Does British Speedway Have Future?

[Pieman72]

Very good point speedway should be for everyone. My rational is:

 

1) Potential sponsors.

2) Speedway is generally watched by 'blue collar' individuals.

3) Tracks are in less affluent area's where they have not been developed into housing.

4) The median income of the uk is particularly low so it is a bigger market.

5) A low admission price will potentially bring in more supporters?

 

I'm interested in your discussion point as this is what my post was about. Please continue the thread as everything is invaluable.

[crazysue]

 

Offensive? Obviously, I'm talking youngsters and young adults in GENERAL. There are always exceptions to every rule.

 

Anyone who thinks there are thousands of under-35s out there just waiting to be told about the fine arts of British speedway is delusional.

 

Look around the stadium the next time you are at a track and count how many teenagers are there - and I mean those who have paid to get in and not youngsters who have been taken (dragged?) there by their parents. On a normal race night you will see hardly any.

 

It's very obvious from speedway's age demographic that the die-hard adults (the 40-plus bracket) have not been able to persuade their offspring to follow them to speedway on a regular basis, in any great numbers. So if the people who love the sport can't get their kids, or younger family members (grandkids, nephews, nieces, etc) interested in attending on a regular basis, then what chance promoters sourcing new, untapped support from the youth market?

 

To attract a SIGNIFICANT number of the youth market would take a radical and very expensive national marketing/advertising campaign that the sport in its current depleted state cannot afford.

 

Although I have no interest in stock cars, banger racing, hot rods or whatever it's called these days, but I understand from those who do that attendances for cars at Arena-Essex are far in excess of those turning up to watch Lakeside Hammers. Is this also the case at Ipswich? Are there any lessons to be learned there? Are the fans paying to watch the cars much younger than speedway and how does the cost of admission compare? Perhaps someone on here can confirm....

 

The key to short-term SURVIVAL - apart from the move to semi-pro, as covered in my first post - is to work much harder to keep the interest of those growing steadily disillusioned and win back the support of those who have been disaffected in the past 5 years. But, obviously, you need to give them a good reason to give the sport another chance.

 

For 2 of my sons all it would have taken was a more sensible pricing strategy. They didn't mind the gaps between heats, they didn't mind the older stadiums, they didn't mind the outdated music....they just couldn't afford to go once they hit 16 and had to pay adult entrance despite still being in school full time studying for GCSES (they had the bad luck of being born early in the school year) as they were too young to get a student card (have to be in 6th form) and too old for child price.

 

At one point there was 5 of us in our group, youngest dropped out pretty quickly as although he loved speedway, he found it difficult to cope at the track, the other two dropped out as they hit 16 and finally, the family friend who used to come with us dropped out last year as it had become unaffordable.

[Pieman72]

Thanks Sue an excellent post. I think this emphasises the 'bunker mentality' of the sport and the post is evidential to what needs to happen in speedway. Whether your a die hard or a newcomer just an anorak (like me) lol or not any contribution is welcome, what we don't need is anything offensive. We all have self interests and as I get older I become welded to the past but I do realise what needs to happed. Thanks again for some brilliant replies keep em coming !!

[boz]

 

I hope very much that you are right.

 

Kevin Keay is certainly approaching things in the right manner so far, and has a lot of excellent ideas. His main aim, on and off track, is to entertain the spectators so fingers crossed for better times in the coming seasons!

[Pieman72]

Speedway needs a lot more than a makeover.

[TonyMac]

 

For 2 of my sons all it would have taken was a more sensible pricing strategy. They didn't mind the gaps between heats, they didn't mind the older stadiums, they didn't mind the outdated music....they just couldn't afford to go once they hit 16 and had to pay adult entrance despite still being in school full time studying for GCSES (they had the bad luck of being born early in the school year) as they were too young to get a student card (have to be in 6th form) and too old for child price.

 

At one point there was 5 of us in our group, youngest dropped out pretty quickly as although he loved speedway, he found it difficult to cope at the track, the other two dropped out as they hit 16 and finally, the family friend who used to come with us dropped out last year as it had become unaffordable.

 

Unaffordable or uninteresting?

 

What is the adult cost you refer to - £16?

 

Are they spending whatever they used to pay to get in on something else now?

[Pieman72]

In it's present form speedway will stay as it is and from the posts on here most are happy for it to carry on without change and I wouldn't want to moderate that enthusiasm.

[Guest]

Although I have no interest in stock cars, banger racing, hot rods or whatever it's called these days, but I understand from those who do that attendances for cars at Arena-Essex are far in excess of those turning up to watch Lakeside Hammers. Is this also the case at Ipswich? Are there any lessons to be learned there? Are the fans paying to watch the cars much younger than speedway and how does the cost of admission compare? Perhaps someone on here can confirm....

