Speedway The Future

[SCORPIO]

I know its pie in the sky and probably will never happen but if by some quirk of fate I was given the reigns of leading British Speedway, here is what would be phased in within two years of me being in charge.

 

1. Set up a Track Inspection body to oversee and make sure tracks are prepared properly and deal with Health & Safety related items do with the tracks. Will be made up from 2 former riders, 2 current riders, 2 former referees and 2 current referees. Will have powers to fine any tracks failing within their duty to comply with the TI body rules.

 

2. In line with the TI body described as above, more dirt will be used on the tracks making them deeper and hopefully a reduction in minor injuries. Air Fences will be installed at ALL tracks on the lead up, including and exit of the bends. This will be partly paid for by sponsorship & advertising also with some of the monies from the SKY TV contract which will be re-negotiated so as to provide a fairer covering of speedway rather than just EL.

 

3. The season will start every year on the second Saturday of March and will continue through to the fourth Saturday of October.

 

4. Each track can nominate up to 3 dates for any meetings they wish to hold, eg testimonials, special events & their own "big" ones. EG Champions Chase at Kings Lynn.

 

5. During the first year, a complete re write of the rule book would take place with implementation at the start of my 2nd season in charge. * See below

 

6. Each track will have 2 representatives to attend Monthly meetings at the BSPA headquarters. These people will be voted for in elections at the start of each season by the supporters of the tracks.

 

7. Refereeing standards manual to be phased in the first year with full implementation by the start of my second season in charge.

 

8. During the first two years I would be actively seeking a suitable location for a National Speedway Stadium which would have the facilities to stage ALL the big events such as the Grand Prix, All the Riders Championships, Fours & Pairs Final's, and the British Final. Monies raised from the gate receipts of such events would then be distributed fairly amongst ALL the tracks. This stadium would also house the National Speedway Museum.

Hopefully everything would all fall into place and the Stadium open for business in my 3rd year.

 

9. Leagues would be named as follows.........

Elite League....Premiership. Premier League....Championship. Conference League....Junior Academic League.

 

10. A 13 heat format will run for ALL leagues and ALL Clubs can track a side in two leagues. Eg a PS/CS Club will also track a side in the JAL.

This way supporters would get an amazing 26 races EVERY week, obviously subject to the good old British weather permitting.

 

* Rule Changes that would be implemented at the start of my reign.......

A return to the white helmet colour.

Tactical Ride withdrawn.

Double points withdrawn.

Rider Grading withdrawn.

A Team building points limit of 50. I believe that this is a fair figure as you need 46 points to win a match. Included in this figure is an extra 4 points to allow for any riders that have increased their average. This points limit WILL not change and WILL stay the same for every season.

[AndyM]

Prompts a lot more questions than it actually answers, Scorpio, but congratulations for having a go.

 

To do this successfully needs a very cohesive strategic perspective, thinking about what will happen in the coming 5-10 years and trying to imagine what a stronger UK League Speedway set-up must look like after this period. Rather than solutionising first - and potentially introducing a stack more unintended consequences - it might be better for us to focus on the key objectives and what we're actually trying to achieve. For example, I reckon these must be the goals for the promoters this winter:

• How to attract top-line commercial sponsorship
  
• Sustaining attendances in the light of other attractions and Sky coverage
  
• Other ways to improve revenue
  
• Improving entertainment values without increasing costs
  
• Reducing costs of machinery and team costs (not just rider earnings)
  
• Finding a teambuilding system that rewards loyalty, success and long-term planning
  
• Preventing foreign riders having an unfair advantage in team building
  
• Replacing the ridiculous and outmoded transfer system
  
• Developing the good work of the Academy to bring on lots of top British talent
  
• Resolving conflicts with GPs and other leagues
  

May be that some of these might well be relevant, but only if we place them in the context of the overall vision.

[Mylor]

Good posts guys.

 

It really is time the BSPA and the individual promoters took time out to answer at least some of the dozens of valid, constructive suggestions posted on the biggest fans forum around. Even an acknowledgement would be a start but methinks they'd see this as the thin end of a wedge which may force sweeping changes to the way the sport is run.

 

Some will say it's the promoters who take the risks with their own money but lets face it, it's our money they're taking and if we ever became properly organised they'd find it increasingly difficult to ignore us or our ideas to bring credibility to the sport.

