Grand Central Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 3 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said: THAT wasn't his point. He said that no NZ rider since Mauger was well known in NZ. Larry was and, in the South Island at least, still is. This was his quote 3 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said: For that matter, which Kiwi rider has been a household name since Ivan Mauger? Honestly Larry may be 'well known' in NZ but could never be called a Household name. Anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, Grand Central said: This was his quote Honestly Larry may be 'well known' in NZ but could never be called a Household name. Anywhere. IT was in the context of riders having a high profile in their own country not the world at large. As I wrote earlier, very few Americans had heard of Penhall when he rode speedway, it was CHiPS that made him famous. How many in California let alone the US know who Greg Hancock is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Central Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said: IT was in the context of riders having a high profile in their own country not the world at large. As I wrote earlier, very few Americans had heard of Penhall when he rode speedway, it was CHiPS that made him famous. How many in California let alone the US know who Greg Hancock is? Fair enough to all that. But the real answer to the 'Ivan Mauger question' was NO Speedway has been a household name since him. Not even remotely close. In NZ or anywhere. And never will be to be honest. To answer 'Larry Ross' just sounded ... a bit weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, Grand Central said: Fair enough to all that. But the real answer to the 'Ivan Mauger question' was NO Speedway has been a household name since him. Not even remotely close. In NZ or anywhere. And never will be to be honest. To answer 'Larry Ross' just sounded ... a bit weird. IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley. Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) Another speedway 'household' name on tv a couple of weeks back But we are losing the plot a bit if we are comparing Briggo's popularity in the UK,which has nothing to do with NZ and any rider since Ivan...... Edited September 17, 2018 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WembleyLion Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 5 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said: IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley. Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now. Funny you should say that a rider was telling me recently he was stopped for doing 60 on a stretch of motorway with roadworks and a reduced limit of 40. The traffic cops seemed very interested in the fact that he was a Speedway rider and even saying they would be watching out for him on tv now they had met him. Whilst they didn't recognise him to begin with he was sent on his way without being booked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Central Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said: IN my opinion even Ivan couldn't match Briggo as a household name or a recognisable figure, certainly outside of NZ. BB was twice runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, was the subject of This Is Your Life with Eamonn Andrews, was on Desert Island Discs with Roy Plumley. Travelled a lot with Barry outside of speedway and at soccer matches, airports, restaurants, was frequently recognised and asked for an autograph. En route back to Southampton from King's KLynn one night he was stopped for speeding (not unusual). When he got out of the car the traffic cops recognised him, asked for his autograph and sent us on our way. Wouldn't happen now. Oh you're right about that. No doubt. But I think BB is just a bit too far back in time for most, now. 45 years since TIYL. Ivan's name still has a decent currency today that I would say is higher that Briggo. But It will be gone soon sadly. And will not be replaced by any other. But as Iris said ... Not even Alastair Cook is a household name. This week he was the answer at our pub quiz because of all the news around his test retirement and amazing scoring. Half the teams did not get his name right. And one put down Ian Botham. Edited September 17, 2018 by Grand Central Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILIPRISING Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) IVAN never really got involved with much outside of the speedway bubble but when the sport was popular he was rightly so too. Barry was much more adventurous, rode for Yamaha at Madison Square Gardens in New York (cannot have a much higher profile than that) and made a name for himself by continually knocking off his opponents. He rode various other forms off motorcycles, played golf in many pro-ams, taught Steve McQueen how to slide a speedway bike, etc, etc. And the literation of his name (BB) helped too. Used to tell him it was like Micky Mouse. My wife was watching a TV quiz programme recently (think it was Tenancy) and I was tasked with naming the top ten batsmen who had scored the most runs for England. Only managed six and for my sins forgot Boycott. How the memory fades ... Edited September 17, 2018 by PHILIPRISING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racers and royals Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said: IVAN never really got involved with much outside of the speedway bubble but when the sport was popular he was rightly so too. Barry was much more adventurous, rode for Yamaha at Madison Square Gardens in New York (cannot have a much higher profile than that) and made a name for himself by continually knocking off his opponents. He rode various other forms off motorcycles, played golf in many pro-ams, taught Steve McQueen how to slide a speedway bike, etc, etc. And the literation of his name (BB) helped too. Used to tell him it was like Micky Mouse. My wife was watching a TV quiz programme recently (think it was Tenancy) and I was tasked with naming the top ten batsmen who had scored the most runs for England. Only managed six and for my sins forgot Boycott. How the memory fades ... At least you and i have heard of Alastair Cook who only played for England for 12 years and a certain Hamburg resident has never heard of him It`s like me having never heard of Beckenbauer Edited September 17, 2018 by racers and royals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) As I said,i have had no interest in cricket for decades and only a scandal or something brings the sport outside its own circle.The guy who was bowling illegally I remember and as I said some guy who had previously played for South Africa then changing to England I doubt any cricket player has the world profile of Beckenbauer,so have another guess Add to that the lack of attention cricket gets in this country.One of my local football teams started out playing cricket as well,but that soon got dropped https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altonaer_FC_von_1893 Edited September 17, 2018 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 Keep to the thread title. