100 Years Ago Today

[arnieg]

The seeds of a creation myth were sown

 

Some interesting discussion here:

 

Where did Speedway (motor cycle racing) start in the world?   Return Home or to Personalities.

    Let me (the webmaster) start by saying I am far from an expert on this subject, and the last thing I want to do is start a major controversy. With Ian Hoskin’s an honorary member of our club, I am conscious of causing offence, and do not wish to do so. To refresh the readers memory, I myself have been guilty of quoting the “fact,” that Johnnie Hoskin’s invented speedway at West Maitland. For that I apologize.
Contributions below are from, John Williams,   Unknown contributors to Speedway Forum, Ian Hoskins , Ross Garrigan. and Nigel Bird

 NSW on 23rd Feb 1923.
     My idea for writing an article about the subject started with the following correspondence that came in via our web site.
Correspondence with John Williams in Brisbane, Australia. I have abbreviated the letters to the basic discussion.
     16/01/06   John Williams--        “Here's some more anguish for the purists. (See photo left of early 1915 “midgets” in USA) This is dated 1914-18, no other info on hand but almost positive they are in USA and were taken on a dirt track”.   “I don't do any particular research, although at present I seem to have got stuck on Skirrow midgets and Jean Reville (UK), if I see something that I think is incorrect, I'll try and look into it. There's plenty of myth in speedway, for instance Johnny Hoskins "inventing " speedway etc!!.

17/01/06 (Max-editor) So who did start speedway? Johnnie Hoskins lived 12 miles from my home and his son Ian now lives in the same area and is an honorary member of our club. I have read that South Africa claim they started, (bike speedway that is), but what is your opinion?
Max
17/01/06-- J. Williams--
Difficult question Max, everyone wants to work within different definitions of speedway plus the word "invented" was tagged on to Johnny Hoskins. Really we should talk about speedway evolving so that credit is given to all who by decision or chance added to what we have now. I try not to make decisions in grey areas as it has to be proved as documented fact.
The meeting at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1907 always pops up as the first meeting on a loose dirt surface. I’ve never seen any actual proof but it was recorded. Other reports tell of racing even earlier in 1897 at Richmond, UK,  possibly with motorised tricycles, and racing more akin to dirt track racing occurred in USA in 1902 with meetings not recorded, being run possibly even earlier.  In Oz there is photographic proof of racing at Sydney Sports ground in 1909 or maybe even earlier. This puts Maitland far down the track, but in the big picture what Johnny Hoskins did was help promote speedway around the world. I hope that gives you some idea how complex the question is. There are other incorrect stories but no one seems to query them except me!!
Regards John.

Webmaster Max. So the real problem with determining where the first “speedway” meeting was held is that first you need to define what “speedway” is. Generally you could suppose that early speedways were a dirt track with a loose surface, of various shapes but generally oval, and the vehicles traveled mostly anti clockwise. It has been generally accepted that the term speedway first applied to motor cycle racing, but that also could be argued, as there seems to be evidence of car racing in USA at the start of the 1900’s and the term speedway was used.
The start of British Dirt Track Racing From Vintage Speedway Forum, September second, 2005.
    The High Beech meeting (February 1928) is generally accepted to be the first speedway meeting in Great Britain, although there are two other candidates for the honour. The first was at Camberley in Surrey on 7 May 1927, but this is usually discounted, because the riders raced clockwise and the track surface was sand. The other was at Moorside Stadium on Dodd’s Farm in Droylsden, on 25 June 1927. This meeting was organized by Harrison Gill of the South Manchester Motor Club on a narrow 440 yard circuit. There seems to be less reason to rule this one out, but the reason High Beech is generally taken to be the first is because it was after that meeting that interest in the sport really took off, with tracks mushrooming all over the country.

From another contributor to the forum.
   By all accounts the Droylsden meeting should be recognised as the first in England, according to Rob Bamford's 'Homes of British Speedway.'  This meeting was run on a banked cinder circuit with racing being in an anti-clockwise direction.
   The High Beech meeting did attract major attention probably because of it's close proximity to London and the alleged 30,000 people that invaded the forest (3-4000 were expected) the meeting even made the front page of the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper. Most impressive was the ACU's insistence that the crowd should be held behind a rope on the inside of the track. See photo at right showing spectators inside and outside at High Beech. 
   Now we switch to the book “A history of Australian Speedway” by Jim Shepherd.
In this book (which is now in our library), Jim puts forward evidence by photo’s of motor cycle meetings on dirt tracks in Australia as early as 1901. He shows evidence of racing motor cycles on a board track near Melbourne in 1909, although that could well have been motor cycles used for “pacing” push cycles and the riders had taken time off for a race among themselves.
   Among Jim’s first comments in the book is, I quote, “Old historical articles, for example, always credited Johnny Hoskins with ‘inventing’ the sport, or at least the motor cycle division of speedway and with staging Australia’s first meeting". “This book debunks that theory - and hundreds of others which somehow worked their way into popular acceptance and are still quoted today. ”However, to his eternal credit, Hoskins insisted on one thing, and that is that speedway is half sport and half entertainment. He may well have been right.”

