US riders of the 30's

[iris123 20,969]

Thought you had already posted that link once on this thread John!!?

[chunky 6,090]

Please stop getting so butthurt, John. As I said on another thread, I have had conversations with you and explained why some people have a problem with some of the stuff you post. It is not always WHAT you post, but the WAY you post it.

You aren't stupid - yes, I believe that - but you often act like you are. Worse than that, you act like everybody else is. Talk about Byrd McKinney, that's fine, but don't make out that we will be clamouring to answer you when we already know what the answers are. Directing people to your own articles is fine - sometimes - but you really don't need to do it as an automatic response to a topic.

Just some friendly advice...

Steve

[June01 269]

Just wow. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, iris123 said:

I just don’t understand your issue with how I formed the thread.I was pleased as punch that it turned out so well

I have gone back to your opening Post. I now understand its make-up in that it is a series of pages, hence the spacing between the various segments. I now have a changed opinion in regard to your presentation and can do no more than apologise for criticism of the thread format.

I have previously commented that the material carried is of interest, immensely so and I enjoyed reading references to especial favourites of mine like Jack and Cordy Milne,Wilbur Lamoreaux, Sprouts Elder and Ray Tauser.

I now concede that it would have have been extremely difficult - nigh on impossible probably - for anyone to have chosen a different presentation style.

You are also correct in pointing out that I have twice presented the Link to my own piece in regard to Putt Mossman. Extremely careless of me.

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by Guest
Spelling error.

[iris123 20,969]

Well moving this on a bit,a clip of a 'daredevil Yankee' winning in Paris in 1931(Tauser?)

https://dissolve.com/video/Motorbike-racers-gut-out-outdoor-dirt-track-Paris-royalty-free-stock-video-footage/001-D378-33-064

Edited February 6, 2019 by iris123

[iris123 20,969]

 

[iris123 20,969]

The famous Johhny Carson interview with Putt Mossmann

 

[andout 651]

Thanks for the Carson post, I had never seen that.

[iris123 20,969]

Tbh I have been searching for it for ages, on and off. Heard about it, but only just came across it today

[iris123 20,969]

Putt never got the chance to tell the story of how his touring troupe nearly died in the desert when their transport packed up and they were stranded for 4 days or so.....

Was good to hear Wimbledon mentioned 

Edited May 12, 2020 by iris123

[iris123 20,969]

Report from 1935 states Cordy Milne turned down an offer to ride in Britain as he was earning 200 pound a week in California. He obviously changed his mind the next year

Others to visit on their way from NZ to England that season were

Pete Colman, described as the baby of the group, who started racing in 1933, and was 3rd in the 1935 national championship behind the Milne brothers (?) and just pipped to the North California title on the last night by Jack

'Bo' Lisman ,22 years old and the largest speedway rider in the US at over 6 ft had been riding for 5 years

Sam Arena, 23 years old and also a hill climbing and road racing expert 

and Neks Hubbard, 27 and new to track racing, coming from the hill climbing scene

Byrd McKinney, Putt Mossmann, Pee Wee Cullum, Ray Grant, Manuel Trujillo, E. Schnitzer and of course Putt's sister and Ray Grants wife Dessie Grant

Edited May 17, 2020 by iris123

[iris123 20,969]

An interesting piece from 1936

Flat track racing fans have a real treat in store.The only man to ever hold 4 major flat track titles is going to race at the San Francisco speedway for the first time tomorrow night. Ray Tauser, one of the most daring flat track riders has sent in his entry blank.....he captured the English star trophy championship, the Australian championship, the French championship and the world's dirt track championship.

One young man who is not the least bit frightened over the European star is Lou Casazza. Casazza is a San Francisco Italian, and is the pride of the Italian populace

Now I also saw something about Tauser making his first appearance at Emeryville a few months later and was also captain of the Fresno team in the league. But must admit I have never heard of Lou Casazza

Mention of Emeryville speedway, which ran meetings from 1933-1936

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Speedway

By 1938 it seems Tauser had become the track manager at the Hinchliffe City stadium in Patterson NJ, where Bo Lisman was the main attraction along with Crocky Rawding

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinchliffe_Stadium

Edited May 22, 2020 by iris123

[iris123 20,969]

An interesting piece from Fresno (the home of Sprouts Elder) in 1935

Talking about the first team meeting to be held there between two 6 man teams from North and South California. Lammy riding with among others Al Chasteen, Ray Grant and Lou Casazza, whilst Bo Lisman was captaining the other team including Manuel Trujillo and 'Snooks' Blankenburg. But it also reports that a few weeks earlier a test was held between the USA and Australia, which I can't find any mention of in International speedway

Seems the teams were

Australia

Ernie Evans, Bert Spencer, Clem Mitchell and Bill Rogers

USA

Miny Waln, Jack Milne, Lammy and Sam Arena

An article on Sam Arena

Jet Propelled No. 79 Sam Arena

 

From Motorcyclist Magazine

In six of the West Coast’s postwar events-in the half-milers at Dixon and Tulare, the Modesto class “C” hillclimb, the Stockton and Clovis half-milers and the San Rafael T.T.-one rider has won every event he entered except one, and in the lone exception he rode neck and neck with the leader until he spilled, a hundred yards from the finish line.

