Who Were The Real American Pioneers?

[norbold]

Norbold, there's been the occasional claim that speedway started in the USA as early as c.1907. Did these claims prove to be false?

 

All the best

Rob

I think it's all a bit shrouded in the mists of time, Rob. There are various claims and counter-claims about where speedway started but it depends to a great extent on what we mean by speedway. There are many examples of motor cycles racing round oval tracks from America, Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Austro-Hungary and South Africa amongst other places from the late 19th century onwards. If we mean sliding round dirt tracks with no brakes, the earliest actual description I have come across is of Don Johns in 1914:

 

“Don Johns preferred to barnstorm the 1-mile dirt track circuits of California and the Midwest, gaining experience as well as a reputation as the hardest fighting rider in the no-holds-barred game. By 1914, Johns had improved to such an extent that the Excelsior could not hold him. He would ride the entire race course wide open, throwing great showers of dirt into the air at each turn.”

 

"Wide open", "showering dirt into the air". Sounds like speedway as we know it, though perhaps the length of the circuit might rule it out. But, who knows, he may not have been the first. He may have learnt his art from some as yet undiscovered rider or riders and we are still waiting for that all important contemporary first hand or news report to turn up

 

What is certain is that there was some form of recognised speedway in both America and Australia well before the West Maitland meeting of December 1923!

 

 

[Guest]

 

USA Eastern States star Benny Kaufman. In the UK he rode for Wimbledon in 1938 and Southampton in 1939.

 

Benny Kaufman is inducted to the AMA Hall of Fame but only has a small reference in regard to his racing career. He was the 1937 USA East Coast champion but lost the title to Manuel Trujillo the following season.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=207

[iris123]

I think it's all a bit shrouded in the mists of time, Rob. There are various claims and counter-claims about where speedway started but it depends to a great extent on what we mean by speedway. There are many examples of motor cycles racing round oval tracks from America, Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, Austro-Hungary and South Africa amongst other places from the late 19th century onwards. If we mean sliding round dirt tracks with no brakes, the earliest actual description I have come across is of Don Johns in 1914:

 

“Don Johns preferred to barnstorm the 1-mile dirt track circuits of California and the Midwest, gaining experience as well as a reputation as the hardest fighting rider in the no-holds-barred game. By 1914, Johns had improved to such an extent that the Excelsior could not hold him. He would ride the entire race course wide open, throwing great showers of dirt into the air at each turn.”

 

"Wide open", "showering dirt into the air". Sounds like speedway as we know it, though perhaps the length of the circuit might rule it out. But, who knows, he may not have been the first. He may have learnt his art from some as yet undiscovered rider or riders and we are still waiting for that all important contemporary first hand or news report to turn up

 

What is certain is that there was some form of recognised speedway in both America and Australia well before the West Maitland meeting of December 1923!

 

 

This is also a description from that first meeting at Indianapolis.Not conclusive of course,but along similar lines to the Johns description

 

 

The loose,piercingly-sharp stones shifted under the thin, narrow tires as the riders leaned into the turns.

Edited April 7, 2017 by iris123

[Guest]

Manuel Trujillo, USA, rode speedway from 1933 to 1952. A leg trailer, Trujillo was described by Jack Milne as 'the most spectacular ever.' In his career, Trujillo rode as a freelance in the UK in 1936, 1937 and the early part of 1938. He was also in the UK and Ireland at the start of the 1951 season.

Besides racing in the USA, he also raced in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England, Scotland. He won the USA's Eastern States Championship in the 1938 and 1946 seasons.

Despite his Spanish name Trujillo always insisted that as he was born in Texas he was an American. Before turning to speedway in the early 1930s, Trujillo was a motorcycle messenger in California for Western Union where his workmates at that time were Jack and Cordy Mine and Wilbur Lamoreaux.

Photo: MIKE KEMP COLLECTION.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Guest

[iris123]

 

Another of the early US riders,Cecil Brown on the right was riding in Australia in 1925 or 1926 and was one of the first to come to the UK when speedway started.Doesn't seem to be in the Hall of fame,but a rider who was with him,Eddie Brink is

 

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=33&lpos=-2460px&letter=B&txtFname=&rblFname=S&txtLname=&rblLname=S&discipline=0

Edited April 7, 2017 by iris123

[lucifer sam]

This is also a description from that first meeting at Indianapolis.Not conclusive of course,but along similar lines to the Johns description

 

 

Thanks Norbold and Iris.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Indianapolis was never a dirt track, was it? Whereas a few years later, Johns was riding dirt tracks?

 

All the best

Rob

[iris123]

 

Thanks Norbold and Iris.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Indianapolis was never a dirt track, was it? Whereas a few years later, Johns was riding dirt tracks?

 

All the best

Rob

Yes at first it was a dirt track,i think.Described as crushed stone.That is why the loose stones were shifting.Think soon after it was turned into a brick surface and riders like DeRosier wanted the motorbikes to return.Not sure they ever did at that time.But DeRosier and others were riding dirt tracks elsewhere at the time and before

Edited April 7, 2017 by iris123

[lucifer sam]

Yes at first it was a dirt track,i think.Described as crushed stone.That is why the loose stones were shifting.Think soon after it was turned into a brick surface and riders like DeRosier wanted the motorbikes to return.Not sure they ever did at that time.But DeRosier and others were riding dirt tracks elsewhere at the time and before

 

Thanks.

 

Just been reading up on the history and the original 'killer' surface.

 

All the best

Rob