Webmaster Max. So you can see from this very brief summary of what others have written, or claim to have proven, that it is not clear at all where our favorite sport, or entertainment, started. There is no doubt though that Johnnie Hoskins, and his son Ian, played a huge part in creating the boom of speedway in Australia and the United Kingdom, and other countries as well, from the 1920’s until well into the 1970’s. For the record, Johnnie died in England in 1987, and Ian is enjoying his retirement here in Taranaki where he is involved in his other old loves, acting in stage productions, the odd round of golf and writing
novels.  

Ian was asked to read this page and given the right of reply. Here is his answer.

Dear Max, (Webmaster)
    Further to your excellent article on the alleged origins of speedway racing, I thank you for allowing me the right of reply. I agree that various new 'historians' of the sport have felt it would gain them credit if they could debunk the story that speedway, as we know it today, truly began under my father's banner at West Maitland, NSW, Australia on Sunday, December 15th  1923.
    I agree that there were previous isolated motor cycle events that occurred earlier than this in Australia and even America. At least the historians have to be congratulated on their research into newspaper files. But, we may as well go back as far as the Circus Maximus in ancient Rome, where chariot racing was staged before factions of thousands of devoted supporters, who cheered their favorites on to victory in races that were likewise held in an anti-clockwise direction and had chariots broadsiding on the corners.
   Unfortunately for these scribes, none of the events they have dug out from the files, led anywhere. Whereas, Johnnie Hoskins was the first promoter to put up a cash reward for the winner at West Maitland, and from the huge turn-out this novel event generated, speedway began to form in Maitland with a cinder track, rules and regulations, and the broadsiding of bikes in the corners. No previous event inspired such a metamorphosis as this. Finally, there was professionalism in speedway, the rider could live from his earnings on the track, and men such as Ron Johnson, Billy Lamont and Vic Huxley,  willingly left Australia to try their luck in England in l928.
   My father left Maitland in 1925 to open Newcastle where he staged regular weekly meetings and made a packet for the promoters. He decided to go into business for himself and in 1926 ran the big Sydney Royale stadium, where, unfortunately, a very wet season almost ruined him. Undaunted, he went to Perth in  Western Australia and opened the Claremont stadium there and began to make a packet. In 1928, he left Perth to go to England and be in at the birth of the sport there, and took two of the great Australian riders with him, Ron Johnson and Billy Lamont.
  Johnnie did not have a venue in the UK, until Arthur Elvin in 1929, asked him to run speedway at Wembley. In 1930, the famous Wembley Lions were born and I was invited to ride a miniature motor bike, wearing red leathers at the age of six, to become the world's first motorised speedway mascot. It was in 1930 that league racing began in speedway.
  Johnnie Hoskins quit Wembley to re-open West Ham, a promotion that had just gone broke. He at last came into his own as speedway's greatest showman promoter until the war closed the sport in 1939.
Can any other promoter lay down such a valid claim for being the sport's true pioneer? I doubt it, and so do the hundreds of riders and rival promoters of the pre-war and immediate post war era of the sport, when Johnnie remained actively involved as a promoter at Canterbury in Kent, until his death at the age of 95 in 1987. I rest my case.
Ian Hoskins. 20/03/06

Photo above is from Ian's book "History of the Speedway Hoskins." It shows Ian on mascot bike at West Ham in 1937. From left back are Tommy Croombes, Eric Chitty, Bronco Dixon, Charlie Spinks, Tiger Stevenson (captain) Johnnie Hoskins, Ken Brett, Bluey Wilkinson and Rob Stobbart. Front row are Arthur Atkinson, George Saunders, Ian and Mick Murphy.  On right is Ian with Ivan Mauger at the World Long Track Final here in New Plymouth in 2003.

Contribution from Ross Garrigan July 2006.