 

The really big sponsorship money won't roll in while the sport presents itself as it does now. Our act needs cleaning up. Events like Cardiff show the way forward in terms of presentation. How many well televised UK tracks still have even a centre green worthy of the name? Speedway squeezed between a dog track and a kart or practice track doesn't cut it with even modestly budgeted advertisers and sponsors. A clean and tidy televised event would be a minimum requirement for a company wanting to project an image any higher up the marketing ladder than Fred Dingles Skip Hire.

 

Speedway has been a circus for as long as I can remember. The circle must be broken at some point and real money invested in stadia and facilities if that's to change. Lots of ideas for achieving this have already been raised in posts but all to no avail as they're not listening..................or they're pretending they're not.

 

After 45 years of putting up with this shambles I quite firmly believe that, in the very dim and very distant future................ everything will be exactly the same!

 

[TonyM]

Some good questions Andy but one fundamental question is in whose interests are we looking from and how can we accommodate the interests of the promoter / track owner / team owner / rider / fan / TV / sponsors

 

Personally number one in this has to be stadium owners as has been said on various posts the standard of stadia needs to be brought up to that which would be standard at any lower league football ground and we must make speedway an essential offering at their venue

 

Personally I would rather see fewer closer meetings than more meetings at which the result (if not the margin of victory) is a foregone conclusion. To do this I would propose more divisions with less (more evenly matched) teams and I know this goes against the grain but this would inevitably lead to more doubling up / squad type arrangements throughout the divisions to allow riders to earn a living but equally ride at the appropriate position (2nd string in div 1, HL in div 2 etc) in the right division. Taking this to its logical end this would result in the lower division teams being 'feeder' teams for the higher division teams, indeed it may well be that a division 1 side would also track a division 3 side for this purpose along with enabling there to be a commercially viable number of meetings at speedway only venues

 

A smaller Division 1 would probably suit Sky as they would have closer meetings and would in effect show a greater proportion of that divisions meetings. Hopefully new fans would be attracted by closer racing (the holy grail??) with existing fans probably supporting both the top division side and the lower division side at their track to get their regular speedway fix (in the way that some do at present with PL/CL track sides). Sponsors hopefully would find their own level but remember if we can concentrate the cream this should be a product that could be sold to national / international companies not just the local builder / car showroom

 

The hardest sell of smaller divisions would probably be to team owners themselves as the above is based far more on an american 'franchise' system with all levels acting in the interests of the common good (very uncapitalist I accept) rather than the constant infighting we experience at present

[AndyM]

Another good question, Green Man. Of the major stakeholders in the success of speedway, the fan seems to have come bottom of the pile for many years now, with sponsors not much higher. TV seems to dominate most of the time, but very few of our key stakeholders seem to have the future of the sport at heart as much as they should.

 

Agreed that we need to reduce the quantity and improve the quality and timing of meetings so every team isn't handicapped through one absence or another. Having said that, predicting the weather makes that a bit of a lottery. I'll be very unpopular for saying so, but having strong and financially healthy clubs with the right facilities is more important than keeping every last one going - you need to consolidate to advance.

 

And as I've said on many occasions before, we need a professional and centralised marketing function to revolutionise relationships with sponsors. Do it right and the revenues could and should be many times higher than we currently get for EL clubs.

 

Ideally, we need to combine this thread with the other one on the future! Can we do that please, mods?

[Subedei]

Speedway lives a hand-to-mouth existence. There's no incentive to plan for the future whatever. The rider controls change and a rider you just signed a year ago can't be accommodated in your team.

[AndyM]

All the more reason to conduct an effective strategic development exercise to prevent this humble day-to-day existence! That's what I help clients do, so they can map out a future for themselves. Simple but chilling truth: those that don't plan for the future don't have one!

[Mr. Clemens]

'This is not Speedway has we know it Jim'.

 

Reflections:

Looking for that moment forgotten

Looking for that moment remembered

 

Speedway at the Crossroads

 

Another old speedway track closes down with the demise of Exeter speedway at the County Ground. Along with all the other tracks no more than memories now. Too many to list all of them remembered by supporters who attended meetings there.

 

The attempts to revive speedway at Perry Barr seem destined to come to nothing. Not only does England's first city London have no speedway venue to boast of in the Elite League nor does the second city Birmingham.

