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The 1969-1988 era: my nominees - not in any graded order:

 

​Ivan Mauger

Egon Muller

Barry Briggs

Bengt Jansson

Ole Olsen

Billy Hamill

Peter Collins

Sam Ermolenko

Bjorn Knutsson

Kenny Carter

Hans Nielsen

Dave Jessup

Erik Gundersen

Simon Wigg

Bruce Penhall

Bobby Schwartz

Michael Lee

Billy Sanders

Jan O Pedersen

Bo Petersen

 

::: For me it's now retire to dark corner and watch the flak fly!

A good list Hamill,Muller,Petersen, Wigg,Schwartz are one's i would query.??
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69-98 hamill would be included for sure.

But 69-88? He was an 18 year old, who had achieved what by 88? He hadn't won an American title, represented his country in a major international event? What demonstration of his talent ate you using to include him ahead of say the moran brothers?

 

I can't be bothered to have a complex debate. I surrender to you.I will put a delete line through Billy Hamill. Continuing debates with 'seemingly everyone on the BSF' are beginning to demoralise me. That will decrease my nominations to 18 now.

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In your haste to denigrate my Post you failed to note that I said ==

"The 1969-1988 era: my nominees - not in any graded order:"

Where have I said anything about the order? I've queried the inclusion of some riders above others who haven't made the list. Seems Sidney has queried most of the same.

I was in no way denigrating your list, though hamill and knuttson were both bizarre inclusions.

Perhaps you could justify the more borderline inclusions rather than getting defensive?

I'd say there are maybe 10 riders who would make most lists, the last 10 very subjective (for example I left out j Louis, muller,persson, jansson, Sanders, n Boocock, r Wilson, ermolenko, k moran, wigg, tatum who all had some claim for inclusion). Can't say Petersen or Schwartz would make my top 20 of the 80s, let alone that expanded era.

 

I can't be bothered to have a complex debate. I surrender to you.I will put a delete line through Billy Hamill. Continuing debates with 'seemingly everyone on the BSF' are beginning to demoralise me. That will decrease my nominations to 18 now.

Surely the interesting part is having discussions, not just everyone agreeing.

If you make astonishing omissions, such as plechanov and Jack young ftom your first list of 49-68, or left field inclusions like hamill (or Mike bast on that other thread) then they will be queried. In which case you can either man up and admit you made a mistake, or take your ball home.

More than happy for you to pull apart my list.

And just to add: surely Michanek should be in the top 20, without a doubt the 4th best rider of the 70s imo. Certainly a better one-time champ than muller.

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Where have I said anything about the order? I've queried the inclusion of some riders above others who haven't made the list. Seems Sidney has queried most of the same.

I was in no way denigrating your list, though hamill and knuttson were both bizarre inclusions.

Perhaps you could justify the more borderline inclusions rather than getting defensive?

I'd say there are maybe 10 riders who would make most lists, the last 10 very subjective (for example I left out j Louis, muller,persson, jansson, Sanders, n Boocock, r Wilson, ermolenko, k moran, wigg, tatum who all had some claim for inclusion). Can't say Petersen or Schwartz would make my top 20 of the 80s, let alone that expanded era.

Surely the interesting part is having discussions, not just everyone agreeing.

If you make astonishing omissions, such as plechanov and Jack young ftom your first list of 49-68, or left field inclusions like hamill (or Mike bast on that other thread) then they will be queried. In which case you can either man up and admit you made a mistake, or take your ball home.

More than happy for you to pull apart my list.

And just to add: surely Michanek should be in the top 20, without a doubt the 4th best rider of the 70s imo. Certainly a better one-time champ than muller.

 

How I now regret ever starting this thread. It has badly back-fired on me. Enough-is-enough for me. And as I said + I can't be bothered to have a complex debate. I surrender to you.