Dear Editor,
Just a few comments on the subject of "The Origins of Speedway" which appears on your site.
    The carnival at the Maitland Showground at which motorcycles first appeared was on Saturday December 15, 1923, not Sunday December 15.
    Ian Hoskins mentions, "My father left Maitland in 1925 to open Newcastle ...". I have researched in detail the early motorcycle racing at both the Maitland Showground and at the Hamilton track in Newcastle, and offer the following: -
    Ian's father (Johnnie Hoskins) tendered his resignation from his position of Secretary to the Hunter River Agricultural and Horticultural Association at Maitland on May 14, 1925. At the time of submitting his resignation he informed the Association that he was leaving "to take up a better paid position in Sydney". The position was as manager of the touring department of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia.
    The opening meeting of the Newcastle track was on Saturday November 14, 1925. Johnnie Hoskins did leave his position in Sydney to accept the position of Secretary to the Newcastle speedway. He took up this post on Monday December 14, 1925. The original secretary had been one of the managing company's directors, a Mr. C. A. Jackson. Johnnie Hoskins did not go directly from Maitland to Newcastle, and he did not "open Newcastle". Four meetings had been staged at the new Newcastle track prior to Hoskins commencing work there.
    Ian Hoskins also mentions that when his father Johnnie sailed to England in 1928 he "took two of the greatest Australian riders with him, Ron Johnson and Billy Lamont". While Ron Johnson was one of the three riders who Johnnie Hoskins did take to England in 1928 on the Oronsay, Billy Lamont wasn't. In fact Lamont, who went to England under contract to A. J. Hunting, wasn't even on the Oronsay.
     Ian also mentions that his father was in England "at the birth of the sport there". The "birth" of the sport in England is recognised as having taken place at High Beech. Johnnie Hoskins was not present.
     One other point- Ian mentions League racing commenced in England in 1930. Jimmy Baxter instigated League racing in England in 1929.The motorcycle racing which took place at the Maitland Showground during December of 1923 and the early months of 1924 as part of the carnivals staged at the ground played a pivotal role in the evolution of speedway in Australia. Riders had some continuity of racing at one track, something which had never occurred in Australia previously. In the period from December 15, 1923 to April 26, 1924, motorcycles raced on 15 occasions on the Maitland Showground.
    Some of my research into the first season of motorcycle racing at Maitland is on the following link: - http://www.ausm.info/aus_history/speedway_pioneers/aust_speedway_pioneers_1.htm
For those with an interest in Johnnie Hoskins, here are two more links: -
The first covers the period leading up to his departure for England in 1928 and some extracts from a letter he wrote while on the voyage to England: -
http://www.ausm.info/aus_history/1920-30/john_hosk.htm
  Ross Garrigan,    Brisbane, Australia.

Submitted by Nigel Bird-- April 2010

Hello Webmaster,  I have read the debates on the origins of speedway on your great site the following you may find interesting.  

     I have visited your very interesting website on several occasions and have noted the debate on how it all began, though slightly sad at the seemingly unfortunate tone of Ian Hoskins reply to Ross Garrigan. I offer the following submission to that debate, which I hope you may feel appropriate to publish on your site. I would add that I have no axe to grind with that Great showman and promoter Johnnie Hoskins or his son Ian, just a desire to get as near as possible to the truth.

     The first known recorded motorcycle race was in 1898 from that day on they have been raced in hundreds of meetings on hundreds of tracks throughout the industrialised world. Concrete cycle velodromes, wooden board tracks, rolled cinder tracks, horse trotting tracks etc all before the First World War. Those with the motivation to search will find these meetings well recorded with photographs. Undoubtedly the emerging industrialising nation of America was the hot bed of dirt track racing. The white hot competition between motorcycle manufacturers in the US led to works teams and professional dirt track riders.  Dirt track racing on the 1 kilometre trotting tracks of Germany and Austria was very popular throughout the 1920s. British motorcycle mags reported on these meetings and commented on the technique of skid turning the corners, South Africa also. Who was the first rider to broadside we will never know but one of the candidates must be Don Johns the American son of Welsh immigrant farmers. There are descriptions of him sliding the turns in 1912-14.
    The idea that a 700yd grass covered trotting track at West Maitland in 1923 was the start Speedway  or  Dirt Track Racing as it was then known does not in the cold light of day stand up to close scrutiny. However speedway did evolve in Australia with tracks becoming shorter and surfaces deeper with the added spectacle of full on broad siding as opposed to the skidding.

Written long before Lionel Wills wrote about dirt track racing this following article appeared in the British motorcycle press. Written by an unknown Englishman racing in the USA in 1922

                                      From the   “The Motor Cycle” April 1923              Fascinating Dirt Track Racing

