reserve spot at Coventry. That was before he found a new lease of life at Wolverhampton." So, what goes around, comes around and if the interest is there, perhaps a track will come around there too. Incidently, Graham Warren lives in retirement on Queensland's Gold Coast and occassionly gets to the speedway at nearby Labrador as does another bloke who could ride a bit in his day. Ivan something, I think his name is!

Mark, your parents are mentioned in Ivan Mauger's book, Triple Crown Plus. They were friends of Ivan and Raye Mauger when they first came to Britain in the late 50's. I wish I could tell you more, but some low life got into my car one morning and stole my work bag which had the book in it.

I've never seen the Newport track, having lived in Oz all my life, but I'm sure I read something about it years ago which may explain why it was the shape it was. Apparently during the construction of the track, there was a lot of heavy rain and one of the earthmoving machines became so badly bogged in the mud, they couldn't get it out. Time was short, so they just changed the shape of the track to avoid the machine and got it out of the bog when things had dried up a bit later on. I can't vouch for the accuracey of the article I read, but I certainly remember reading about it.

Here's one for the old time Sheffield fans. Around about 69/70 or 70/71 Australian seasons, Jim Airey turned up at Claremont in Perth with a fuel-injected Jawa. He had been booked to contest the City of Perth championship against Ove Fundin, Chum Taylor, Ken Mackinley and the rest of the local brigade. The title was decided over two Friday night meetings. The first night the bike ran like hairy goat, but the next week it was like a rocket! He even took Fundin from the back in one heat. ( Jim couldn't get passed Ove on the inside, where he was sticking like leech to the white line, so he simply rode over the concrete kerb and passed him by riding on the in-field - and got away with it!) The engine of the bike was a true fuel injected one, with a fuel pump and injector and shouldn't be confused with the Alf Hagon fuel injector that was available at the time. The pump was a cylindrical affair about 6 - 7 inches in length and was mounted on the timing cover, taking its drive from the same source as the magneto. Does anyone know if he took the bike back to England and if so, how did it go?

I have to put one of our home town heros in this thread. Chum Taylor. Not the greatest rider in the whole world, but he certainly came back from some terrible injuries. Apart from the usual assortment of broken bones that most riders endure during their career, Chum overcame nerve damage in his left shoulder that left him with a withered shoulder and a degree of paralysis in his arm. He also suffered a broken neck early in his career and continued riding once he had recovered! Earlier in his life, he was almost accidently shot! The bullet just missed him and hit a friend standing near him, passing through his cheek! He was almost not going to be here for all the pain that was to follow, because just before he was born, a stolen car crashed through the front fence of his parents home and knocked his mother down! Inccidently, during a television interview, Chum nominated Barry Briggs as the toughest man he had ever seen in speedway.

Kevin, you could be dead right and I could be dead wrong. The photo was in an old Claremont Speedway program and I'm going by the info in the photo caption. At least I got most of the Aussies names right! Vic Duggan is obscured in the shot, as is most of the English team, but there is certainly no mistaking Ron Johnson, Bill Longley, Aub Lawson and Jack Biggs. Jack Parker can be seen between Max Grosskreutz and Lawson. The right people are in the picture, it must just be the wrong date! Probably not even at New Cross either! But as I said, the crowd is the thing that most caught my eye. Part of one stand is visible, all of another and most of a third one, and they are packed to the rafters! Wherever the photo was taken, its enough to make most promoters green with envy

I have just found an old photograph taken at New Cross before the running of the 3rd Test between England and Australia, won by England, 62 - 46. How is this for a line-up of post-war speedway super stars? For Australia, Ron Johnson, Ray Duggan, Vic Duggan, Frank Dolan, Bill Longley, Max Grosskreutz, Aub Lawson and Jack Biggs. For England, Jack Parker, Norm Parker, Split Waterman, Bob Oakley, Jeff Lloyd, Alex Stratham, Tommy Price and Malcolm Craven. Two interesting things about this photo. One is the concrete start / finish area and the other is the crowd. The place is absolutely packed! I sincerely hope we don't need another war to be fought and won so we get crowds like that back to speedway!

Can we have a bit more info on the John Boulger incident? He caused a huge uproar at Claremont when he won the Australian Championship in 1971. The locals were convinced that Boulger had knocked their local hero, Chum Taylor off his bike as they were entering the main straight on the last lap of the last race. When Boulger came out for the presentation, the crowd really got stuck into him, but later TV footage showed that while he had certainly got under Chum and moved him up to the fence, at no time did either rider or bikes touch. I always thought that the incident involving Bob O'Leary and Trevor Harding on the same night was something that deserved closer scrutiny. The result of those two coming together on the pits bend was one of the most horrifying crashes I have ever seen, with poor Trevor spearing headlong into the fence and suffering injuries so severe that he never raced again. O'Leary went on to finish second in the championship. The way the heats were programmed that night meant that when the four riders came out for heat 20, any one of them could have won it, with Taylor and Boulger locked on 12 points and John Langfield and Bob O'Leary a few points adrift of them. The end of a very dramatic night saw Boulger win, O'Leary 2nd and Langfield 3rd. Langfield and Taylor finished with the same score, but there was no runoff for the place because Chum had been taken off to hospital. Before he crashed, Harding's bike had been going like a rocket, apparently because it was running on nitro! Times have certainly changed.

