iris123 Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Seen an interesting photo that was taken in May 1936 at Harringay where the Parker brothers met the Milne's in a duel and supposedly lost 14-11!!! Had a look on speedway researcher and can't see anything. Guess it was part of the Harringay v Hackney meeting as that roughly corresponds to the date given Does anyone have further details of this clash? Not sure how they get to that score... And anyone know of any other clashes between two sets of brothers ? Grahame v Collins maybe ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 (edited) Okay, nobody has said anything, so I would just like to add that the Parker Brothers should have had a monopoly... Sorry... Edited January 10, 2020 by chunky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 12 minutes ago, chunky said: Okay, nobody has said anything, so I would just like to add that the Parker Brothers should have had a monopoly... Sorry... Brilliant, I wish I'd thought of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
False dawn Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 14 minutes ago, chunky said: Okay, nobody has said anything, so I would just like to add that the Parker Brothers should have had a monopoly... Sorry... Get your coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2020 Actually came across a famous brothers match race between the Milnes and Parkers in 1938 !!! Probably the photo was wrongly captioned Ht1. Cordy, Jack Milne, Norman then Jack Parker Ht 2. J.Milne, N.Parker, Cordy, J.Parker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted January 20, 2020 Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 On 3rd June 1939 at Harringay there was a Milne Brothers v Parker Brothers race in the second half of the meeting against West Ham. The finishing order was Jack Milne, Cordy Milne, Jack Parker, Norman Parker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted November 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2021 Just stumbled across this guy. Made a hell f a lot of videos on US speedway/riders, plus others. Bit crazy, but maybe some interesting info. At least some nice photos, plus he did visit the Milne brothers bike shop. Not sure if he is on something though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSoussTewKI&list=PL6jQvoj-BCrHbcajFgFhmDxkQQV4gGgqV&index=42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted November 5, 2021 Report Share Posted November 5, 2021 On 1/10/2020 at 2:45 PM, iris123 said: Seen an interesting photo that was taken in May 1936 at Harringay where the Parker brothers met the Milne's in a duel and supposedly lost 14-11!!! Had a look on speedway researcher and can't see anything. Guess it was part of the Harringay v Hackney meeting as that roughly corresponds to the date given Does anyone have further details of this clash? Not sure how they get to that score... At Harringay on 23rd May 1936: Parker Brothers 12 Milne Brothers 14 Heat 1: Jack Milne (3 points) bt Jack Parker (2 points) 76.0 (Parkers 2 Milnes 3) Heat 2: Norman Parker (3) bt Cordy Milne (2) 76.6 (Parkers 5 Milnes 5) Heat 3: Jack Milne (3) bt Norman Parker (2) 76.2 (Parkers 7 Milnes 8) Heat 4: Cordy Milne (3) bt Jack Parker (2) 82.8 (Parkers 9 Milnes 11) Heat 5: Cordy Milne, (3) Norman Parker (2), Jack Parker (1), Jack Milne (0) 75.4 (Parkers 12 Milnes 14) The only way that the score could alternatively have been 14-11 was for Jack Parker and Jack Milne to have failed to score in the final heat. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted November 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2021 (edited) Found this. Cordy's wife of course was quite famous herself https://mobile.twitter.com/kellydinardo/status/757626589362413568/photo/1 American Speedway Champion Married At North London Register Office . Cordy Milne , the American speedway champion who rides for Hackney Wick team , was married to Miss Willis van Schaack , who made a special air dash to England from California for the wedding , at Stoke Newington register office , N . Dick Case , the Hackney Wick captain , was best man . Huge crowds gathered outside the register office and police had to provide an escort for the bride and groom as they left . Milne and his bride are both from California Edited November 12, 2021 by iris123 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted November 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2021 And this....... !!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted November 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2021 Cordy Milne and Lili St. Cyr were married for 2 years. They dated for 4 years after getting together in 1932 and married in Jul 1936. 2 years later they divorced in Dec 1938. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted November 12, 2021 Report Share Posted November 12, 2021 On 11/11/2021 at 12:40 PM, iris123 said: Cordy Milne and Lili St. Cyr were married for 2 years. They dated for 4 years after getting together in 1932 and married in Jul 1936. 2 years later they divorced in Dec 1938. She was married six times; almost enough for a speedway team... