Oldest Surviving World Finalists

[iris123]

18 hours ago, chunky said:

Nice to see five ex-Dons in the Top 16!

Back home and chatting to some of the older members of the family, i was told a story that i had never heard before. According to one of my uncles, when Ronnie Greene left, 3 former Dons applied to take over. Cyril, Ron How and Reg Luckhurst. Apparently he say's the job went to Cyril on the basis that he lived vlosest (Mitcham). Now my uncle thought Ron How would have been the better choice. Plus seems he held a grudge against Maidment for leaving the Dons in the lurch when Mirac retired. Then only coming back to Wimbledon when Ronnie returned to the sport.

Not sure n any of that

[chunky]

2 hours ago, iris123 said:

Back home and chatting to some of the older members of the family, i was told a story that i had never heard before. According to one of my uncles, when Ronnie Greene left, 3 former Dons applied to take over. Cyril, Ron How and Reg Luckhurst. Apparently he say's the job went to Cyril on the basis that he lived vlosest (Mitcham). Now my uncle thought Ron How would have been the better choice. Plus seems he held a grudge against Maidment for leaving the Dons in the lurch when Mirac retired. Then only coming back to Wimbledon when Ronnie returned to the sport.

Not sure n any of that

Kinda makes sense, actually... Sid and Reg both retired at the end of 71. Maido went straight into management, with Reg taking a year off before coming out of retirement in 73. I do think Ron would have been a good choice.

[BL65]

20 hours ago, iris123 said:

 Plus seems he held a grudge against Maidment for leaving the Dons in the lurch when Mirac retired. Then only coming back to Wimbledon when Ronnie returned to the sport.

Cyril left Wimbledon and joined Belle Vue in 1962.  He was in his second season with the Aces when Ronnie was injured so didn't really leave the Dons in the lurch by moving.

[Jonas H]

Where's Gunnar Malmqvist? Scored 7 points to finish tenth in the 1968 world final. Gunnar is alive and well, lives at Vetlanda and celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary in February.

Born 25/12/1940 and should be number 18 on the list. 

https://www.merinfo.se/person/Vetlanda/Bo-Erik-Gunnar-Malmqvist-1940/bju2x-nhch

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Jonas H

[chunky]

3 hours ago, Jonas H said:

Where's Gunnar Malmqvist? Scored 7 points to finish tenth in the 1968 world final. Gunnar is alive and well, lives at Vetlanda and celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary in February.

Born 25/12/1940 and should be number 18 on the list. 

https://www.merinfo.se/person/Vetlanda/Bo-Erik-Gunnar-Malmqvist-1940/bju2x-nhch

 

We have been missing some info on Swedish riders, so that is great to find that out. I will update the list. Thanks again!

[Split]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:01 PM, chunky said:

Well, in light of recent information - thanks peeps - here is the updated list...

 

01 - Arthur Payne - 28/08/23
02 - Chum Taylor - 04/04/27
03 - Billy Bales - 06/06/29
04 - Ian Williams - 04/08/31
05 - Ove Fundin - 23/05/33
06 - Dan Forsberg - 25/03/34
07 - Josef Hofmeister - 17/06/34
08 - Brian Crutcher - 23/08/34
09 - Mike Broadbank - 25/09/34
10 - Barry Briggs - 30/12/34
11 - Aage Hansen - 13/04/35
12 - Gote Nordin - 02/07/35
13 - Bob Andrews - 27/10/1935
14 - Reg Luckhurst - 11/11/1935
15 - Sverre Harrfeldt - 23/11/1937
16 - Leif Larsson - 16/02/1938

