A favourite speedway era

[Guest]

THE YEARS 1946-54: My favourite speedway era was 1946-54, my formative years in learning about speedway and what it was. I bought all the weekly and monthly  speedway magazines, which I carefully filed in date order.

I kept all the programmes of the meetings I saw (mainly at New Cross). And of course I bought all the annuals - my favourites were 'Stenners' which I looked forward to every year in which they were published.

That feeling has long evaporated. The only speedway associated publication I read now is 'The Voice' but do sometimes have complimentary copies of other speedway publications sent to me.

It's hard to explain why my - for want of a better word - infatuation with speedway diminished gradually after 1954. Perhaps because I became involved increasingly with stock car (aka these days short circuit car racing) and midget cars.

Between 1962 and 1973 I never saw any speedway meetings but rekindled some interest when I became a sub-editor on a local newspaper where they knew of my previous interest in speedway and I covered Wimbledon until their 1992 shutdown.

There was then another 'return' when the Dons revived between 2002-05 and then apart from involvement on Facebook forums regarding various speedway aspects have not seen a meeting since then, just spasmodic TV viewing.

That is how I view my speedway past, from 1946 to 1954 for its peak period. What was your most intense speedway era or has  it never diminished?

Edited February 2, 2019 by Guest

[FAST GATER]

The 70's started going in 1972 it just seemed that the sport was buzzing had a lot of media attention then as well loads of articles in the Press each day and Ivan had won 4 W/Champs three of those on the "spin" !!!!!!

[customhouseregular]

Period 1,,,1960-1964 with regular Sunday afternoons at Rye House

Period 2,,,1964-1971 totally devoted to every Tuesday at Custom House

Period 3,,,197-1985 attending every major meeting anywhere in London

[Sidney the robin]

1968/83 loved Swindon on a Saturday night when every visiting side had a true in/out no 1.

[steve roberts]

My introduction to speedway (1972) following 'The Rebels' at Cowley and later at White City whilst supporting 'The Cheetahs' in the National League (I had the best of both worlds). I also was a regular at Eastbourne (Sundays on the south coast) and visits to the 'old enemy' down the road at Swindon on Saturday nights. Through the eighties with the 'glory years' of Nielsen & Co. at Oxford however interest was beginning to wain by the mid-nineties and I no longer travelled away following the sport. A slight increase of interest during the Purchase years at Oxford but by the time Nigel Wagstaff arrived I was pretty well spent. I continued my visits to Cowley as it was only a short walk away until 2003 and the final nail was moving to York in 2004 and I haven't been to a speedway since...However I wouldn't have changed anything.

Great days travelling around the country and abroad for the old one-off World Finals.

Speedway was/is a great night out and meeting with friends made it a sociable experience.

Therefore my era would be the seventies and eighties...with a slight overlap or two. Wish I had gone during the sixties but I was into football then (misguided fool...although that was a good era too!)

Edited January 31, 2019 by steve roberts

[Ovalman]

63-73 lots of speedway in London, then watching Swindon on a Saturday night. All those well attended individual meets, and test matches. Lots of teams in British League, and about 30 meetings a season, on Saturdays. Speedway live on BBC and ITV

Edited February 2, 2019 by auntie doris

[waiheke1]

81-87, at Hyde Rd most Saturdays. beyond that, love watching the modern era gps.

[OveFundinFan]

Early 60's to 1970 - loved the speedway asa youngster. Visits by Russian and Polish teams, either national or club. They rode Eso/Jawa with "funny" handlebars clipped to the front forks. Plechanov, Samaradov, Gab Kadirov, Kurilenko etc. For the Poles Zyto, Pogoselski, Migos plus other names I couldnt say. The Swedes starting to rule the roost with Fundin, Knuttson, Sjoston, Bengt Jannsson, Goto Nordin, Bernie Persson (not one of my favourites). Seeing Hyde Road bulging when it was British League Riders Championship, and that continued thro the 70's and 80's. Brilliant days.

Then the 70's - Britain became top dog, if Team GB had riders now like then GB would be top again. Some Americans on the scene and of course the next dominent country Denmark. The years Peter Collins/Chris Morton burst on the scene with their style of excitement. Ivan and Olle continued domineering, Anders Michanek andHans Neilson adding to a classic time period. 

Those were the days my friends (I could burst out in song but I dont have Mary Hopkins voice).

[Bavarian]

1928 to 1931

1949 to 1955

1970 to 1983

1990 to 1995

[iris123]

Guess the first period you started watching is always the fondest.

I was lucky to start at Plough Lane when Varg-Olle was ruling the roost and loved watching the stars of the day under the floodlghts,especially on those nights when the place was packed!That love affair lasted until the dark day when our local hero,Tommy Jansson tragically died.I still continued until the end of the ‘77 season,then my visits were somewhat sporadic

Until I started going regularly again ,and being more mobile,also further afield in 1984.That period,which I also loved lasted until the Dons closed in 1991,but have to admit the last season or so,I was going out of routine instead of the love of the sport

Then on moving to Hamburg I rediscovered the sport on seeing the track magazine Bahnsport Aktuel at a local railway station,but it took me a year or so to get to a track,because I first had to find out where they were and had missed the local meetings for that season anyway.From memory the first meeting was a Vojens GP which TRick won in 2003-4,then I found Brokstedt wasn’t more than an hour away

I also love reading about the early pre-war daysand would love to get in a time machine and go back to see some of those old tracks and stars

Edited February 2, 2019 by iris123
Plough not Ploughing!!