 

 

Firstly TMC, stock cars, banger racing, hot rods are all different race formulas. All independent in rules and regulations of each other. There are both contact and non-contact formulas.

By and large I think you will find that attendances for the car racing formulas are bigger than those attending speedway. You rightly mention Arena Essex and it most certainly is the case at Ipswich. Even in Manchester where the stock cars remained at Kirky Lane after speedway moved to the NSS, attendances are better. And I also know that to be the case - surprisingly perhaps - also at Stoke!

Admission charges for car racing meetings are much the same as those charged for speedway. So why is this. Because car racing provides longer races, more actual on track action, and with more starters on track.

I won't embarrass who this recent addict to stock car racing is, but for years he was fairly vociferous in his attitude towards the cars and is currently well established with one successful speedway promotion.

However, with the pending closure of Wimbledon Stadium he went to his first car race meeting there - when the National Hot Rods (powerful non-contact saloon cars) were the main formula at the meeting. He made a favourable comment about attending the meeting on a Facebook forum, and when I joked with him about that attitude, he told me that he had already booked his tickets for more meetings at Plough Lane in the run-up to the stadium's closure in March.

I am in the small band who also support and follow BOTH speedway and stock car racing. I have never really understood the animosity that exists among SOME speedway followers towards the stock cars. On the other hand, I have cannot recall a similar reaction among stock car supporters towards speedway.

It is sad that speedway these days dedicates so much time towards "survival" whereas the stock car fraternity do nt appear to have similar concerns. There must be a sound answer somewhere - when speedway discovers what it is doubtless it will begin to re-estabish itself more fully as an attraction to the sporting public at large?

Edited December 13, 2016 by Guest

[Garry1603]

 

I am in the small band who also support and follow BOTH speedway and stock car racing. I have never really understood the animosity that exists among SOME speedway followers towards the stock cars. On the other hand, I have cannot recall a similar reaction among stock car supporters towards speedway.

 

I think that comes from the perception that stock cars ruin the speedway track rather than any problen with the sport per se.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Garry1603

[Skid Sprocket]

I think that comes from the perception that stock cars ruin the speedway track rather than any problem with the sport per se.

Don't know much about stock cars but I would have thought there was always the danger of car parts being left/buried in the track.

[steve roberts]

Don't know much about stock cars but I would have thought there was always the danger of car parts being left/buried in the track.

Reminds me of the comment John Berry once made regarding the state of the inside of Cowley track back in the seventies (it did hold stock car racing for a short while)

 

"It looked like a place that Morris Minors came to die!"

[moxey63]

Was thinking earlier, about speedway and its future. A sport that loses glamour clubs like Cradley, Reading, Oxford in an instant and struggle to get them back, Bradford vanishing after winning the league, and now Coventry appear doomed, it does make you think that the only certainty about speedway... is its past.

[Guest]

Don't know much about stock cars but I would have thought there was always the danger of car parts being left/buried in the track.

 

Nothing to worry about in that respect. After any race in which a car is wrecked or badly damaged during a race, there are tow trucks available to remove them. Also, any damage that may come off a car during a race is also removed before another race is started. Obviously you have never been to a car race meeting Skid Sprocket or you would have known this basic safety requirement that is enforced by the various licensing councils that sanction 'stock car' promotions.

Reminds me of the comment John Berry once made regarding the state of the inside of Cowley track back in the seventies (it did hold stock car racing for a short while)

 

"It looked like a place that Morris Minors came to die!"

 

​Hmm! That sounds like a typical John Berry comment - made obviously for the benefit of the 'speedway disbelievers.' The answer to the preceding message covers the safety requirements that are enforced in 'stock' car racing. I doubt very much that there have been many races anywhere featuring Morris Minors.

Car formulas are many and varied - a little more than just 'joke/comedy' races for things like caravans, vans into bangers. There are some really sophisticated race class - many of them where contact during a race is banned.

Was thinking earlier, about speedway and its future. A sport that loses glamour clubs like Cradley, Reading, Oxford in an instant and struggle to get them back, Bradford vanishing after winning the league, and now Coventry appear doomed, it does make you think that the only certainty about speedway... is its past.

 

My opinion is that the best way to rekindle interest in British speedway is to abandon the concept of team racing entirely and adopt the format that is - and has been for many years - successful and popular in the USA.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Guest

[martinmauger]

Also stock, well bangers / demolition derby events at least, there is guarranteed action & incedents. Never been to the stox yet, have always meant to go, a mate told me it can be more difficult to follow at first with so many cars on track, different coloured roofs for different classes, etc but it's flipping brilliant. Or words to that effect .