    “Exciting but not really dangerous sport---An American idea that England might imitate” As an Englishman in America, keenly interested in motor cycling, especially racing, I notice several of your correspondents seem to have mistaken the ideas about racing conditions in the USA. Saucer tracks are a thing of the past; they went out of vogue about 1915. The present day racing is conducted entirely on dirt tracks of half to one mile or sometimes 2 miles to the lap. They are to all intents and purposes unbanked; that is they are, on average only two to three feet higher on the outside than on the inside as they are used extensively for horse trotting races as well as for motorcycles and cars. The surface of a good track is of Clay, which is rolled and dragged, and usually has a cushion of softish earth on top. The tracks are generally surrounded by wooden fences inside and out. During 1922 I do not recollect having heard of one single race meet conducted on anything other than dirt tracks and most of them were half mile tracks. There is also a certain very limited amount of record breaking carried out on banked Board tracks of one mile or more to the lap, in the Los Angeles and San Francisco districts. (Evidence suggests that board track racing continued up to 1928.. NB) I have raced several times at Brooklands and last summer (1922) I raced in seven half mile dirt track meets over here. The dirt track as an engine testing ground cannot compare with Brooklands. By taking big risks a man often beats a faster machine ridden by a more cautious rider. No one would ever win at Brooklands by riding the “turns” two feet from the inside. On a dirt track the going is often best  right next to the inside fence and the more daring riders will slither and slide around just close to the fence as they can keep, also no fast machine can be ridden wide open around a half mile track; the machine would turn completely round and go down, though some of the best riders will slide all the way around the turn with the back wheel twelve inches further out than it should be. This sounds impossible  but never the less it happens. To all intents and purposes one steers by sliding the back wheel and the peculiar nature of the track surface makes this very much easier than it appears. From a sporting point of view the half mile unbanked  dirt track is better than any other form of racing except the T.T.. So long as there is a bank of soft earth between the riders and the fences to prevent some of them taking undue risks cornering, it is the most fascinating sport I have ever gone in for and provided one wears leather clothes one can come off any number of time without serious consequences to rider or machine. The writer would like to see half a dozen dirt tracks scattered over England. They are cheap to construct, the gate money would more than pay for them, and they would give a large number of private owners a chance of motor cycle racing in one of its most fascinating forms.
    As a contributor to “Homes of British Speedway” may I offer this update on Droyslden.         Subsequent editions of  HOBs will reflect continuing research.  Famer George Dodd had a passion for horses and Harness racing (Trotting), he built a horse training/exercise track, the  length was guesstimated at a third of a mile (600 yds) The track was very narrow so for safety reasons the riders started off one at a time although it was said it was possible to catch up and pass on the turns.  Neither was there a stadium, this came later. The man behind this meeting was Fred Fearnley of the SMMCC, he is quoted as saying “this meeting was something of an experiment as we know little about this sport”.
   As an aside:- One of the guests a Fred Fearnleys wedding (1928) was none other than Johnnie Hoskins!
Johnnie Hoskins was a great showman and he knew the value of self publicity!

Regards, Nigel Bird,    West Midlands, England.

[arnieg]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-15/maitland-celebrates-100-years-of-speedway/103126188

[BOBBATH]

Thanks for posting this mate, I found it extremrely interesting

[norbold]

This is an extract from an article I wrote, with the help of Ross and Nigel, for Speedway Star some years ago:

'There is an old philosophical paradox that goes, “All that is certain is that nothing is certain.”  There is no doubt this applies to the origins of speedway.

The first problem we have is what do we mean by speedway? Is it just motor bikes racing round a small oval track or does the definition of speedway include no brakes and sliding round the corners on a loose surface?

Certainly if we just take the meaning as motor bikes racing round a small oval track there can be many claimants to the title of the first speedway meeting in the world. There are reports of this activity taking place in America in 1901, in Ireland in 1902, in Australia in 1904, in South Africa in 1907 and in Prague in 1908 amongst many others.

Even if we add the no brakes and sliding round corners ingredients, there is ample evidence to show that American riders were broadsiding round dirt tracks well before the First World War. A rider called Don Johns who started around 1909 and won the National Dirt Track Championship in Chicago in 1912 may have been the first. A contemporary description of him goes like this, “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.” How else could you throw great showers of dirt into the air on the bends if not by sliding? Was Johns the first speedway rider in the world?

He was followed shortly afterwards by another American called Albert “Shrimp” Burns who was killed in a track crash on 14 August 1921. Part of his obituary written by C.E.B. Clement, which appeared in Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated reads, “I strolled down the track to watch him take the turns. Here he came with that motor humming a great tune and into the turn he went. Watching him handle that machine in the long slide all the way around, I saw in fancy, the then great battler of the day, Don Johns. For Burns was holding the pole and fighting the rear wheel in a manner that very closely resembled the work of the then known hardest fighter of the racing game."

After the War, in the late teens and early twenties, two more Americans, Maldwyn Jones and Eddie Brinck, were renowned for the way they threw their bikes in to the bends and broadsided round, using what was known as the pendulum skid.

By the early 1920s Australia had also discovered the sport of motor cycles racing round small oval circuits. The generally accepted wisdom used to be that Johnnie Hoskins “invented” speedway at Maitland Showground in 1923. Evidence from America clearly shows that this is not the case, and, even in Australia there are many reports of meetings similar to that put on by Hoskins prior to 1923 in places such as Townsville (as early as 1916), Rockhampton and Newcastle. Eleven months prior to Hoskins’ much vaunted December 1923 carnival on the grass track at Maitland, motor cycles had raced on a cinder circuit under lights at Adelaide’s Thebarton Oval.