[Sidney the robin]

19 hours ago, steve roberts said:

My introduction to speedway (1972) following 'The Rebels' at Cowley and later at White City whilst supporting 'The Cheetahs' in the National League (I had the best of both worlds). I also was a regular at Eastbourne (Sundays on the south coast) and visits to the 'old enemy' down the road at Swindon on Saturday nights. Through the eighties with the 'glory years' of Nielsen & Co. at Oxford however interest was beginning to wain by the mid-nineties and I no longer travelled away following the sport. A slight increase of interest during the Purchase years at Oxford but by the time Nigel Wagstaff arrived I was pretty well spent. I continued my visits to Cowley as it was only a short walk away until 2003 and the final nail was moving to York in 2004 and I haven't been to a speedway since...However I wouldn't have changed anything.

Great days travelling around the country and abroad for the old one-off World Finals.

Speedway was/is a great night out and meeting with friends made it a sociable experience.

Therefore my era would be the seventies and eighties...with a slight overlap or two. Wish I had gone during the sixties but I was into football then (misguided fool...although that was a good era too!)

That restaurant/stand at Oxford was probably the best place i have ever watched speedway  along with the brilliant Plough Lane ( that place was special).From 1984/88 i probably only missed about five meetings Hagonshocker( forum member a great mate did the same.Along the way we saw the special Nielsen dominate and the likes of Cox,Sorensen Dugard develop that Friday night was a special one always remember Oxford had a brilliant souvenir shop.

[Ovalman]

Yes miss those Thames Valley derbies, Swindon-Oxford-Reading, plus Newport and Bristol and the west London trips. Also Zummerzet will be missed this year. With Coventry not running Poole is nearest, nearly 80 miles away.

Edited February 2, 2019 by auntie doris

[norbold]

As iris says the first period is normally the most fondly remembered I would suspect. And that is certainly true for me. New Cross 1960-61 first, then 1964-1972. Twice a week at West Ham and Hackney was normal plus frequent visits to Wimbledon and then Wembley, so as much as four times a week was certainly not out of the ordinary, not to mention the odd visit to Rye House and once to Gothenburg and Kumla!

The closure of West Ham and Wembley was the beginning of my waning interest, though I still went to Hackney most weeks. But then came marriage and kids and I hardly went at all during the 80s and 90s apart from the odd visit to Ipswich after my move from London to Clacton. Though I still got Speedway Star every week and saw it on the few occasions it was on telly.

My interest revived in 2001, when I agreed to write my first book on speedway and I got a bit involved again, going to Ipswich, as I still do, though not regularly like I did in my younger days. 

So, the answer to the question is for me, the 1960s and early 70s and feel privileged to have seen the "Big Five" at their best as well as the young up-and-coming Ivan Mauger (until he up-and came!) and riders like Jack Young, Sverre Harrfeldt, Gote Nordin, Booey, Ken McKinlay and many many others.

[chunky]

On 2/1/2019 at 5:54 AM, iris123 said:

I also love reading about the early pre-war daysand would love to get in a time machine and go back to see some of those old tracks and stars

Wouldnt that be wonderful? I dream of being able to do that...

While some of my earliest memories as a kid are certainly speedway memories (like you, "Olle white-boots" stands out for me), I don't have many really vivid memories until 1969. Ronnie coming back, taking the special from Tooting Broadway, and the World Final were the highlights. That era ended when Ronnie left.

I wasn't a regular for the next few seasons, and unlike most, it was Tommy's tragic death that got me going again. From 1976 to 1979 I would class as another great era.

Finally, the NL years at Plough Lane seemed special...

Steve

[Ovalman]

I went regularly 63-72, then lost interest to birds booze betting and music, got back into it after a 30 year break when living up in Cumbria and going to Worky.

Have been attending most  Swindon matches and Cardiff GPs for last 13 seasons.

Edited February 2, 2019 by auntie doris

[frigbo]

1974-1984

2000-2006

[cityrebel]

1970 to 1980 for me. Tracks galore in London and the South East. The loss of West Ham in 1972 and Tommy in 1976 were the real low points of the decade for me personally.

 

[Knowle]

1948 to 1955 at Bristol. absolutely potty about speedway then. Being so young obviously made a difference. In the winter I could play a card game called "Skido" where you could move riders around a track. I adapted the rules so that I could play it solo and ran whole meetings over 14 heats using names taken from old programmes.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, frigbo said:

1974-1984

2000-2006

What are your specific reasons please for these two favourite eras frigbo?

Edited February 2, 2019 by Guest

[frigbo]

1974 was the first year I went and 1984 was the last year of the top league having a decent number of teams in it. 

2000-2006 was an era where my enthusiasm was re-ignited by Swindon's Premier League side and the return to the Elite. I put some money into the club in 2006 and felt it was taken for granted - as a result my enthusiasm has waned every season until now where it's non-existent.