Homburg (Saar) Speedway 1957-58 and 1960

[moomin man 76 171]

I was wondering if anyone had any copies of the programmes issued for speedway in Homburg (Saar)? I believe racing was held there in 1957-58 and 1960.

Friends of my family live in Homburg and therefore I am interested if anyone could post a scanned copy of the front cover of a programme and/or would be interested in selling a copy of a programme...

Failing that, any details of the venue would be appreciated...

[iris123 20,922]

Seems your friend must have missed a talk about the track and the races that was held late last year. But here is a report. It wasn't a speedway track, but a sand track. Held 17 meetings between 1952- 1963, although I think somewhere it states 1961

https://www.wochenspiegelonline.de/news/article/unvergessen-sandbahnrennen-in-erbach/

https://homburg1.de/homburg-vortrag-ueber-das-legendaere-erbacher-sandbahnrennen-von-1952-bis-1961-84369/

a programme here

https://www.saar-nostalgie.de/Motorsport.htm

and here are 3 programmes up for sale from meetings in Homburg. lot 7353

https://www.automobilia-ladenburg.de/aAPI/catalogs/en/4576acacc279e96599de02909e6b18bc/page/8

Edited April 27, 2020 by iris123

[moomin man 76 171]

Many thanks for such a detailed response - far more than I or my friend could have hoped for.

From the information supplied, it appears that Homburg (Saar) was an established sand track for longer than I or my friend were aware. It also perhaps puts to bed the myth the feeling that I had, which was that if speedway had been held, it could only have been at 'Waldstadion,' which is the home ground of FC08 Homburg and has an athletics track around the pitch.

[moomin man 76 171]

Oddly, I have now been on the international speedway website, which clearly shows a front cover from a programme in 1958 that a four way tournament was held between West Germany, England, Austria and Holland with England represented by Danny Dunton, Tommy Sweetman, George Bason and Jim Tebby.

The cover has 'Internationales Speedway-Rennen' whereas others are marked as 'Sandbahnrennen.' Aside from that the covers appear identical - were the same promoters staging both sand racing (longtrack) and speedway???

I would gratefully appreciate if anyone could clear this one up....

[Bavarian 765]

Quote

http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/ger4team.htm

I always thought that Homburg/Saar had a speedway track rather than a long-track, but from the information given by @iris123 it is obvious that there was long-track racing at Erbach from 1951 on. But could there have been another track, a proper speedway track, somewhere else in Homburg? It would really be interesting to know where a pukka speedway track could have been ? FC08 Homburg's Football ground, the "Waldstadion", looks very very likely.

Perhaps @Gustix can help us with more info. I seem to recall that he was there with the English team in 1958. 

 

By the way, it is interesting to know that after WW2 the Saarland was NOT part of Germany, but a French Protectorate with self government from 1947 til 1956. They participated under theri own flag at the 1956 Olympics, and had their own national teams in football and other sports. (West-)Germany played against the Saarland twice in their qualifying group for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. 

On January 1, 1957, the Saarland was reunified with the rest of (West-) Germany. 

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

   

[Guest]

6 hours ago, moomin man 76 said:

Oddly, I have now been on the international speedway website, which clearly shows a front cover from a programme in 1958 that a four way tournament was held between West Germany, England, Austria and Holland with England represented by Danny Dunton, Tommy Sweetman, George Bason and Jim Tebby.

The cover has 'Internationales Speedway-Rennen' whereas others are marked as 'Sandbahnrennen.' Aside from that the covers appear identical - were the same promoters staging both sand racing (longtrack) and speedway???

I would gratefully appreciate if anyone could clear this one up....

Interesting to see a leg trail rider in the England team - man of several tracks, George Bason: Wembley, West Ham, Southampton, Liverpool, Swindon and California (in England). He was also among the riders who helped pioneer speedway at Oxford in 1939. In the 1960s he was a member of Victor Boston's speedway group in France.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Guest

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, Bavarian said:

I always thought that Homburg/Saar had a speedway track rather than a long-track, but from the information given by @iris123 it is obvious that there was long-track racing at Erbach from 1951 on. But could there have been another track, a proper speedway track, somewhere else in Homburg? It would really be interesting to know where a pukka speedway track could have been ? FC08 Homburg's Football ground, the "Waldstadion", looks very very likely.

Perhaps @Gustix can help us with more info. I seem to recall that he was there with the English team in 1958. 

 

By the way, it is interesting to know that after WW2 the Saarland was NOT part of Germany, but a French Protectorate with self government from 1947 til 1956. They participated under theri own flag at the 1956 Olympics, and had their own national teams in football and other sports. (West-)Germany played against the Saarland twice in their qualifying group for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. 

On January 1, 1957, the Saarland was reunified with the rest of (West-) Germany. 