 

Going slightly off tack, it's always been a puzzle to me why road racing (motorcycles) is so massively popular, biker mates think I'm weird cos I am not mega into it. Passing relies on someone to move off line, make a mitsake, stop or spill, with everyone queueing up behind awaiting for such an event. Been to many bike meest on tarmac, good stuff but it don't do it for me the way speedway does. Ok I appreciate that racing on tarmac, cars and bikes, the competitors are 'on the limit', and high speed processions do happen in speedway but are over quickly before another race comes ones way. But one (of many) things I love about speedway is the option of taking different lines and that passing around the outside is usually more than possible. Now that blows my biker mates mind ....

[Gresham]

In it's present form speedway will stay as it is and from the posts on here most are happy for it to carry on without change and I wouldn't want to moderate that enthusiasm.

I'm not convinced it will, sadly imo, I think it will keep deteriorating. More Clubs close, than open. I think crowds will also keep decreasing.

 

We've lost so many big Clubs over the years, and when they close, you have to find another track to get your fix. The distance between Clubs is further and further.

 

Unless you can attract new fans to the sport, then it will eventually die out, as the fans die out and become less.

 

The problems run deep...leasing stadiums is a big problem for a start. Once they lose the lease, it's hard to start again.

 

People also get out of the habit of going and find other things to do instead.

 

Unless it's on your doorstep...people eventually tail off. When Bristol shut, we used to get 8000 regularly. Many travelled to Swindon and then Newport to get their fix...then a few to Somerset. Now it's just a handful sprinkled about. It's happened with other clubs too....so many.

 

Can eventually see it ending up as an amateur sport a bit like Grasstrack.

[mickthemuppet]

As i put on another thread there is now a drone that follows a sportsperson.Whether it would be safe enough to fly over a track and whether it would be safe enough to have 4 individual drones following the 4 riders is another thing though

 

https://www.airdog.com/

Perhaps it would be a good idea of getting rid of the speedway riders and just have drone racing

[Guest]

I'm not convinced it will, sadly imo, I think it will keep deteriorating. More Clubs close, than open. I think crowds will also keep decreasing.

 

Unless you can attract new fans to the sport, then it will eventually die out, as the fans die out and become less.

 

Can eventually see it ending up as an amateur sport a bit like Grasstrack.

 

 

My opinion is that the best way to rekindle interest in British speedway is to abandon the concept of team racing entirely and adopt the format that is - and has been for many years - successful and popular in the USA.

 

Your opinion Gresham is much akin to how I see the salvation of some form of speedway racing. Possibly with an added attraction - where tracks are suitable - with sidecars as an added attraction. Maybe also GP Midgets on the programme (at least six cars in a race but better eight, competing over eight laps).

[iris123]

Perhaps it would be a good idea of getting rid of the speedway riders and just have drone racing

Think that sport already exists

[steve roberts]

I'm not convinced it will, sadly imo, I think it will keep deteriorating. More Clubs close, than open. I think crowds will also keep decreasing.

 

We've lost so many big Clubs over the years, and when they close, you have to find another track to get your fix. The distance between Clubs is further and further.

 

Unless you can attract new fans to the sport, then it will eventually die out, as the fans die out and become less.

 

The problems run deep...leasing stadiums is a big problem for a start. Once they lose the lease, it's hard to start again.

 

People also get out of the habit of going and find other things to do instead.

 

Unless it's on your doorstep...people eventually tail off. When Bristol shut, we used to get 8000 regularly. Many travelled to Swindon and then Newport to get their fix...then a few to Somerset. Now it's just a handful sprinkled about. It's happened with other clubs too....so many.

 

Can eventually see it ending up as an amateur sport a bit like Grasstrack.

Yes it's well known on here that I stopped attending when I re-located to York from Oxford. When living in Oxford (Littlemore) it was a short walk to the stadium and that was my main incentive in continuing to go as, even then, I could see that the sport was experiencing problems and was on the decline.

 

My nearest tracks where I now live are Sheffield, Redcar and, I guess, Scunthorpe (Manchester is a pig of a place to get to on a regular basis) and it obviously would require me to get into a car and travel upwards of fifty miles one way. That's a massive dis-incentive and one I'm not prepared to do.

Edited December 13, 2016 by steve roberts

[Humphrey Appleby]

We've lost so many big Clubs over the years, and when they close, you have to find another track to get your fix. The distance between Clubs is further and further.

When the future of a track like Coventry is coming under question, then I think that says where the sport is at. It might survive in a few outposts where there's not much else around and the costs can be kept low, but unfortunately I'll be surprised if it's still a professional sport in 10 years time.