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, f-s-p said: Name the tracks. In Us and FI I don't keep up with these things as much as I used to, but Finland appears to have six speedway tracks (Pori, Nokia, Hyvinkää, Haapajärvi, Seinäjoki and Tampere) running something like 15 scheduled meetings between themselves during 2018. I seem to recall there were 3 or 4 other tracks at some point, but no idea if they're still open. AFAIK, New Zealand now only has Western Springs, Moore Park and Oreti Park running solo speedway, although there are undoubtedly other oval dirt tracks that could run speedway. Don't think they run bike meetings more than once a month at each of these circuits, so let's say 18 meetings to be generous. California currently appears to have active tracks at Costa Mesa (11 meetings in 2018), Industry Racing (14), Auburn (6), Prairie City (6), Ventura (6), Santa Maria (3) and Perris (10). Victorville and Ridgecrest have also staged speedway in recent years, although didn't in 2018. So it would just about be fair to say that Finland and New Zealand have slightly more active tracks (9) combined than the 'non-speedway' nation of the US (with 7), but the US stages somewhat more meetings (at least 56). Of course, I haven't included ice racing tracks or meetings in Finland, but then there may still be speedway tracks running elsewhere in the US (I seem to recall that New York State and Ohio also had tracks running meetings at some point). But I'm not claiming that Finland and New Zealand aren't speedway countries, which clearly they are. I was taking issue with Philippe's absurd statement that the US isn't a speedway country when a substantial number of meetings get organised there, which are even run on semi-professional basis, and the country has a long track record of its riders and teams featuring prominently in World Championships (even managing to win 18 titles). If the claim is that a lack of geographical spread of tracks disqualifies a country from being a speedway one, well I'd say where are the tracks in large tracts of Poland, Sweden and Denmark? Edited September 17, 2018 by Humphrey Appleby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 Made you look'em up! = ) Add Varkaus (our only one with an APD and a FIM Europe license) to the active tracks and take Tampere (Kaanaa) out. Kuusankoski and Kauhajoki could also stage a meeting if they wanted to. 15 meetings a season is about right. I read with interest the Across the pond series in Spar last winter and actually corresponded with Steve Evans who wrote them. So I had an idea whats it all about over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwalker Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said: If the claim is that a lack of geographical spread of tracks disqualifies a country from being a speedway one, well I'd say where are the tracks in large tracts of Poland, Sweden and Denmark? Yeah I agree. Rough locations of most active speedway tracks in Sweden http://forumbilder.se/H83M8/swe-speedway-patches Hallstavik was unintentionally cut off but is located quite a bit north east of Uppsala. Edited September 17, 2018 by Ghostwalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 (edited) Thanks for the map. So why did they ever host World Finals & GP's in Gothenburg? Nowhere near an active Speedway track? Edited September 17, 2018 by Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humphrey Appleby Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 1 hour ago, Col said: Thanks for the map. So why did they ever host World Finals & GP's in Gothenburg? Nowhere near an active Speedway track? Kaparna was a long standing team that raced in Gothenburg up until about 10 years ago, and there was also a track at Malmo. The Ullevi was for a long time though, the biggest stadium in Sweden if not the whole of Scandinavia, and could also accommodate a speedway track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f-s-p Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 Malmö went bellyup in Allsvenskan only a couple of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 Yes,I went to the Malmö track,but that isn’t the track that held the world final back in the 60’s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPNY Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 On a much lighter note, went to Moore Park when I was in Christchurch 2016. Very basic but lovely set up. Very happy I got to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostwalker Posted September 18, 2018 Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 17 hours ago, Col said: Thanks for the map. So why did they ever host World Finals & GP's in Gothenburg? Nowhere near an active Speedway track? 16 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said: Kaparna was a long standing team that raced in Gothenburg up until about 10 years ago, and there was also a track at Malmo. The Ullevi was for a long time though, the biggest stadium in Sweden if not the whole of Scandinavia, and could also accommodate a speedway track. GotEvent gor the FIM/BSI a good offer. Ullevi, like friends is too big though and you sit quite far away from the track. Just like Cruyff arena and Stade de France are too big. They also tried the Stockholm Olympic stadium in Stockholm for a while but it wasn't that successful and it's very old (>100 years). The athletics track was refurbished and it was no longer allowed to cover them with dirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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