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted January 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2022 America’s First World Champion Jack Milne has a place in motorcycle-racing history that will never be erased. Milne was the first American motorcycle racer to win a World Championship. In 1937, Milne won the Speedway World Championship at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of 85,000 fans, securing a position of permanence that few racers could hope to achieve. Milne also won the American Speedway title in 1936 and his younger brother, Cordy, was also a world-class speedway rider. Jack Milne was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1907. After childhood in Detroit, his family moved to Pasadena, California, when Jack was 15, and that’s where he attended high school. On leaving school, both Milnes brothers went to work for Western Union as messenger delivery boys. Cordy saved his money and bought a motorcycle. Jack bought a small gas station. It would be later that he would join his younger brother as a motorcyclist. “I worked my way onto an Indian Scout, a 37-inch V-Twin,” Jack said in a 1995 interview with Street Bike magazine. “I just liked to go fast. I cut off the long bars that forced you to sit upright, and I was able to lean into the wind and go for it. There were few speed limits and fewer cops then.” The more adventurous Cordy converted his street bike into a speedway racer. The modifications didn’t work very well, but Cordy didn’t care—he was into racing. And he was soon to bring his big brother into the sport with him. In 1933, a pair of Comerford-JAPs arrived from England for Jack and Cordy. Jack was impressed by his little brother’s earnings and decided they could make a living from racing. He sold his service station and bought the speedway bikes for $300 each. With their new speedway racing bikes—featuring 500cc single-cylinder motors with a 16:1 compression ratio, methanol-fueled and weighing just 200 pounds while producing some 40 horsepower—both Milne brothers began winning a lot of races on little short tracks and high-school cinder tracks, running tracks up and down the West Coast. And they were making $15 to $30 per night each. “There were six or seven stadium tracks in Southern California and an equal number up north,” Jack said. “Gilmore Stadium, at 3rd and Fairfax in Los Angeles held 18,000. Sacramento’s stadium held 15,000, and they were regularly filled. California didn’t have other pro sports and motorcycle racing was big time.” Gilmore Oil became the brothers’ sponsor and the company picked up the tab for a trailer, gas, oil, tires and other expenses. In 1934 Jack was involved in a hard crash with Putt Mossman, which resulted in crushed vertebrae for Jack—an injury that nearly ended his racing career. Jack recovered from his injuries and returned to racing to finish runner-up to his brother in the 1935 American Speedway National Championship. That winter, the Milnes went to San Francisco and hopped on a ship to Australia, having accepted an offer to race Down Under. “In those days, there weren’t any jets, so it took a good two months just to travel to Australia and England,” Milne said. “You could buy an around-the-world ticket for $350. We paid our own way to Australia, so if we didn’t win, we didn’t get home.” There, the brothers found the Aussie tracks were of a much higher standard than what they were used to in America. Jack had a solid foreign racing debut by finishing third in the 1936 Australian Speedway Championship, despite having to learn to do standing starts (American races at the time were down with rolling starts). In 1936, Jack finally bested his little brother and won the U.S. title. Again, they went to Australia for the off-season and it started what would become a historic year for Jack. He won the Australian title that year over fellow American Wilbur Lamoreaux. From there, he moved to England to contest the popular and lucrative-paying British League. Six weeks by ship from Australia to England through the Suez Canal gave Jack and Cordy plenty of time to work on their bikes below deck. British League Speedway was a team sport, and even though less than a decade old, it was hugely popular. The tracks were larger than in America and crowds of 60,000 were not uncommon. Jack and Cordy tried to get on the same team, but the ACU denied the request. Jack raced for New Cross, while Cordy was allocated to Hackney. Jack was amazed at how popular he became in British Speedway, as he was much loved by the Brits for his determination. Not long after coming to race in England, he lost his left thumb in an accident when sportingly trying to avoid a downed rider. His picture was on John Player Tobacco trading cards that scores of British boys cherished. Jack said the money was good, but the demands were that of true professional athletes. “The London area alone had eight major tracks ranging from a 10th to a third of a mile,” Milne recalled. “During the late 1930s, speedway was Britain’s major spectator sport. We normally ran six-man teams and raced as much as five or six nights a week. It was a grueling schedule.” On September 2, 1937, America had one of its proudest moments in motorcycle-racing history: In front of 85,000 cheering fans at Wembley Stadium, Milne won the Speedway World Championship. If that wasn’t enough, Wilbur Lamoreaux finished second and Cordy third, giving America the top three spots in what was arguably the most important motorcycle-racing championship of the era. Jack and Cordy lived and raced two more years in England. They were heroes, being photographed everywhere they went, but they were seemingly unaffected by their status. Jack narrowly missed defending his world title in 1938, but soon after, World War II put an end to the Milne’s life in England. “The tracks went dark overnight,” Jack