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Oh dear!! Will Norbold start a new thread for another two forum members? :P

 

No,just joking.It is all opinions,apart from when a mistake is made and a rider has hardly ridden in a certain period.I asked BL65 about Charlie Monk in 1965 and he gave a good explanation.Still sort of think Monk should be in the top 10 for that year,but at least convinced Plechanov deserves to be above him.No big deal and no theatrics about it

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:::: This is my list with delete lines for Bjorn Knutsson and Billy Hamill. Now only 18 suggestions by me.

 

The 1969-1988 era: my nominees - not in any graded order:

​Ivan Mauger

Egon Muller

Barry Briggs

Bengt Jansson

Ole Olsen

Billy Hamill

Peter Collins

Sam Ermolenko

Bjorn Knutsson

Kenny Carter

Hans Nielsen

Dave Jessup

Erik Gundersen

Simon Wigg

Bruce Penhall

Bobby Schwartz

Michael Lee

Billy Sanders

Jan O Pedersen

Bo Petersen

Edited by Guest
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:::: This is my list with delete lines for Bjorn Knutsson and Billy Hamill. Now only 18 suggestions by me.

 

Don't listen to 'em, mate; I still think Knutsson should be included in your list! The fact that he never rode during that period is inconsequential... :rofl:

 

Steve

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:::: This is my list with delete lines for Bjorn Knutsson and Billy Hamill. Now only 18 suggestions by me.

 

The 1969-1988 era: my nominees - not in any graded order:

​Ivan Mauger

Egon Muller

Barry Briggs

Bengt Jansson

Ole Olsen

Billy Hamill

Peter Collins

Sam Ermolenko

Bjorn Knutsson

Kenny Carter

Hans Nielsen

Dave Jessup

Erik Gundersen

Simon Wigg

Bruce Penhall

Bobby Schwartz

Michael Lee

Billy Sanders

Jan O Pedersen

Bo Petersen

 

I feel more relaxed than earlier today over my list for 1969-98.

As I have removed Billy Hamill and Bjorn Knutsson. I would like to replace them to make up 20 riders with --

 

Anders Michanek,

​Shawn Moran.

Edited by Guest
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I feel more relaxed than earlier today over my list for 1969-98.

As I have removed Billy Hamill and Bjorn Knutsson. I would like to replace them to make up 20 riders with --

 

Anders Michanek,

​Shawn Moran.

Is it 69-98 or 69-88?

If the former, I'd stick Hamill back in!

If the latter, a couple of good additions.

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Is it 69-98 or 69-88?

If the former, I'd stick Hamill back in!

If the latter, a couple of good additions.

 

 

I fear it is all getting a bit confusing......

 

 

These were the designated eras as shown in Message 9 dated December 15, 2016:

 

lists of Top 20 riders in different eras.

1928-48

1949-1968

1969-1988

1989- to present times

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Billy Hamill included on the emergence of talent he was showing in the USA at the time. This is supposed to be a worldwide analysis NOT just based on the British League.

 

 

Gustix, quick question. Why did you start in 1928 then? Speedway did not start in 1928.

 

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly, but around 1924 seems to be the starting point (I don't think West Maitland in December 1923 was speedway).

 

Why not make it all a bit easier:

 

Top 20s from:

 

The 20s and 30s

The 40s and 50s

The 60s and 70s

The 80s and 90s

2000 onwards

 

All the best

Rob

Edited by lucifer sam
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Gustix, quick question. Why did you start in 1928 then? Speedway did not start in 1928.

 

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly, but around 1924 seems to be the starting point (I don't think West Maitland in December 1923 was speedway).

 

All the best

Rob

I was wondering the same,especially as gustix has stated it is not just a British based form thing

 

 

Possibly the difficulty in getting good results to compare

Edited by iris123
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Gustix, quick question. Why did you start in 1928 then? Speedway did not start in 1928.

 

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly, but around 1924 seems to be the starting point (I don't think West Maitland in December 1923 was speedway).