 

Where does speedway go from here? Where has speedway come from? Where is it now? It would appear that speedway is at the crossroads. Will there be speedway has we know it Jim in ten years time? What is speedway has we know it? Will there be any speedway at all in ten years time??

 

Like everything in life speedway has gone through changes and will continue to do so. But what is the nature of the sport? How does it work? Why does it work? Who makes it work?

 

We live in an age of rapid change, times when nothing is certain and solid plans for the future are difficult to make. The key to the future of anything lies in its past. We drive along in a car, look through the rear view mirror and see where we have been. We look through the side mirror and know where we are. We look through the windscreen and see where we are going. Thus we see the past and where we are and from this we come to understand the likely future of anything.

 

The old tracks operating in traditional venues (usually dog track stadiums) are closing down. New tracks built from scratch are being established in various places around the country. Thus it is seen that speedway in effect is starting again from scratch. But at the same time some of these new tracks are closing down strangled at birth before they have time to breathe their breath of speedway life.

 

Back to basics with a vengeance indicating that it is time to 'forget the past' and to remake speedway as a new sport that has evolved out of speedway that was.

 

But why should speedway want or need to go back to basics. Costs for one thing. The lack of speedway riding talent who cannot afford the sophisticated machinery and all it involves in maintenance for another.

 

Speedway operated at a certain level with a certain attitude of mind attached to it. Ivan Mauger introduced 'professionalism' into the sport, something that no speedway rider, promoter or supporter can deny. But as with all things these things come with a price to pay. Not everyone can be Ivan Mauger in the same way not everyone can be David Beckham or Freddie Flintoff.

 

Mauger being the single-minded person he is set out a plan of action that suited him. He lived by his own code of practice and achieved the ultimate objectives he had in mind in the sport. But where did that leave everyone else? Riding in his shadow. Trying to put themselves in the position he put himself in, in order to achieve the ultimate objectives in the same manner he did. But everyone knows it doesn't work like that in life. There can only be one winner. Ivan Mauger was that one winner.

 

Everyone else followed in his wake. Doing what Ivan did in order to be what Ivan was and they never were. But it was that busting of the gut to get there that dragged speedway down into the mire. Because even though Mauger dragged speedway into the modern era back in the 70's he also opened up the path to extinction that has harvested all those old stadiums that have closed their doors to speedway in the last 20 years or so.

 

Every cute innovation, every new move every new bit of sparkle that added colour to the sport also drained off the spirit of what speedway was. And speedway was literally a thrill in a minute, a moment of high excitement. But all of a sudden it became a 'race' to have that bike that had that extra bit of drive to it out of the gate.

 

There are those who criticise those who put a caution sign up when these new innovations take place. Though one does not seek that progress is not allowed but rather that what does progress actually mean?

 

It is expected that a rider be professional in their presentation of themselves and their equipment at a meeting. But at what point does being professional work in the opposite direction and becomes a detriment to the rider rather than an advantage? When does a rider tie themselves in knots and defeat their objective of being a speedway rider?

 

At what point is that the role of a rider is more about presentation and innovation than it is about racing? What effect does all of this have on the supporter who stands and watches these events unfold. Whenever a rider introduces a new aspect to the sport that wasn't there beforehand, the supporter is told this has been introduced for the 'good of the sport'. But is this new innovation for the good of the rider and the supporter all the time??

 

Everyone always wants to go a little faster, do things a little faster, be more efficient in the way you go about doing things. But all things move into their opposites and there is the point when new innovations are more a detriment to the sport than they are an advantage. When that point is reached there is no other recourse than to declare 'independence' from that which was and begin again.

 

In the process of starting again the first thing people do is go back to basics. For it is there in the basics that the spirit of the thing is evident and shines through. The more complicated speedway becomes the duller it becomes. For speedway is a basic sport that serves its spirit best when it operates in that basic manner. When all the frills are cut away and the bare raw bones of what speedway is shine through.

 

This is not to say that a rider must not be colourful in their choice of what they wear on the track or what is imprinted on the bikes they ride. What does matter is the concept that speed is all that matters in speedway. It's not and it isn't.

 

What matters in speedway is the racing, the close contact between riders racing round the track vying with each other for the lead in the race. Surely a rider gains more satisfaction from a race well won than they do from a trouble free ride round the track to an easy win.