Weak competition has not been the reason for his record. At Clovis and Stockton he was pitted against the Coast’s top-rank riders. At Dixon, where he won the Time Trials, his heat, the trophy dash, and the Main Event, his fellow-contestants were skilled and able, as they were at Modesto and San Rafael and Tulare.

Sam Arena, No. 79, top man for his district, winner of every start from 1941 to 1945, has what it takes. In the opinion of the writer, he is the outstanding motorcyclist of all time, judged on the basis of versatility, honesty, and extraordinary ability

San Jose’s favorite son got his start early. At fourteen, he acquired his first motor vehicle-a Smith Motor Wheel attached to his bicycle. Shortly after, he purchased his first real motorcycle, an old job which was followed by several others until 1933, when he went to work in Tom Sifton’s Harley-Davidson shop in San Jose.

Sam’s first entry into com petition took place shortly after this time, when short track racing was just beginning on the West Coast. Winning his first event, a class “B” four-lap six-man heat in a meet at Emeryville Speedway, a fifth-mile flat oval in the Bay District, he was transferred to Class “A” and given the now-famous number “79”. His first major race, on a rugged course which was a keen test for recognized veterans, came early in 1934, when, on a stock motorcycle, he won at the Northern California Gypsy Tour at Lake Yosemite.

Win followed win throughout 1935-in his own district, in Florida, back again at Hollister, California, where heavy sand and a rough course which drew blisters on the hands of every competitor brought out his stamina. Then, in the fall of ‘35, Sam signed up with “Putt” Mossman for a tour of New Zealand and Australia and a season of short-track racing. At the season’s end he came back to marry his one and only, Myrtle Scott, and together they toured across the United States and thence to join Mossman and his troupe in England.There Sam represented his country well against the finest competition in the world, making the official team of Hackney Wick.

Short track racing was at its height when he returned to the Bay District the next year, and four northern California tracks were operating every night. He won every start at the San Francisco Motordrome, which was considered the roughest night speedway course in the district, and distinguished himself in the same way at Emeryville and the other speedways.

However, when he returned to class “C” racing, he found his pull to the top a long and tough one. His competitors had gained far more experience on heavier machines than he, and throughout 1936 and 1937 he had to go to work all over again, and content himself with 2nd and 3rd places in an effort to regain his top position

In 1938, however, he struck his stride in class “C” competition, four straight wins in the weekly races on Neptune Beach’s quarter-mile T.T. course. He continued to be one of the top men throughout the season, and in the fall won the Pittsburg, Calif., T.T. race. At the final Pacific Coast event for that year, the 2nd Oakland 200-miler, Sammy truly showed his mettle. Against a field of the best men in the country, he won the event and broke all records from 10 to 200 miles on a class “C” motorcycle. Sam’s average for the 200 miles was the spectacular time of 83 m.p.h., as against the former record of 74 m.p.h.

Edited May 22, 2020 by iris123

[Guest]

On 2/5/2019 at 9:42 PM, Sidney the robin said:

You are bias Steve  to loyal Iris does put some good stuff on and i have learned a lot but he has that touch of nastiness about him.Also any Thread Steve is the forum's thread not the individual who created it.

Hmmm! Not my sole opinion then Sidney the robin?

[iris123 20,969]

4 hours ago, gustix said:

Here's a snippet from a brief Post I found elsewhere. I will have a renewed search for more later. It appears to be Central USA in the mid-1930s and reads: "...

USA league racing brings to light this information from an American newspaper about a competition on the East Coast in 1937 mainly centred on the famous Tri-City Speedway in New Jersey. It reads: “The match is the third partido event of the season and is the last all-star battle in the eastern circuit. After tonight's events the star sprinters will be scattered 

“The Jimmy Gibb-Crocky Rawding pairing as rival captains continues a rivalry as old as the Eastern League. Last season, Jimmy led the the Tri-City Eagles to the league championship replacing Rawding's Paterson trio as the pennant winners.”

New Jersey isn't normally considered to be Central USA, John. It is on the eastern seaboard. I think those areas in the Central time zone, which New Jersey and New York for instance aren't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Time_Zone

This might be causing some confusion when you are enquiring about Central US speedway