Terrace Grumbler Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 Lawrence Heppell played "Mr. Blue Sky" as we left the stadium, iirc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruffdiamond Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 Lawrence Heppell played "Mr. Blue Sky" as we left the stadium, iirc. he must have one of those sense's of humour,,, I remember just after Lewis Kerr had the accident when he left one of his fingers in his gloves,,, he played 'turning japanese', which I thought Lewis wasn't and probly wouldn't have been for some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balderdash&piffle Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 he must have one of those sense's of humour,,, I remember just after Lewis Kerr had the accident when he left one of his fingers in his gloves,,, he played 'turning japanese', which I thought Lewis wasn't and probly wouldn't have been for some time. All while tuning a piano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantodan Posted October 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 We have stared at the face of closure before: - 1930 (Don't know why it closed) 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league) 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax) 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen) 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight) 1994 (Don't know why it closed) George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 (edited) We have stared at the face of closure before: - 1930 (Don't know why it closed) 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league) 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax) 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen) 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight) 1994 (Don't know why it closed) George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017 1994 closure was due to Kevin Wilde the owner who got sick of Speedway in his stadium. That was a surprise because our rent and extras went toward funding his attempt to be a professional gambler. Our consortium still proceeded to buy the speedway off Richard Bailey in the hope that Kevin would change his mind, but unfortunately he didn't. We then sold all the riders assets and I promised I would bring speedway back using my share of the money. As it happened the then accountant bought Wilde out and contacted us, as he knew we were looking at every stadium and land within a 13 mile radius. We then went into a partnership with 5 other tracks and were setting up a 'pirate' league when the BSPA got wind of our plans, and they were forced to drop the big league and formed the cheaper Premier League for 1997 that is still with us now with another name. The accountant then went bust in our first year, and we looked like we had lost it again. Happy days, all cloak and dagger, might write a book about it sometime. NB The 1970 closure was about Allied Promotions swapping our licence to their new track at Reading, hence the inclusion of Newcastle's Dag Lovas in their team from that year. Edited October 31, 2017 by Tsunami 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TesarRacing Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 1994 closure was due to Kevin Wilde the owner who got sick of Speedway in his stadium. That was a surprise because our rent and extras went toward funding his attempt to be a professional gambler. Our consortium still proceeded to buy the speedway off Richard Bailey in the hope that Kevin would change his mind, but unfortunately he didn't. We then sold all the riders assets and I promised I would bring speedway back using my share of the money. As it happened the then accountant bought Wilde out and contacted us, as he knew we were looking at every stadium and land within a 13 mile radius. We then went into a partnership with 5 other tracks and were setting up a 'pirate' league when the BSPA got wind of our plans, and they were forced to drop the big league and formed the cheaper Premier League for 1997 that is still with us now with another name. The accountant then went bust in our first year, and we looked like we had lost it again. Happy days, all cloak and dagger, might write a book about it sometime. NB The 1970 closure was about Allied Promotion swapping our licence to their new track at Reading, hence the inclusion of Newcastle's Dag Lovas in their team from that year. Thanks for that insight Dave, most interesting. Speedway seems to be one of the most intriguing sports around when you hear the in's and out's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruffdiamond Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Thanks for that insight Dave, most interesting. Speedway seems to be one of the most intriguing sports around when you hear the in's and out's! and you wonder why folk want transparency 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 and you wonder why folk want transparency To be fair, most sports have something going on at any one time. Speedway is not alone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Geoff Curtis also went from Newcastle to reading in 1971. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semion Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Tsunami. Was your involvement with The Diamonds prior to you leaving Dexys or after ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KEITH M Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 (edited) We have stared at the face of closure before: - 1930 (Don't know why it closed) 1939 (Due to 2nd world war, with the Diamonds top of the league) 1951 (Possibly due to the entertainment tax) 1970 (After losing Star Men Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen) 1984 (After a disastrous season in the top flight) 1994 (Don't know why it closed) George English took the plunge as promoter in 1997 and has been there until 2017 and a lot longer I hope. Correct me if you can about any of our closures. Newcastle are now one of a handful of tracks who started at the beginning 1929 and are still operating in 2017 Didnt we also close on the eve of the 1988 season?? As I can remember being at a meet the riders night at the PTE club on a Monday night ( Shane Bowes was one rider in attendance) and the next day it was announced we had closed down Edited October 31, 2017 by KEITH M 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Didnt we also close on the eve of the 1988 season?? As I can remember being at a meet the riders night at the PTE club on a Monday night ( Shane Bowes was one rider in attendance) and the next day it was announced we had closed down Yeah. We didn't run in 1988, returning in 1989, with a top two of Rod Hunter and Peter Carr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsunami Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Tsunami. Was your involvement with The Diamonds prior to you leaving Dexys or after ? It was after come on Eileen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TesarRacing Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 It was after come on Eileen. Too Rye Ay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantodan Posted November 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going. What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 (edited) The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going. What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for? If it's the same as before, I believe the landlords get it all. The only 'extra' income the speedway gets is the Car Park money (not sure if we, or the landlords pay for the security), the 50/50 draw and the track shop profits, off the top of my head. Edited November 1, 2017 by Steve Park 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whisperer Posted November 1, 2017 Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 The takings at the cafe under the grandstand must be considerable judging by the number of people with chips and burgers! Is it all profits to the landlords or does the speedway make anything from the sales? If the "dogs" (no not hotdogs!) pun intended, get the lion share, or all of it, perhaps this could be a bargaining "chip" another pun intended, when trying to get them to lower the rent to help speedway keep going. What date is the promoters meeting scheduled for? Brilliant 200 bags of chips sort the sport in Newcastle, how many pieces of home made pie to fix Scunthorpe anyone? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toontrader Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Can we get rid of the negative title of this thread and change it to 'Ideas to help Newcastle Speedway run in 2018' please 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waytogo28 Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Brilliant 200 bags of chips sort the sport in Newcastle, how many pieces of home made pie to fix Scunthorpe anyone? Not a huge problem then, if the profits from the cafe would save Newcastle from closure? But a hell of a lot of pies would need to be sold to save Scunthorpe ( three per person? ). Perhaps it would work out with everyone also buying two portions of mushy peas ( bigger profit margin on the peas )? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruffdiamond Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Brilliant 200 bags of chips sort the sport in Newcastle, how many pieces of home made pie to fix Scunthorpe anyone? some things just can't be fixed, would be a shame to waste pie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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