17 - Rick France - 12/07/1938
18 - Gunnar Malmqvist - 25/12/1940

19 - Andrzej Wyglenda 04/05/1941
20 - John Louis - 14/06/1941
21 - Jim Airey - 19/08/1941
22 - Bengt Jansson - 09/01/1943
23 - Anders Michanek - 30/05/1943
24 - Trevor Hedge - 30/08/1943
25 - Terry Betts - 15/09/1943
26 - Howard Cole 29/12/1943
27 - Martin Ashby - 05/02/1944
28 - Jan Simensen - 26/07/1944
29 - Zygfryd Friedek - 19/10/1944
30 - Jerzy Trzeszkowski - 10/01/1945
31 - Eric Boocock - 02/02/1945
32 - John Boulger - 18/06/1945
33 - Hasse Holmqvist - 18/06/1945
34 - Jim McMillan - 03/12/1945
35 - Soren Karlsson - 23/10/1946
36 - Ole Olsen - 16/11/1946
37 - Ray Wilson - 12/03/1947
38 - Doug Wyer - 16/08/1947
39 - Grigori Khlinovsky - 11/11/47
40 - Egon Muller - 26/11/1948
41 - Christoph Betzl - 13/02/1949
42 - Jiri Stancl - 18/11/1949
43 - Viktor Kuznetsov - 27/11/1949
44 - Georg Hack - 20/02/1950
45 - Marek Cieslak - 28/06/1950
46 - Alois Wiesbock - 31/07/1950
47 - Tommy Johansson - 21/10/1950
48 - Vladimir Gordeev - 30/11/1950
49 - John Titman - 26/01/1951
50 - Dag Lovaas - 25/02/1951

51 - Jan Verner - 03/03/1951
52 - Petr Ondrasik - 08/10/1951
53 - Phil Crump - 09/02/1952
54 - Henny Kroeze - 11/03/1952
55 - Valery Gordeev - 28/08/1952
56 - Dave Jessup - 07/03/1953
57 - Ales Dryml - 10/06/1953
58 - Scott Autrey - 09/07/1953
59 - Gordon Kennett - 02/09/1953
60 - Robert Slabon - 15/09/1953
61 - Peter Collins - 24/03/1954
62 - Larry Ross - 15/06/1954
63- John Davis - 10/11/1954
64 - Finn Thomsen - 16/02/1955
65 - Mikhail Starostin - 24/02/1955
66 - Tommy Nilsson - 10/03/1955
67 - Jan Andersson - 07/05/1955
68 - Kai Niemi - 15/09/1955
69 - Jerzy Rembas - 18/04/1956
70 - Chris Morton - 22/07/1956
71 - Steve Bastable - 16/09/1956
72 - Bruce Penhall - 10/05/1957
73 - Karl Maier - 24/08/1957
74 - Roman Jankowski - 05/10/1957
75 - Bo Petersen - 21/02/1958
76 - Les Collins - 24/05/1958
77 - Mitch Shirra - 27/09/1958
78 - Michael Lee - 11/12/1958
79 - John Cook - 18/12/1958
80 - Dennis Sigalos - 16/08/1959
81 - Erik Gundersen - 08/10/1959
82 - Hans Nielsen - 26/12/1959

I can t see Björn Knutson (born 27 April 1938) on that list. Is the ex-world champion no longer with us?

 

 

 

[chunky]

13 minutes ago, Split said:

I can t see Björn Knutson (born 27 April 1938) on that list. Is the ex-world champion no longer with us?

 

 

 

Well spotted! I may have inadvertantly deleted him when I made the recent changes; I did have a problem with a couple of entries.

I'll change that - thanks!

[chunky]

Updated after the recent sad loss of Billy Bales, here is the COMPLETE list of surviving World Finalists. If you spot any mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know.

01 - Arthur Payne - 28/08/23
02 - Chum Taylor - 04/04/27
03 - Ian Williams - 04/08/31
04 - Ove Fundin - 23/05/33
05 - Dan Forsberg - 25/03/34
06 - Josef Hofmeister - 17/06/34
07 - Brian Crutcher - 23/08/34
08 - Mike Broadbank - 25/09/34
09 - Barry Briggs - 30/12/34
10 - Aage Hansen - 13/04/35
11 - Gote Nordin - 02/07/35
12 - Bob Andrews - 27/10/1935
13 - Reg Luckhurst - 11/11/1935
14 - Sverre Harrfeldt - 23/11/1937
15 - Leif Larsson - 16/02/1938
16 - Bjorn Knutson - 27/04/38

17 - Rick France - 12/07/1938
18 - Gunnar Malmqvist - 25/12/1940

19 - Andrzej Wyglenda 04/05/1941
20 - John Louis - 14/06/1941
21 - Jim Airey - 19/08/1941
22 - Bengt Jansson - 09/01/1943
23 - Anders Michanek - 30/05/1943
24 - Trevor Hedge - 30/08/1943
25 - Terry Betts - 15/09/1943
26 - Howard Cole 29/12/1943
27 - Martin Ashby - 05/02/1944
28 - Jan Simensen - 26/07/1944
29 - Zygfryd Friedek - 19/10/1944
30 - Jerzy Trzeszkowski - 10/01/1945
31 - Eric Boocock - 02/02/1945
32 - John Boulger - 18/06/1945
33 - Hasse Holmqvist - 18/06/1945
34 - Jim McMillan - 03/12/1945
35 - Soren Karlsson - 23/10/1946
36 - Ole Olsen - 16/11/1946
37 - Ray Wilson - 12/03/1947
38 - Doug Wyer - 16/08/1947
39 - Grigori Khlinovsky - 11/11/47
40 - Egon Muller - 26/11/1948
41 - Christoph Betzl - 13/02/1949
42- Jiri Stancl - 18/11/1949
43 - Viktor Kuznetsov - 27/11/1949