 

For if that is all speedway is to a rider then speedway is just another job of work to be done. A job of work to roll up and get on with, get finished with and get on your way to do the things that really do matter in life. For with this attitude of mind it is plain to see that speedway is not that something that matters in life. One can become too professional at what they do and become nothing at all.

 

So that is our first building block for promoters and riders to get their heads round. Does speedway matter to anyone? And if it does, why does it matter to them and how do they make it matter to the supporters around them?

 

Why did thousands of supporters turn up at Kirkmanshulme Lane for the Play Off Final second leg? Why did thousands of supporters turn up at the County Ground for the last meeting to be held there? They turned up at these two venues because they were looking for speedway. Not speedway of old but looking for speedway itself. For it is speedway that has lost itself somewhere down the road in the last 25 years.

 

For speedway is no longer speedway but 'Fast Track Riding'. Riding fast round a track. Riding faster round a track than three other people riding round the track not fast enough to catch the rider at the front. Not racing each other at close quarters at speeds that allows the old style of close contact racing to take place. It's every man for themselves now and if you can't keep up then tough luck on you.

 

Speedway is a sport divided against itself and a house divided against itself is destined to fall. This is the time when all concerned in the promotion of speedway as a sport have to pull together. There has to be a common aim as to what speedway is going to be and what it's going to do to establish new premises for new teams and how to get supporters coming through the gate on a regular basis.

 

How do you then make people fall in love with the sport? The answer seems to be to go back to basics, the future of speedway therefore being in speedway's origins. We cannot relive the days of old yet if we don't then this sport dies. It can be for-seen that in ten years time there will be no speedway in this country.

 

Therefore who is it who will promote the sport has a whole and take it to the powers that be and say 'this is a viable sport with a great future'. Who will take speedway then and say to those who matter 'make way for this sport that matters to operate in the manner it should, instead of being instrumental in bringing about the demise of speedway'.

 

There will be those who say you have to have the benchmarks as set by others to guide your aspirations in life. This is true but also one has to set realistic benchmarks for themselves to achieve. The problem is that one set of benchmarks sits at the opposite end of another set of benchmarks. In between is the void that into fall all things that do not hit the mark. And we speak of here of speedway falling into the void as it failed to hit the targets of professionalism set out by Ivan Mauger.

 

In the days of the 70's and 80's those with the perceptive eye could see what the results of the professionalism of Ivan Mauger would do for speedway in the end. Force speedway into a position where those who participated in the sport were obliged to aim for targets they could not reach.

 

It could be said, right or wrongly, that was the reason Ivan Mauger never involved himself in speedway in the UK in the manner it was perhaps expected he would. People often emphasise that Ivan was his own man in a manner that it is presented as an obvious fact no one would argue with.

 

Why was it then that a man with the interests of speedway so deeply at heart didn't place himself in a position where he could have been decisive in determining the direction of speedway and its future?

 

Why was it the man who made possible the gold plated Jawa didn't want to make possible the golden speedway future? Why was it the 'man with the plan' for himself wasn't the 'man with the plan' for the future of speedway?

 

Why was it the man with the plan could make the plan happen for himself but he couldn't or didn't want to make the plan work for everyone riding speedway? An achievement that would in effect have made him truly 'immortal' and in effect the greatest man of speedway there ever was.

 

The answer to this question is very simple, it was seen clearly then as it is seen clearly now. Ivan Mauger brought his brand of professionalism to the wrong sport. Speedway wasn't like other motor sports. Other motor sports rely on ' innovative technological improvements, glamorous heroic racers and high speed racing round long distance tracks'. If Ivan Mauger had have practised one of these types of motor sports there would be no one deny that what he represented was right for that sport.

 

But speedway in the depths of its soul wasn't and isn't about glamour and high speed long distance racing. As it was often said to those who asked what speedway was? Speedway is a 'spiritual sport', a sport of the spirit. It is of the spirit it is of the soul it is of the emotions and it is of the heartbeat of life. A sport where you see all things concerning life take place in a minute, take place in a moment. And when you tamper with that spirit and try to make that sport something it isn't then you strike the death knell of all that speedway is.

