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PeterS

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Mick is the Doug Ellis mentioned the same Doug Ellis from Aston Villa?

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yes the Doug ellis is the same man.

 

another thing that confuses me about speedway in Birmingham are the exact locations of the tracks around Perry Barr. i know Hall Green is the dog-track in the south of the city and that the Wheels complex has now got Stock-cars. but it appears there were two tracks around Perry Barr. would i be right to assume that the athletics track at Alexander Stadium is one of them?

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Yes speedway was at the Old Alexander Stadium, (not to be confused with the New Alexander Athletics Stadium in Perry Barr Park further up the Walsall road). It was here at the Old Alexander Stadium, where they raced in the fifties on the old running track ( I know this because my mom used to run round on the old cinders when she ran for Birchfield Harriers) it was on this sight that they built the current dog track. The old Ladbrooks dog track was across the road, directly opposite the current dog track but is now the On Stop shopping precinct.

 

When going to the speedway at Perry Barr in the seventies you could see the old derelict stadium across the road, which still had a bar and was used for private functions, but no athletics as this had moved up the road.

 

So in effect if the Speedway if did go back to Perry barr, it would literally be going home. The grandstand I think is still the original but completely renovated and moderised.

Edited by Deano
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Just read that Doug Eliis is to step down as Chief Executive at AVFC, Maybe he'll be interested in a return to speedway promation :rolleyes:

 

I'd love to see it happen but i can't really see speedway coming back to the old Alexander Stadium. because the university have build a residential block just across the road. I feel sure they would complain about the noise.

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I'd love to see it happen but i can't really see speedway coming back to the old Alexander Stadium. because the university have build a residential block just across the road. I feel sure they would complain about the noise.

What - students? :o

They make that much of a racket themselves I shouldn't think they would ever hear the Speedway, so no problems there. :D

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  • 2 months later...

As for noise levels in the area, the location is near a railway line, on a busy bus route, opp a busy shopping complex, is on a main road route into the city, nearby has the container base which has loads of HGV passing at all times around the clock also not forgetting the council refuse site is only a couple of mins away plus there is the industrial park and many factories and busineses in the area, so its currently quite a peaceful place for students to study? anyway seems like an angle to introduce new support to the sport of speedway which is only a good thing. :D

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Cheers "Stansolo" We've already disscussed the huge potential that a Birmingham Brummies revival at the Perry Bar greyhound Stadium has if it ever does come to fruition in the General discussions section in this forum. Speedway racing on a Friday night at Perry Bar (or any other night if the favoured Friday night is unavailable) in what is a busy inner city area would cause no more noise irritation than what is already experienced in the area. Indeed from personal experience would anyone actually be able to hear the speedway bikes over the traffic anyway, especially with the Perry Bar stands keeping in most of the noise? Birmingham remains such an untaped sleeping giant/ speedway hotbed. I'm sure even the ultra expensive Elite League could be viable at Perry Bar just as Britsh League racing was at the old Perry Bar in the early 80's. It seems so criminal to be talking about Birmingham Brummies Speedway in a "years gone by" forum. Just like near rivals Cradley Heath the support and potential is very much alive in readiness for their reawakening.

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Thanx 25 .....Us supporters of the BRUMMIES must keep discussing speedway or lack of it in Birmingham, without a team ie: Birm, Heathens, Long Eaton,etc, etc we must carry and keep up the fight in the hope we will see our teams once again at the tapes. :mad:

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Hard to believe how Midlands speedway has declined over the years.

 

From the late seventies when you could go to Wolverhampton (Friday), Cradley or Coventry (Saturday), Stoke (Sunday), Brum (Monday), Leicester (Tuesday).

 

Great atmosphere at Perry Barr, the Brummies were a tough match for the Heathens on track, the likes of Hans Nielsen and Andy Grahame were true leaders.

 

Didn't George Gavin know how to wind the Heathens fans up? I believe Peter York sstarted off there too.

 

By the way former Brummies great and original blonde bombshell Graham Warren isn't travelling so well these days, he has suffered from a stroke and now resides in a Gold Coast nursing home. I had a nice chat to him at a veteran riders reunion on the Gold Coast a few years ago and Ivan Mauger actually interupted to say how he remembered Graham as being Mr Perry Barr.

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Hard to believe how Midlands speedway has declined over the years.

 

Cradley or Coventry (Saturday),

Now come on, there can, (oops :( was), only one place to Bee :) on a saturday.

 

Seriously though, I agree, used to start the season with the Midland League & then the Mildland Riders Championship, the final always packed Brandon, happy days

Edited by howling gorgon
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