whowasthatberntpersson

I remember reading about a couple of old fellas still having a spin on the Californian scene not so many years ago. Both approaching seventy. Tom Castagnola was one, I have spoken to his Daughter via the net recently and I believe ha has finally called it a day, interestingly Tom was also a preacher.

I remember Jerzy Rembas, didn't he ride well in a World Final at Wembley, always think of him as being ok. Same with Cieslak, when he rode for White City.

Reminds me of Erik Gundersen's arrival in Britain, living in a dingy flat above a butchers shop in a not so nice part of Wolverhampton, must of given him all the inspiration he needed. He prepared for the 1981 World Final whilst living there. Imagine some rising star preparing for a World Championship in conditions like that these days?

Ever heard of Jack Milne............... Ryan? World Champion '1937' (1st Jack Milne USA and New Cross, 2nd Wilber Lamoreaux USA and Wimbledon 3rd Cordy Milne USA and Hackney Wick. In front of a Wembley crowd of 85,000) I think Ryan was trying to point out that Scott Autrey's success had a huge influence on American speedway resulting in the likes of Penhall, Schwartz, Sigalos, Cook, Morans, Preston, Gresham, etc, etc, giving Britain a try, Jack Milne's success probably didn't have quite the same effect. Without a doubt Jack Milne enjoyed greater individual success, but did his success prompt the invasion of talent the same way that Scott Autrey's did? Before my time, but i don't think so. It was only after Scott's success that America could produce a seven or eight man team capable of holding their own against England in England, probably no coincidence there, although the Ivan Mauger/Barry Briggs inspired World teams that raced in California in the eiarly seventies probably got the momentum going also.. Scott also started his British career at one of the largest/fastest tracks around, not sure where Scott started his American career but you don't get much different than Exeter and Costa Mesa.

Don't forget the new Sydney Showground has already hosted a speedway event, Australia v USA. Can't remember the exact year/date though.

Very interesting. Please tell us more.

To put it into perspective the track was graded after every 6 races (4 solo and 2 Sidecar) that adds up to around six minutes of action followed by the grades, the first track grade seemed to take much longer than the rest but there is no doubt that there were too many. People were whinging about the delays, some of these people were hard core speedway fans, if you can't keep them happy what chance have you got with a casual one off observer?.. It was an ideal opportunity to attract a few new fans, the delays and other pitfalls probably haven't helped in that respect, something to work on, lets be positive. I have seen much better racing at Labrador, but its often the case when the top boys ride anywhere, less mistakes less overtaking, etc, etc, no excuses though the track wasn't at its best.....maybe because of the grading, but the racing was very fast and we got to see the best Aussie final lineup for many years. I would say Sir Lunchalot's crowd estimate is closer to the mark than Big and Beefy's, I didn't notice too many people leaving before the final race either. The crowd was pretty much what I expected. I enjoyed the night anyway.

What a list of races, there have been so many classics over the years though, some of them not in high profile meetings. One that is often talked about but doesn't have video footage is the Peter Collins v Anders Michanek clash during the Belle Vue v Reading KO Cup Final many moons ago, not sure if it was the decider, apparantly they passed each other on just about every turn..

The Bristol video sounds interesting, I only ever heard negative comments about Eastville, what was the racing like? By the way there was a meeting at Wimbledon which was held as part of the world games quite a few years ago , absolutely blinding race between Alan Grahame and John Cook, two real hard chargers.

JB was one of my first speedway hero's also. I remember the one man shows at places like the Shay, where despite an eighteen point maximum Cradley United still got a thumping from the Dukes. He's a really nice Guy too.

I actually met Olle Nygren recently, still a nuggety yet fit looking type of bloke even at 70..ish.

If we are going to go back to 1973, this would be my team, it includes no less than 6 World Champions and a World Number 2; Bruce Penhall Erik Gundersen Anders Michanek Billy Hamill Greg Hancock Jan O Pedersen Bernie Persson Could any other club come close to that? Belle Vue maybe? Hard to keep out the likes of Wiggy (Another World Champion), Alan Grahame (One of the best team men of all time), and so many others including Boulger, Crossi, etc.

1. Bruce Penhall 2. Billy Hamill 3. Erik Gundersen 4. Jan O Pedersen 5. Greg Hancock 6. Alan Grahame 7. Simon Cross More world champions in such a short space of time than any other club in history. Arguably the greatest team in history (1983). Unbelievable KO Cup record. fantastic racing track. Brilliant following. The Heathens will be back, sadly it won't be at Dudley Wood, but the memories live on.

Great idea Dick (where did you get that name from?) Any comments re the book from the late great PC's widow would be interesting.

It was very early seventies, Cradley v Coventry at Dudley Wood. I was very young and pestered my old man to take me all the time after that. All I remember was the huge crowd and the big rivalry between the two number ones, Bernie Persson and Nigel Boocock, oh and I was always amazed by the legendary Scotsmans Bank, where hundreds of fans watched for free.. The rest is history, I'm still hooked.

Bruce got "So much stick"because he was so blatant about what he did, pulling wheelies and making it so obvious he wasn't trying. There were plenty of Cradley fans who weren't happy about it either, Bruce could of won the meeting, and many fans had spent alot of money travelling to see him win or at least try to win. Believe me the green and white masses copped some stick that day too. However Bruce was an immensely gifted rider, up there with the very best I would say.

Anyone who remembers Howard Cole from his Cradley and Kings Lynn days may be interested to know that he finally retired from his post speedway profession last year. Howard was a Mathematics Head at one of the top schools in Sydney. I saw him last year and he was easily recognisable from his speedway days, minus the green and white striped woolly hat.

Is Alan "Big Al" still running his motorcycle business in Birmingham? He also has a Son doing well in Junior Moto. Last I heard Alan had received injuries riding the moto X sidecar.

There is a Peter Craven book listed at Amazons Online, however it is only available to pre order. Does anyone know when this book is likely to be released?

Handlebars are a very important part of speedway history. I've learnt so much from this (Or the previous closed thread) However i still can't work out if Egon's Long Track bars were higher than other bars at the time. Oh, were kelly Moran's smaller or did they just seem that way because he was so tiny. He's on the comeback trail by the way. The complexeties of it all

The late Chris Pusey wore one. Of course Neil Collins carries on the tradition. I've also got a great shot of Ole Olsen wearing one during his Wolverhampton days.

What have I been missing here? This thread's great, it goes right out wide sometimes but we always seem to get our wheels back inline.

I wish I had to say that once in a while (No references to other leisure activities please.)

Speaking strictly as an anorak, I prefer the little petite ones we have now but years ago the big macho ones were great, although those swaying scarves took away the machoism a little. I'm taking nothing away from Ove though, apparantly he can still do the business, don't know much about Sverre but he's highly regarded by the more mature observers. Now no more micky taking, this was a serious thread.

Good evening handlebar heroes, its much quieter tonight, and I had my anorak off ready to go racing, Mutley's on my side Dick...lol.