I don't want to re-ignite the great handle bar debate that was doomed to find a tangent and go off on, but I would like to address whowasthatberntpersson's query about the handlebars he saw on some bikes ridden by the Russians. I seem to remember that some of the early model ESO's that came out in their own frames had handlebars that were fitted to the tops of the fork legs, much in the same way clip-on handle bars were fitted to road racers, instead of the usual set-up. "Cowboy Bob Sharpe had such a bike as did Bert Kingston and ( I think ) his fellow Queenslander, Kev Torpie. They were common on the bikes of riders from the old Iron Curtain countries. Valeri Klementiev rode one in the 1969 World Final. Just how much value they were to him is open to debate, given the reports I read on the way he got around Wembley that night. It was written that he careered around, and all over the track in such an erratic manner, that even the great Barry Briggs couldn't get passed him! By the way a tangent is a small, enclosed cart which was used to take condemned people to the executioner in the middle ages. Quite a lot of people have gone off on one. Not to be confused with a high dudgeon.

The mail I had on the introduction of 19' rear wheels to speedway was simply because during the decline of speedway in the 1950's, there was only two manufacturers of 21' tyres and one ceased production of 21' tyres because of lack of demand and the other couldn't gaurantee supply. With a ready supply of almost ideal 19' trials tyres available, speedway authorities made the use of 21' wheels illegal and 19' wheels mandatory. The last time I heard any discussion about rear wheel size was back in the early 1970's, when John Langfield fitted his bike with a 21' rear wheel. Nothing was said until he turned out for the Aussie test side against the British team, and then there was a bit of an uproar from the Poms, and quite rightly so. After that Langfield went back to a 19' wheel. I think the main advantage with the bigger wheel is its larger diameter gives more tyre surface area contact with the track and thus more traction.

Handicap races have been a staple of Oz speedway since Moses played fullback for the Jews. While it looks a bit dangerous, it is a great way for a beginner to start off his racing with the chance of winning a few races and gaining confidence. It is also a good way for riders to learn how to win races from the back. The handicapping usually worked like this: If you won a handicap race, your handicap was increased by ten yards the next week. If you failed to win your handicap was reduced by ten yards, ( but, not of course, if you failed to win from the scratch mark!) Some of the best riders had some enormous handicaps and to see people like Jim Airey and Gordon Guasco at the Royale and Chum Taylor, Les Sharpe, Dud McKean and Ken MacKinlay at Claremont, blasting their way thru the field was a great sight. When he raced at Rowley Park in Adelaide in the early 60's, Ivan Mauger was on a handicap of 200 yards plus and was at one stage, starting BEHIND the great Jack Young! It's a great way to learn, but when you are a very nervous 'wobbler' trying to find your way around the track and you are suddenly passed by one of the backmarkers at top speed, you get a very scarey reminder of just how fast this speedway game is.

I recently had to clean out my carport and in all the accumulated junk, I found a book that I had completely forgotten I possessed. It was written by the great American rider, Sprouts Elder and is called The Romance of The Speedway and it gives a wonderful insight to the pioneer days of speedway. The following paragraph reveals a little of the evolution that was going on in speedway machines before a standard was reached, not to mention revealing a few famous names as well! "Gus Kuhn, I believe, used to ride a Calthorpe when he first started. Jack Parker, of Coventry, preferred a B.S.A., while Billy Lamont at one time found in the A.J.S all that he wanted in the way of speed and acceleration. Then again Art Pechar was partial to the Indian 500c.c., while Ron Johnson and Sig Schlam, the Australians, used to ride Peashooter Harleys before they took to Douglas bikes." I've never heard of a Calthorpe, but I wonder if Jack Parker's B.S.A was a Sloper, which was popular as a speedway bike for a while in the 1930's. With it's forward inclined engine, the Sloper sort of proves that there is nothing new under the sun, especially when you look at todays "lay-down" style of bike. I suppose the former was good for speedway by accident, the latter by design. Ron Johnson and Sig Schlam were Western Australians and I think Schlam was killed racing at the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground, (the famous WACA). Speedway was run there for one or two years in the early 1930's, but couldn't compete with Claremont and closed down.

Hahaha Sandman. I don't think he was blonde in his playing days, but who knows. Blokes seem to change the colour of their hair these days as often as the sheilas do. Arms like Popeye? Yeah, I would say so. He was a Rugby League player and most of them are built like brick s**t houses.

I know this one is stretching the bounds of probability, but does anyone know if the Wigan and England Rugby League player Dennis Betts is in any way related to former speedway star Terry Betts? I have wondered about this ever since I first saw Dennis Betts playing for England whilst I was living over in Queensland, (which is where God goes on his holidays.)