said. “The whole country closed down when the war started. Cordy and I bummed around from port to port trying to book passage back to the States. We finally boarded a ship that was lit up like a Christmas tree and covered with American flags in hopes that the Germans wouldn’t sink a neutral ship.” Back in Pasadena, the brothers took $4000 of their earnings and opened a bicycle shop that evolved into a motorcycle shop. Later they opened car dealerships and a thriving grandstand business. The seats people sat in at the Rose Bowl Parade and the Long Beach Grand Prix were the Milne’s. They started in that business after buying the old grandstands from a track that closed down. Jack and Cordy continued racing speedway in California into the early 1950s, but Jack said the advent of television caused the crowds to dwindle and the sport eventually died off for nearly 20 years. It was Jack, along with Harry Oxley, who helped revive speedway racing in the late 1960s bringing over speedway World Champions Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs, both of New Zealand, for a series of exhibitions that re-lit the spark in America. Jack lived long enough to see Bruce Penhall and Sam Ermolenko follow in his footsteps as American riders to win World Speedway Championships. The grand old champ died in December of 1995. He still owned the bike he won the World Championship on until his passing. He left a legacy in American Speedway that reverberates yet today. https://www.cyclenews.com/2021/10/article/archives-column-jack-milne/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted June 24, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2023 More on the Milne's and their contemporaries. Also interesting what happened to some after their racing career https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1969/1/1/when-americas-milne-brothers-beat-the-worlds-best 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friday Posted August 16, 2023 Report Share Posted August 16, 2023 thanks for links, good read. Did not know Norm Hartford wrote articles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted March 8 Author Report Share Posted March 8 (edited) Well-organized A.C.U.-sanctioned team racing greeted Jack and Cordy upon their arrival in Great Britain after a six-week sea voyage. Eight teams, enthusiasticaly cheered on by “supporters’ clubs” from the towns they represented (Wembley, West Ham, Wimbledon, New Cross, Hackney Wick, Manchester, Bristol and South-hampton) vied for national honors. Riders received team assignments from the governing body itself, and rider swapping or purchasing was allowed, much like present-day ball club bargaining. American competitors, however, were exempt from purchase and could only change teams at season’s end. Jack was assigned to the New Cross team, while Cordy joined forces with the Hackney Wick riders. As Jack says, “If you waited for good weather in England, you’d NEVER race.” Riding styles of the ’30’s and ’40’s were, as in present-day racing, varied. But few spectators at current closed-course meets are aware of the fact that Jack Milne pioneered the now-accepted cornering technique of placing the left foot firmly forward upon entering each turn. Until Milne proved the advantages of this method, both in slowing a brakeless machine and “squaring the corners,” most riders depended primarily upon balance (as did Lammy), or relied upon the spectacular but now-obsolete practice of “drag-legging” a leatherpadded knee, as did “Sprouts” Elder. https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1962/04/01/night-speedway-racing and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1962/03/01/night-speedway-racing Edited March 8 by iris123 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted March 8 Report Share Posted March 8 3 hours ago, iris123 said: Well-organized A.C.U.-sanctioned team racing greeted Jack and Cordy upon their arrival in Great Britain after a six-week sea voyage. Eight teams, enthusiasticaly cheered on by “supporters’ clubs” from the towns they represented (Wembley, West Ham, Wimbledon, New Cross, Hackney Wick, Manchester, Bristol and South-hampton) vied for national honors. Riders received team assignments from the governing body itself, and rider swapping or purchasing was allowed, much like present-day ball club bargaining. American competitors, however, were exempt from purchase and could only change teams at season’s end. Jack was assigned to the New Cross team, while Cordy joined forces with the Hackney Wick riders. As Jack says, “If you waited for good weather in England, you’d NEVER race.” Riding styles of the ’30’s and ’40’s were, as in present-day racing, varied. But few spectators at current closed-course meets are aware of the fact that Jack Milne pioneered the now-accepted cornering technique of placing the left foot firmly forward upon entering each turn. Until Milne proved the advantages of this method, both in slowing a brakeless machine and “squaring the corners,” most riders depended primarily upon balance (as did Lammy), or relied upon the spectacular but now-obsolete practice of “drag-legging” a leatherpadded knee, as did “Sprouts” Elder. https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1962/04/01/night-speedway-racing and https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1962/03/01/night-speedway-racing I love how you dig up these old articles! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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