Again, in the Adelaide Mail, dated 3 November 1923, there is an article headlined, “Steering into a skid Dirt Track Methods”. This article goes on to say:
“To steer away from the direction in which a corner is being taken is quite a usual practice on level tracks with a soft surface…it appears to be voluntarily adopted by the experts in order to make the turn at a higher speed than would be possible in the ordinary way…On a dirt track the friction available is very small, consequently in order to corner without skidding, a very low speed would be necessitated..” So there we have an article explaining the process by which the “experts” take the corners on dirt tracks over one month before the meeting at Johnny Hoskins’ meeting at West Maitland.

Indeed, the major argument against speedway originating on 15 December 1923 at Maitland is the Monday December 17, 1923 Maitland Daily Mercury's report on the Saturday December 15 carnival, which says: -
"For the first time motor cycle racing was introduced into the programme and the innovation proved most successful. In an exhibition ride at the last sports several riders gave the track a good test and they then expressed themselves satisfied with it. They also stated that it was better than several other tracks that have been used for this kind of sport on a number of occasions..." Note that last sentence in particular. Maitland’s own paper did not see the meeting on 15 December as anything new. The riders themselves were comparing Maitland to “several other tracks”

Perhaps the boost Maitland did give to the sport however was to provide speedway on a regular basis as between 15 December 1923 and 26 April 1924 there were no fewer than 15 carnival meetings featuring motor cycle racing, with promoters Campbell and DuFrocq staging six of them and including a rider by the name of Charlie Datson who was to become one of the leading pioneers of the new sport of speedway.'

 

[E I Addio]

22 minutes ago, norbold said:

This is an extract from an article I wrote, with the help of Ross and Nigel, for Speedway Star some years ago:

'There is an old philosophical paradox that goes, “All that is certain is that nothing is certain.”  There is no doubt this applies to the origins of speedway.

 

The first problem we have is what do we mean by speedway? Is it just motor bikes racing round a small oval track or does the definition of speedway include no brakes and sliding round the corners on a loose surface?

Certainly if we just take the meaning as motor bikes racing round a small oval track there can be many claimants to the title of the first speedway meeting in the world. There are reports of this activity taking place in America in 1901, in Ireland in 1902, in Australia in 1904, in South Africa in 1907 and in Prague in 1908 amongst many others.

 

Even if we add the no brakes and sliding round corners ingredients, there is ample evidence to show that American riders were broadsiding round dirt tracks well before the First World War. A rider called Don Johns who started around 1909 and won the National Dirt Track Championship in Chicago in 1912 may have been the first. A contemporary description of him goes like this, “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.” How else could you throw great showers of dirt into the air on the bends if not by sliding? Was Johns the first speedway rider in the world?

 

He was followed shortly afterwards by another American called Albert “Shrimp” Burns who was killed in a track crash on 14 August 1921. Part of his obituary written by C.E.B. Clement, which appeared in Motorcycle and Bicycle Illustrated reads, “I strolled down the track to watch him take the turns. Here he came with that motor humming a great tune and into the turn he went. Watching him handle that machine in the long slide all the way around, I saw in fancy, the then great battler of the day, Don Johns. For Burns was holding the pole and fighting the rear wheel in a manner that very closely resembled the work of the then known hardest fighter of the racing game."

 

After the War, in the late teens and early twenties, two more Americans, Maldwyn Jones and Eddie Brinck, were renowned for the way they threw their bikes in to the bends and broadsided round, using what was known as the pendulum skid.

 

By the early 1920s Australia had also discovered the sport of motor cycles racing round small oval circuits. The generally accepted wisdom used to be that Johnnie Hoskins “invented” speedway at Maitland Showground in 1923. Evidence from America clearly shows that this is not the case, and, even in Australia there are many reports of meetings similar to that put on by Hoskins prior to 1923 in places such as Townsville (as early as 1916), Rockhampton and Newcastle. Eleven months prior to Hoskins’ much vaunted December 1923 carnival on the grass track at Maitland, motor cycles had raced on a cinder circuit under lights at Adelaide’s Thebarton Oval.

 

Again, in the Adelaide Mail, dated 3 November 1923, there is an article headlined, “Steering into a skid Dirt Track Methods”. This article goes on to say:
“To steer away from the direction in which a corner is being taken is quite a usual practice on level tracks with a soft surface…it appears to be voluntarily adopted by the experts in order to make the turn at a higher speed than would be possible in the ordinary way…On a dirt track the friction available is very small, consequently in order to corner without skidding, a very low speed would be necessitated..” So there we have an article explaining the process by which the “experts” take the corners on dirt tracks over one month before the meeting at Johnny Hoskins’ meeting at West Maitland.

