Guest Donsking Posted May 3, 2007 Report Share Posted May 3, 2007 the old new cross track is now just a field between housing estates,all that i can find of the old stadium is a couple of grassed over wooden steps,although there is a stone memorial on the ground. i am currently researching for a book on ron johnson,and would welcome the opportunity to meet with anyone and share information <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You found a field in New Cross! Sadly, the update from my family is that, lucid as she is for a lady in her 80s, my Aunt didn't really have anything particularly interesting to say, and the hoped for collection of programmes and suchlike in the loft, doesn't exist. For a family of avid speedway goers, we were disappointly poor at keeping a record of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimhenry Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Ron Johnson, not to be confussed with Belle Vue's Kiwi Ron Johnston, had short spell at Ashfield after he left NeW Cross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimhenry Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 According to George McKenzie, who spent half of 1930 at Crystal Palace after Marine Gardens in Edinburgh closed, Johnson was so"home" to Australia. When he went to dump the 1930 version, it went into a corner where his motors from 1928 and 1929 were lying dumped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 (edited) I'm a bit late on this one .....but this may be of use.....According to my information Mockford and Smiths first venture as London Motor sports was to run Motorcycle Gymkhana events around the country. Path racing also became known as Minature TT racing. There are photos of the path racing at C/P in the motorcycle press...one features Gus Kuhn and Roger Frogley I believe open licence events were run between 1936-38 As for track location, can I suggest a trip to the appropriate library and take a look at the 'Ordinance Survey' maps of that period. If the maps were updated in the 1930s the track will most likely be shown. Edited May 11, 2007 by Nigel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Donsking Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 I'm a bit late on this one .....but this may be of use.....According to my information Mockford and Smiths first venture as London Motor sports was to run Motorcycle Gymkhana events around the country. Path racing also became known as Minature TT racing. There are photos of the path racing at C/P in the motorcycle press...one features Gus Kuhn and Roger Frogley I believe open licence events were run between 1936-38 As for track location, can I suggest a trip to the appropriate library and take a look at the 'Ordinance Survey' maps of that period. If the maps were updated in the 1930s the track will most likely be shown. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> With the greatest respect Nigel, I think we've already got this one sussed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 I thought this one had run its course, but I was to lazy to read all 9 pages to find out if anything else was required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 (edited) Hi all I've been asked by my local historical society to find out what I can about Crystal Palace Glaziers, so my first stop is the collective brain cell of the BSF! So, can anyone fill in any details about the team, like what periods they raced in, were they any good etc.? Any info gratefully received Cheers <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Was this historical work ever completed? And if so where can it be read? I live about 800 yards from the Penge entrance to Crystal Palace Park. I saw car and motorcycle racing on the big circuit there in the 1960s and 1970s. So far as speedway is concerned - I don't remember it - but I have been told that I was taken to see the 1939 National League Division Two team in about May that year! http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Edited October 28, 2007 by speedyguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 the old new cross track is now just a field between housing estates,all that i can find of the old stadium is a couple of grassed over wooden steps,although there is a stone memorial on the ground. i am currently researching for a book on ron johnson,and would welcome the opportunity to meet with anyone and share information <{POST_SNAPBACK}> There's an article on Ron Johnson in the Files section of this yahoo site: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 Was this historical work ever completed? And if so where can it be read? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Donsking is no longer a member here,so it might never be known unless you come across it by accident Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 Donsking is no longer a member here,so it might never be known unless you come across it by accident <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's sad news. He was one of the more interpretive posters on the BSF. Now we really are in a vaccum over the history of Crystal Palace - at least from his angle. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted October 28, 2007 Report Share Posted October 28, 2007 That's sad news. He was one of the more interpretive posters on the BSF. Now we really are in a vaccum over the history of Crystal Palace - at least from his angle. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My book should be out next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 (edited) My book should be out next year! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I look forward to this - as I so all your books! Re Crystal Palace 1939 - does the former Canadian all-in wrestler Eddie 'Flash' Barker get a mention? I saw him back on the wrestling circuit in 1947. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Edited October 29, 2007 by speedyguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 Oh dear, you probably won't be looking forward to this book then, as I am not really intending to say much about Crystal Palace in 1939. The idea of the book is to follow the CP/New Cross team's history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantodan Posted October 30, 2007 Report Share Posted October 30, 2007 (edited) Some of you will already know that I have begun a website for any venue that has closed down. I hope to air many photos that may not have been shown on the web before so if you have any pics of Crystal Palace (or anywhere else) please get in touch email jskinner06@btinternet.com Edited October 30, 2007 by dantodan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Oh dear, you probably won't be looking forward to this book then, as I am not really intending to say much about Crystal Palace in 1939. The idea of the book is to follow the CP/New Cross team's history. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes I will still look forward to the book. Just thought the 1939 team would get a mention as several of them - certainly Keith Harvey and Mick Mitchell - rode for New Cross in 1946. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 There is an interesting comment on http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway which relates to 1948 when New Cross held a speedway 20th anniversary meeting. There is a programme quote by Freddie Mockford and Cecil Smith, who were involved with both tracks, into how speedway started at the Palace on May 19, 1928. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Oh dear, you probably won't be looking forward to this book then, as I am not really intending to say much about Crystal Palace in 1939. The idea of the book is to follow the CP/New Cross team's history. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually you'll be looking forward to it even less now, as I've taken out Crystal Palace altogether owing to constraints of space. Does anyone want an unpublished 25,000 word history of Crystal Palace... ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 (edited) Actually you'll be looking forward to it even less now, as I've taken out Crystal Palace altogether owing to constraints of space. Does anyone want an unpublished 25,000 word history of Crystal Palace... ? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am sure that with the addition of the non-league days (between 1934-38), the 1939 team, the non-league 1940 meetings (two of them), then the post-war battles to get Crystal Palace back into speedway, you could manage another book. I hope so, anyway. (Even how midget car racing failed there 1934-35 and 1938)!!! http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway Edited January 6, 2008 by speedyguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantodan Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Actually you'll be looking forward to it even less now, as I've taken out Crystal Palace altogether owing to constraints of space. Does anyone want an unpublished 25,000 word history of Crystal Palace... ? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Norbold.. presently I do not have a webpage on www.defunctspeedway.co.uk for Crystal Palace. I hope that someone with a few photographs will get in touch to encourage me to add Crystal Palace to the website. I would then be pleased to add some text. Perhaps you can email me the history and I may be able to use part of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 (edited) In answer speedy, the article is pretty much written, it's just waiting for someone to construct the part of the website where it will reside, however, my research has thrown up one anomaly, namely the actual location of the track. Obviously there is no trace of it now, and I haven't been able to turn up any external pictures that might help to pinpoint it, although it seems to be generally accepted that it was on the site of the football pitch, which is indeed where the athletics track is now. What I have found are some pictures of the Crystal Palace grounds from around the turn of the 20th century, and these show two sports structures, the football pitch and then, on the other side of a wide walkway, more or less where the swimming pool is now, a cycle track. Now, I don't now what the cycle tracks were like back then, but it doesn't look like it was banked like a modern velodrome and it looks too long to have been used for speedway without modification, but it certainly is an elongated oval and it has a grandstand, so I would've thought it more likely that the speedway track was laid inside the cycle track. Unless I can find a definitive answer to it's exact location, I may have to call into question accepted wisdom and re-write that part of the piece which descibes the track location. Did this article ever appear anywhere. For those interested in some comments on the Crystal Palace team, there's a couple of posts on the new discussion site http://londonspeedways.proboards.com/index.cgi Edited January 31, 2009 by speedyguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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