 

Why not make it all a bit easier:

 

Top 20s from:

 

The 20s and 30s

The 40s and 50s

The 60s and 70s

The 80s and 90s

2000 onwards

 

All the best

Rob

 

That's an interesting comment Rob.

As iris123 points out, details of speedway happenings prior to 1928 are very sketchy - aside from Australia it is hard to find details in regard to places where there was SOME activity - the USA, New Zealand and sometimes possibly in Argentina and South Africa.

IMO the real international side of speedway coincided with the meeting at High Beech aka King's Oak in February 1928. After that speedway (Dirt Track racing) brought together riders from Britain, Australia and the USA. The sport suddenly evolved from something akin to guys poodling around low standard dirt tracks to organised racing in stadiums.

From that came the recognised keeping of statistics and results - the key to defining who the top riders were.This was a reason I decided to use 1928 as the landmark start for this thread.

I do like your post however Rob and maybe when we have researched the present FOUR eras that are basic to this thread, we can try to look back to "what happened before 1928' - except there will be no British activity save for Camberley in 1927 and another venue around the same time in the north of England - the name of the place escapes me at the moment.

Rob - how are your own records in regard to dirt track racing say from 1923 to late 1927 in other parts of the world? Do I feel that yu have made your suggestion because you have such data available?

However, I think the era dates already set out for this thread do coincide very much with the periods you suggest? They are - lists of Top 20 riders in different eras.

The 20s and 30s

The 40s and 50s

The 60s and 70s

The 80s and 90s

2000 onwards

This thread is dedicated to -

1928-48

1949-1968

1969-1988

1989- to present times

Edited by Guest
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There is enough evidence from Australia to show who were the top riders in Australia pre-1928, riders like Frank Arthur, Vic Huxley, Charlie Datson, Ron Johnson, Ben Unwin and Hilary Buchanan for example plus the American Sprouts Elder. Of those the outstanding riders were Frank Arthur and Vic Huxley. Vic Huxley, of course, continued into the 1930s and is a strong contender for any Top 20 of the 1920s and 30s. Frank Arthur's best days were probably in the period up to 1929 and missed out on the 30s, so normally doesn't get a look in in these sort of lists, but I would say he was probably no.1 in the 1920s itself.

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There is enough evidence from Australia to show who were the top riders in Australia pre-1928, riders like Frank Arthur, Vic Huxley, Charlie Datson, Ron Johnson, Ben Unwin and Hilary Buchanan for example plus the American Sprouts Elder. Of those the outstanding riders were Frank Arthur and Vic Huxley. Vic Huxley, of course, continued into the 1930s and is a strong contender for any Top 20 of the 1920s and 30s. Frank Arthur's best days were probably in the period up to 1929 and missed out on the 30s, so normally doesn't get a look in in these sort of lists, but I would say he was probably no.1 in the 1920s itself.

 

​I understand your point fully norbold, but basically this thread is supposed to have a worldwide concept. And I don't think that really happened until speedway/dirt track started in Britain in 1928? Then riders from a few different countries started to compete against each other and internationalism - for want of a better word - came into focus.

Edited by Guest
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​I understand your point fully nor bold, but basically this thread is supposed to have a worldwide concept. And I don't think that really happened until speedway/dirt track started in Britain in 1928? Then riders from a few different countries started to compete against each other and internationalism - for want of a better word - came not focus.

I would agree with gustix on this.Wasn't the scene at the time so disconnected and hard to tell who really was top as they weren't riding against each other on a regular basis.Hard even to know just who was the best dirt track rider in America.Jim Davis and Ralph Hepburn rode in Australia in 1924 and Eddie Brinck and maybe one or two others rode in 1926 for instance.Then in the early 30s Miny waln seemed to be the best or at least as good as Elder....

Significantly i haven't heard of any Australians doing the opposite trip and racing in the US.Sure i read somewhere that these trips were a promotional thing by the US manufacturers.Might be wrong on that though

Edited by iris123
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