44 - Georg Hack - 20/02/1950
45 - Marek Cieslak - 28/06/1950
46 - Alois Wiesbock - 31/07/1950
47 - Tommy Johansson - 21/10/1950
48 - Vladimir Gordeev - 30/11/1950
49 - John Titman - 26/01/1951
50 - Dag Lovaas - 25/02/1951
51 - Jan Verner - 03/03/1951
52 - Petr Ondrasik - 08/10/1951
53 - Phil Crump - 09/02/1952
54 - Henny Kroeze - 11/03/1952
55 - Valery Gordeev - 28/08/1952
56 - Dave Jessup - 07/03/1953
57 - Ales Dryml - 10/06/1953
58 - Scott Autrey - 09/07/1953
59 - Gordon Kennett - 02/09/1953
60 - Robert Slabon - 15/09/1953
61 - Peter Collins - 24/03/1954
62 - Larry Ross - 15/06/1954
63 - John Davis - 10/11/1954
64 - Finn Thomsen - 16/02/1955
65 - Mikhail Starostin - 24/02/1955
66 - Tommy Nilsson - 10/03/1955
67 - Jan Andersson - 07/05/1955
68 - Kai Niemi - 15/09/1955
69 - Jerzy Rembas - 18/04/1956
70 - Chris Morton - 22/07/1956
71 - Steve Bastable - 16/09/1956
72 - Bruce Penhall - 10/05/1957
73 - Karl Maier - 24/08/1957
74 - Roman Jankowski - 05/10/1957
75 - Bo Petersen - 21/02/1958
76 - Les Collins - 24/05/1958
77 - Mitch Shirra - 27/09/1958
78 - Michael Lee - 11/12/1958
79 - John Cook - 18/12/1958
80 - Richard Knight - 26/05/1959
81 - Dennis Sigalos - 16/08/1959
82 - Erik Gundersen - 08/10/1959
83 - Hans Nielsen - 26/12/1959

84 - Olli Tyrvainen - 11/01/1960
85 - Phil Collins - 02/06/1960
86 - Sam Ermolenko - 23/11/1960
87 - Rick Miller - 12/01/1961
88 - Jeremy Doncaster - 16/06/1961
89 - Tommy Knudsen - 09/11/1961
90 - Zoltan Adorjan - 15/11/1961
91 - Shawn Moran - 19/11/1961
92 - Peter Ravn - 16/03/1962
93 - Zenon Kasprzak - 10/05/1962
94 - John Jorgensen - 18/07/1962
95 - Antal Kocso - 22/12/1962
96 - Sandor Tihanyi - 28/04/1963
97 - Lance King - 13/08/1963
98 - Armando Castagna - 22/09/1963
99 - Kelvin Tatum - 08/02/1964
100 - Marvyn Cox - 11/07/1964
101 - Zdenek Tesar - 30/07/1964
102 - Mikael Blixt - 08/08/1964
103 - Paul Thorp - 09/09/1964
104 - Tony Olsson - 13/03/1965
105 - Gerd Riss - 17/03/1965
106 - Conny Ivarsson - 15/04/1965
107 - Simon Cross - 31/05/1965
108 - Bohumil Brhel - 10/06/1965
109 - Slawomir Drabik - 06/02/1966
110 - Per Jonsson - 21/03/1966
111 - Andy Smith - 25/05/1966
112 - Jan Staechmann - 05/06/1966
113 - Ronnie Correy - 08/11/1966
114 - Jimmy Nilsen - 16/11/1966
115 - Brian Karger - 09/02/1967
116 - Jan O. Pedersen - 27/07/1967
117 - Craig Boyce - 02/08/1967
118 - Troy Butler - 22/09/1967
119 - Piotr Swist - 20/06/1968
120 - Todd Wiltshire - 26/09/1968
121 - Gary Havelock - 04/11/1968
122 - Stefan Danno - 10/02/1969
123 - Martin Dugard - 18/05/1969
124 - Gert Handberg - 30/05/1969
125 - Chris Louis - 09/07/1969