 

Thus it was seen even in his heyday that has Ivan Mauger was elevating himself to the status of 'greatest practitioner of the sport there ever was' at the same time he was undermining what speedway was and now could no longer be.

 

And it is said here too that Ivan Mauger knew himself exactly what was happening to speedway and where in effect it was going. And thus it is said too this is the reason that Ivan Mauger never involved himself in speedway, in Great Britain, as he could have when his racing days ended.

 

Because he for-saw what is being said here himself, in other words he knew what he was doing as a racer and he knew the effect it would have on speedway and being the forward planner and thinker he is, he also had worked out the logical conclusions of all he was doing too.

 

And thus he did not involve himself in the sport in the manner he could have and thus walked away from the sport in that sense. And he organised his World Series of Speedway independent of what speedway was then. As he himself states, the Grand Prix series is in effect the 'grandson' of his World Series. And as each of us knows the Grand Prix's are in effect independent of what speedway is today.

 

In effect we have two speedways. The one speedway being that of league racing that takes place in a certain number of countries on a regular financially viable, well supported consistent basis. The second speedway being that of the Grand Prix series that owes no allegiance and no affiliation to league racing. But both these two speedways use the same top riders to function, another spectrum of opposites with a void in the middle to be filled with?????

 

And thus we come closer to the heartbeat of the two great contradictions of speedway. Up to the late 1960's speedway was a certain sport operating in a manner satisfactory to riders, promoters and public alike.

 

Along came Mauger to drag speedway kicking and screaming into the modern post war era. But when Ivan looked over his shoulder he saw the sport has a body wasn't with him.

 

The sport wasn't attuned to that way of thinking not because it was backward looking but because it was made of a different temperament than other motor sports. But the move was already made and those who looked up and saw Mauger disappearing over the horizon to glory got on their bikes and raced on after him. And they follow him still wither they will over Christmas hill.

 

And it is these contradictions that are tearing the sport apart. The cream of the crop ride of into Grand Prix heaven where the rest have to make do and mend as they did pre Mauger, thus they have no choice but to go 'back to basics' and start the sport of speedway all over again.

 

The writer understands these things because the writer applies the same standards of professionalism laid down by Ivan Mauger to the written works of their own. The writer also understands that by definition, to plough your own field of thought can lead to a certain isolation as a person and a misunderstanding of intention by those who observe the writer at work.

 

You find yourself in a certain field of your own with no one else there with no one understanding what you are doing, why you're doing it, what you are saying and why you are saying it. But you go there all the same to achieve that which you set out to achieve and there is no fault in doing that expressed here.

 

And just has 9 individual world titles are all Ivan Mauger's the written works of the writer are all theirs and stand has their achievements in life just has his do. The writer might not achieve the public recognition of a world champion but everything else is there intact.

There are those who ask the writer as to why the work is consistent throughout and the answer to that is simple too. The writer keeps in touch with the spirit of what is written and keeps in touch with the soul of the word and that soul lives and breathes.

 

Thus the speedway rider must keep in touch with the spirit of what speedway is, and that is the very heartbeat of life itself. This being the reason most of them never wish to let go of speedway and this being the reason they have to look to themselves to and how they go about riding speedway in the future.

 

'Free my spirit, free my soul

till you do I am nothing at all'

[Richspeedway]

I thought I might aswell write on this topic instead of opening a new one as it is the same kind of question. Regarding the Premier League with Reading possibly going up and no Hull and Wimbledon due to no track and maybe no Birmingham coming in and also the money problems current Premier sides have, what do people think of maybe a northern and southern premier league? That way it could help sides with the financial side a little as they do not make long trips up to Glasgow or down to Isle of Wight. Of course it depends on how many teams will be operating but if there were enough I think it maybe a good idea. Also if new teams (cities/towns) wanted to maybe join like Plymouth or Middlesbrough maybe they should start from the Conference as it is the cheapest of the three divisions. But the main thing about that is I think the BSPA or maybe the Promoters of the Conference teams should get together and make some sort of booklet for councillors and mayors etc so if a new team do want to start up a team they can show them in black and white what the implications are of having a team and what strides teams go to to combat noise etc. It would also show it as a professional structure with the booklet and other items like that. Then after a couple of seasons if the team has grown and done well in the Conference then they could apply for the Premier League if they so wished too.

Edited November 5, 2005 by Richspeedway