 

Indeed, the major argument against speedway originating on 15 December 1923 at Maitland is the Monday December 17, 1923 Maitland Daily Mercury's report on the Saturday December 15 carnival, which says: -
"For the first time motor cycle racing was introduced into the programme and the innovation proved most successful. In an exhibition ride at the last sports several riders gave the track a good test and they then expressed themselves satisfied with it. They also stated that it was better than several other tracks that have been used for this kind of sport on a number of occasions..." Note that last sentence in particular. Maitland’s own paper did not see the meeting on 15 December as anything new. The riders themselves were comparing Maitland to “several other tracks”

 

 

Perhaps the boost Maitland did give to the sport however was to provide speedway on a regular basis as between 15 December 1923 and 26 April 1924 there were no fewer than 15 carnival meetings featuring motor cycle racing, with promoters Campbell and DuFrocq staging six of them and including a rider by the name of Charlie Datson who was to become one of the leading pioneers of the new sport of speedway.'

 

A nice history norbold, but something I’ve often pondered on is when did speedway become “ speedway “ . It seems to me that there was common ancestry with grass track, long track and arguably board racing. Even early films around High Beech only suggest a loose relationship with the sport as we now know it . Certainly films of the very early 1930’s are clearly identify it as the sport we see today. Do you happen to know by what date it was being marketed and recognised as “Speedway “ ? Personally I would have said 1928 when the first dedicated stadiums where built over here, but that’s without much knowledge of how things panned out abroad . So what in your opinion would be the date my which it was universally recognised as the sport we know today?

[iris123]

There is of course, even if i say so myself, a lot of interesting stuff about the early days on this thread

 

[Bavarian]

I am of the opinion that the term "Speedway" came into being when it became a team sport, and the term "Speedway" was chosen to give it s a distinct name. Just like other sports games had a distinct name, such as Cricket or Hockey for example. The promoters chose the name "Speedway" to differenciate it from the formerly used broader term "Dirt Track" which covered any form of lose surface motorcycle track racing. 
The "Speedway" name for the game was created in the UK in about 1929/30 along with the setting up of League competions of teams. Before that, throughout the 1920s, our sport was always referred to as "Dirt Track", even in the early years in the UK, and in all the other countries, where there was no league racing, the name "dirt track" was still maintained for a good number of years.

[Historian]

"Dirt Track racing" is an american term but even that has changed its now "Flat Track racing".

However the term  Grass track racing poses a few questions , for many of the early trotting tracks (Australia & New Zealand) had grass surfaces including Maitland.  Both the Blackpool and  Greenford Trotting tracks had grass surfaces ? so was it Grass track racing?.  Grass racing on oval circuits (in England) was the result of the speedway boom of 1928. Many Motorcycle clubs keen to cash in on the speedway boom organised  oval grass tracks or Grass speedways as were sometimes known. Prior to 1928 Grass track racing meant something entirely different, no broadsiding, tracks with left and right hand bends of different sizes and shapes, same with the straights., hillside venues were known as Mountain Grass tracks, when the top surface wore out they sometimes laid gravel, now we have "path racing", these grass tracks were also known as Miniature TT, they were the precursor to circuit racing,  Brands Hatch being an example.

There are examples of beach racing (Oval sand tracks) in England prior to 1928,  very very long straights with very tight bends and there are photos of riders  broadsiding the corners.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Historian

[BOBBATH]

Fascinating comments on this topic. All very interesting to me 

[iris123]

The Teterow grass track is still going strong with its hills and both left and right turns. Simon Wigg used to love the place

[norbold]

3 hours ago, E I Addio said:

A nice history norbold, but something I’ve often pondered on is when did speedway become “ speedway “ . It seems to me that there was common ancestry with grass track, long track and arguably board racing. Even early films around High Beech only suggest a loose relationship with the sport as we now know it . Certainly films of the very early 1930’s are clearly identify it as the sport we see today. Do you happen to know by what date it was being marketed and recognised as “Speedway “ ? Personally I would have said 1928 when the first dedicated stadiums where built over here, but that’s without much knowledge of how things panned out abroad . So what in your opinion would be the date my which it was universally recognised as the sport we know today?

 

2 hours ago, Bavarian said:

I am of the opinion that the term "Speedway" came into being when it became a team sport, and the term "Speedway" was chosen to give it s a distinct name. Just like other sports games had a distinct name, such as Cricket or Hockey for example. The promoters chose the name "Speedway" to differenciate it from the formerly used broader term "Dirt Track" which covered any form of lose surface motorcycle track racing. 
The "Speedway" name for the game was created in the UK in about 1929/30 along with the setting up of League competions of teams. Before that, throughout the 1920s, our sport was always referred to as "Dirt Track", even in the early years in the UK, and in all the other countries, where there was no league racing, the name "dirt track" was still maintained for a good number of years.