126 - Billy Hamill - 23/05/1970
127 - Greg Hancock - 03/06/1970
128 - Henrik Gustafsson - 14/08/1970
129 - Tony Rickardsson - 17/08/1970
130 - Mark Loram - 12/01/1971
131 - Tomasz Gollob - 11/04/1971
132 - Leigh Adams - 28/04/1971
133 - Josh Larsen - 12/05/1972
134 - Joe Screen - 27/11/1972
135 - Jason Crump - 06/08/1975

Edited July 12, 2023 by chunky

[Igor]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:01 PM, chunky said:

Well, in light of recent information - thanks peeps - here is the updated list...

01 - Arthur Payne - 28/08/23
02 - Chum Taylor - 04/04/27
03 - Ian Williams - 04/08/31
04 - Ove Fundin - 23/05/33
05 - Dan Forsberg - 25/03/34
06 - Josef Hofmeister - 17/06/34
07 - Brian Crutcher - 23/08/34
08 - Mike Broadbank - 25/09/34
09 - Barry Briggs - 30/12/34
10 - Aage Hansen - 13/04/35
11 - Gote Nordin - 02/07/35
12 - Bob Andrews - 27/10/1935
13 - Reg Luckhurst - 11/11/1935
14 - Sverre Harrfeldt - 23/11/1937
15 - Leif Larsson - 16/02/1938
16 - Bjorn Knutson - 27/04/38
...

Viktor Trofimov - 22/03/1938

...

Volodymyr Rozhanchuk - 11/03/1952

[chunky]

3 hours ago, Igor said:

Viktor Trofimov - 22/03/1938

...

Volodymyr Rozhanchuk - 11/03/1952

Thanks for your input, but this list is for living riders only; Viktor Trofimov passed away in 2013.

Also, the list includes riders who actually rode in a World Final; non-riding reserves do not count.

[Jonas H]

Arthur Payne, born 28/08/23, becomes 100 years today. The only remaining rider who is older than the sport itself! First acknowledged speedway meeting was held on December 15, 1923. 

[BOBBATH]

The only survivor of the  1950 World Final and he wasn't even the youngest rider in the meeting. Can somebody find out what he's drinking so I can order a case for myself!!!!

[norbold]

2 hours ago, Jonas H said:

Arthur Payne, born 28/08/23, becomes 100 years today. The only remaining rider who is older than the sport itself! First acknowledged speedway meeting was held on December 15, 1923. 

Congratulations to Arthur. Well done that man!  Though I don't agree he is older than the sport, as I also don't agree that the "First acknowledged speedway meeting was held on December 15, 1923." But that's another story!

[Split]

Just picked up that the Swedish 1-2-3 from the 1961 world final are all on the list. Three great riders  - long may it stay that way! 

[Jonas H]

On 8/28/2023 at 5:03 PM, norbold said:

Congratulations to Arthur. Well done that man!  Though I don't agree he is older than the sport, as I also don't agree that the "First acknowledged speedway meeting was held on December 15, 1923." But that's another story!

Agree with you, but at least older than the officially acknowledged version of speedway.

[chunky]

On 8/28/2023 at 11:25 AM, Split said:

Just picked up that the Swedish 1-2-3 from the 1961 world final are all on the list. Three great riders  - long may it stay that way! 

Just elaborating on this...

So too are the Top 3 from 1963. This is scary, but these two years are the ONLY years with a surviving Top 3 - PRIOR TO 1975!

1975 still seems so recent to me, but...

[BOBBATH]

That is indeed very scary

[norbold]

On 9/11/2023 at 1:22 PM, chunky said:

Just elaborating on this...

So too are the Top 3 from 1963. This is scary, but these two years are the ONLY years with a surviving Top 3 - PRIOR TO 1975!

1975 still seems so recent to me, but...

Mind you, Ivan Mauger accounts for most of that on his own!

[chunky]

49 minutes ago, norbold said:

Mind you, Ivan Mauger accounts for most of that on his own!

I know, but still... 1975 still seems so bloody recent to me. It's 48 years, I know, but go back 48 years the other way, and speedway didn't even exist in Britain!

EDIT: You want to know what REALLY scared me? The next most recent after 1975 with all three medallists surviving is 1981...

Edited September 24, 2023 by chunky

[BOBBATH]

This really depresses me - I might as well go hang myself right now!!