I'm not sure when the word speedway was first used but it must have first been used originally in Australia and my understanding is that it first of all referred to the track but was then translated to mean the sport itself. As far as this country goes, it was in use right from the start and certainly before 1929/30 and team racing. The first edition of Speedway News came out on 19 May 1928 and throughout the term speedway is used meaning both the track and the sport itself. For example, the riders are referred to as speedway riders and the most prominent promotion was International Speedways Ltd. under A J Hunting.

My opinion of the first speedway meeting in this country as we fully understand the sport was held over the weekend of 7-9 April at High Beech as this was the first time a track in this country had a loose surface and bikes weren't fitted with brakes. It was therefore the first time that broadsiding was seen - demonstrated most effectively by Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and Digger Pugh. The 19 Feb meeting had a hard rolled surface and all bikes were fitted with rear brakes under ACU rules. No broadsiding took place even by the two experienced Aussies (Keith McKay and Billy Galloway) who were there. 

The top Australian promoter. A.J. Hunting, arrived towards the end of the 19 Feb meeting and took the promoter, Jack Hill-Bailey, to one side and told him that he "had it all wrong." He then took a hand in preparing the track properly for the 7 April meeting while also lobbying the ACU to remove their rule insisting on rear brakes.

[Bavarian]

When the sport arrived here in Germany in the summer of 1929, from England via Denmark, definitely no one here ever called it "Speedway". It was always only called "Dirt-Track", or sometimes more precisely "Cinder Track Racing".

Same in France, or in Spain, where "Dirt-track Racing" became very popular, too. In fact, I don't recall a single country here on the Continent where this sport would be called "Speedway". That only came years later in the early/mid 1930s.

In the early days, only the actually race track itself was called a "Speedway", which was true for all kinds of race tracks, lose surface or not (e.g. Indianapolis Motor Speedway), even horse racing tracks were sometimes called "Speedways". The term had been in use in America and Australia since long, even before the turn of the 20th Century.

   

[norbold]

1 hour ago, Bavarian said:

When the sport arrived here in Germany in the summer of 1929, from England via Denmark, definitely no one here ever called it "Speedway". It was always only called "Dirt-Track", or sometimes more precisely "Cinder Track Racing".

Same in France, or in Spain, where "Dirt-track Racing" became very popular, too. In fact, I don't recall a single country here on the Continent where this sport would be called "Speedway". That only came years later in the early/mid 1930s.

In the early days, only the actually race track itself was called a "Speedway", which was true for all kinds of race tracks, lose surface or not (e.g. Indianapolis Motor Speedway), even horse racing tracks were sometimes called "Speedways". The term had been in use in America and Australia since long, even before the turn of the 20th Century.

   

Different to the U.K. then.

[E I Addio]

2 hours ago, norbold said:

 

I'm not sure when the word speedway was first used but it must have first been used originally in Australia and my understanding is that it first of all referred to the track but was then translated to mean the sport itself. As far as this country goes, it was in use right from the start and certainly before 1929/30 and team racing. The first edition of Speedway News came out on 19 May 1928 and throughout the term speedway is used meaning both the track and the sport itself. For example, the riders are referred to as speedway riders and the most prominent promotion was International Speedways Ltd. under A J Hunting.

My opinion of the first speedway meeting in this country as we fully understand the sport was held over the weekend of 7-9 April at High Beech as this was the first time a track in this country had a loose surface and bikes weren't fitted with brakes. It was therefore the first time that broadsiding was seen - demonstrated most effectively by Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and Digger Pugh. The 19 Feb meeting had a hard rolled surface and all bikes were fitted with rear brakes under ACU rules. No broadsiding took place even by the two experienced Aussies (Keith McKay and Billy Galloway) who were there. 

The top Australian promoter. A.J. Hunting, arrived towards the end of the 19 Feb meeting and took the promoter, Jack Hill-Bailey, to one side and told him that he "had it all wrong." He then took a hand in preparing the track properly for the 7 April meeting while also lobbying the ACU to remove their rule insisting on rear brakes.

Thanks. The last two paragraphs were something I didn’t know.

[chunky]

5 hours ago, Bavarian said:

When the sport arrived here in Germany in the summer of 1929, from England via Denmark, definitely no one here ever called it "Speedway". It was always only called "Dirt-Track", or sometimes more precisely "Cinder Track Racing".

Same in France, or in Spain, where "Dirt-track Racing" became very popular, too. In fact, I don't recall a single country here on the Continent where this sport would be called "Speedway". That only came years later in the early/mid 1930s.

Well, we had the 1930 Southern Speedway League.

On June 30, 1930, the Wimbledon prog states, "First Speedway Test Match" when England took on Australia.

Also, there was a series of collector's cards issued by "The Rover for Boys", and the series was called, "1930 Speedway Stars". On Jack Ormston's card, it states that, "then became a speedway racer at Middlesbrough".

Edited December 16, 2023 by chunky

[Bavarian]

7 hours ago, chunky said:

Well, we had the 1930 Southern Speedway League.

On June 30, 1930, the Wimbledon prog states, "First Speedway Test Match" when England took on Australia.

Also, there was a series of collector's cards issued by "The Rover for Boys", and the series was called, "1930 Speedway Stars". On Jack Ormston's card, it states that, "then became a speedway racer at Middlesbrough".

Yes, which proves my point, that the name "Speedway" was adapted for our sport in England at the time league racing started. It took a few years until the new name arrived on the Continent, where it was still known as Dirt Track Racing. Nevertheless it was the same sport, just an other name for it.

The French, for example, staged their "World Championship" in Paris and this was officially named the "Championnat du Monde de Dirt-Track". It ran under this name from 1931 til 1935, until the FIM introdiced the official Speedway World Championship in 1936.  

In Germany the term "Speedway" did not catch on until after WWII when the BAOR re-started the sport in Hamburg and Hanover. 

[norbold]

1 hour ago, Bavarian said:

Yes, which proves my point, that the name "Speedway" was adapted for our sport in England at the time league racing started.

 

How does that prove the point!? As I showed above, the word speedway was in use right from the beginning in 1928 in England. I could give dozens of examples of its use in 1928 if really needed!

[Bavarian]

3 minutes ago, norbold said:

How does that prove the point!? As I showed above, the word speedway was in use right from the beginning in 1928 in England. I could give dozens of examples of its use in 1928 if really needed!

Of course, I do not put in doubt that the word "Speedway" was in use right from the beginning in England, as it was in America and Australia even before.

I was just pointing out that this was generally used as a name for the racetrack, rather than the sport itself. In England this probably changed in ca 1929/1930. After all in 1929 there was an English Dirt Track League. 

I seem to remember reading about a public competition in a newspaper to find a new fancy name for the sport, rather than caling it "dirt-track"? I roughly recall that Johnny Hoskins had something to do with it, trying to find a plush name for the sport. Does anybody know about that? 

 

 

[Bavarian]

Getting away from the question of the name change from dirt-track to speedway, let me tell You how it was when the new sport arrived here in Germany from England on July 7, 1929, with the opening of the Hamburg Dirt-Track. It was introduced by an English-Danish-German consortium and they promoted the new sport here as "Dirt-Track Racing" and not as "Speedway".

In Germany there was a pretty clear distinction between Dirt-Track/Speedway and the other forms of motorcycle oval-track racing, that we, like the rest of the world, did have much earlier.

From the turn of the century, in Germany there was motorcyle racing on steeply banked concrete or wooden cycle race track ovals, and at about the same time, the first motorcycle races were held on horse (harness) racing tracks. The cycle tracks were usually rather short ovals of between 300 and 500m length, while the horse racetracks were of course longer, mostly between 800 and 1200 meters in length. The motorcycle races on the harness tracks with their sandy surface were of course the beginning of what we know as long-track racing ("Sandbahnrennen") today. Interestingly there was no grass-track racing in Germany until the very late 1920s.

When Dirt-Track/Speedway arrived here in 1929, it was totally different. The tracks were shorter than the usual horse race track, more like the cycling tracks, but of course with flat corners. The tracks were covered with a deep layer of cinders. Races were over just three or four laps, usually roughly one english mile, which was a much shorter distance compared to the other forms of track races, and there were only four (sometimes five or six, or only two or three riders in a race). In the other long established versions of motorcycle track racing there were more riders in a race and they rode over much longer distances. 

The style of riding (cornering) was a dsitinctive aspect of dirt-track/speedway racing, because neither on the cycle tracks nor on the horse tracks was is neccessary or even desireable to slide the bike going sideways round the corners. This would have been very much contra-productive.
 
Another new feature of dirt-track/speedway was that it was held at night under lights, which was quite unusual at the time. There were of course a lot of day time speedway meetings as well, so that is not a significant feature of the sport. 

Accepting that these roughly were the defining features of speedway, what would have been the first such meeting to fit these criteria? 

Forget any of the very early track racing in America, Australia, South Africa, or elsewhere in the world. This wasn't speedway as we know it, but rather what today we know as flat-track or long-track racing. 

Was it at West Maitland on December 15, 1923? Just because it was held "under lights"? Certainly not.

Maybe one of the early meetings at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground, when they put cinders on the track? I tend to agree here.

The first purpose built speedway track to fit the bill would be Davies Park, which would also make Brisbane the birthplace of our sport. 

In my opinion it is Mr. A.J. Hunting, rather than Johnny Hoskins, who should be regarded as the founder/father of speedway.  
 

 

[norbold]