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

   

Sorry Bavarian! I was not at Homburg Saar in 1958.

[iris123 20,922]

16 hours ago, Bavarian said:

I always thought that Homburg/Saar had a speedway track rather than a long-track, but from the information given by @iris123 it is obvious that there was long-track racing at Erbach from 1951 on. But could there have been another track, a proper speedway track, somewhere else in Homburg? It would really be interesting to know where a pukka speedway track could have been ? FC08 Homburg's Football ground, the "Waldstadion", looks very very likely.

Perhaps @Gustix can help us with more info. I seem to recall that he was there with the English team in 1958. 

 

By the way, it is interesting to know that after WW2 the Saarland was NOT part of Germany, but a French Protectorate with self government from 1947 til 1956. They participated under theri own flag at the 1956 Olympics, and had their own national teams in football and other sports. (West-)Germany played against the Saarland twice in their qualifying group for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. 

On January 1, 1957, the Saarland was reunified with the rest of (West-) Germany. 

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

   

It is an interesting one. Seems if gustix was there, he can't remember much about it. I guess it is also possible they had a speedway track built on the same area, even inside the long track ? I think there are one or two examples of this today ? Herxheim and Parchim ? Ludwigslust did have two tracks side by side until the long track was turned into a MotoX track

 I guess Ann Schindler is the person to contact. Seems she did another talk with a couple of the riders from that era, pus photos and film, this year. Maybe more are planned ?

 https://homburg1.de/homburg-erbach-multimedia-vortrag-ueber-das-legendaere-erbacher-sandbahnrennen-im-saalbau-88165/

Edited April 28, 2020 by iris123

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, iris123 said:

It is an interesting one. Seems if gustix was there, he can't remember much about it. I guess it is also possible they had a speedway track built on the same area, even inside the long track ? I think there are one or two examples of this today ? Herxheim and Parchim ? Ludwigslust did have two tracks side by side until the long track was turned into a MotoX track

I WAS NOT AT HOMBURG SAAR in 1958. All I did with George Bason's co-operation was find some riders to compete there. The only German tracks I have ever seen speedway at are Oldenburg and Bremen. That was in another year.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Guest

[Guest]

On a tangent! I am now surprised that I ever went to Germany and also Holland in the 1950s to watch speedway. Different times now - I have not seen a live meeting since Wimbledon closed in 2005 and rarely watch speedway  when shown on FREE TV - maybe parts of eight meetings in the past 15 years. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Guest
spelling error

[iris123 20,922]

Very interesting John. Any more personal speedway experiences you want to share with us ?

[Guest]

17 hours ago, gustix said:

On a tangent! I am now surprised that I ever went to Germany and also Holland in the 1950s to watch speedway. Different times now - I have not seen a live meeting since Wimbledon closed in 2005 and rarely watch speedway  when shown on FREE TV - maybe about parts of eight meetings in the past 15 years. 

 

16 hours ago, iris123 said:

Very interesting John. Any more personal speedway experiences you want to share with us ?

Not anything to answer. My years of mainly following speedway were 1946 until1954. Then on Good Friday 1954 at New Cross came a major change. A sellout crowd and more locked out went there for the first British stock car meeting. I was captivated by the spectacle and have been a dedicated follower of oval track car racing ever since.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1128250810570567/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1593360700937855/

Edited May 3, 2020 by Guest
spelling error

[iris123 20,922]

But your love of the sport must be ingrained, for you to stick around on here so often and share your very interesting pieces now and again How they have entertained us over the years. What would we do without you(is that an exclamation mark or a question.....who cares?)?!?! 

[iris123 20,922]

On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 3:52 PM, iris123 said:

It is an interesting one. Seems if gustix was there, he can't remember much about it. I guess it is also possible they had a speedway track built on the same area, even inside the long track ? I think there are one or two examples of this today ? Herxheim and Parchim ? Ludwigslust did have two tracks side by side until the long track was turned into a MotoX track

 I guess Ann Schindler is the person to contact. Seems she did another talk with a couple of the riders from that era, pus photos and film, this year. Maybe more are planned ?

 https://homburg1.de/homburg-erbach-multimedia-vortrag-ueber-das-legendaere-erbacher-sandbahnrennen-im-saalbau-88165/

Couldn't track down Ann. But managed to find one of the riders, Franz Boßlet, who also gave a talk and has a driving school in the area, where one of the bikes used to be on display. Asked him about the speedway and hope to get an answer soon

[moomin man 76 171]

On 5/11/2020 at 4:03 PM, iris123 said:

Couldn't track down Ann. But managed to find one of the riders, Franz Boßlet, who also gave a talk and has a driving school in the area, where one of the bikes used to be on display. Asked him about the speedway and hope to get an answer soon

Many thanks for taking the time to investigate and if anything comes from Franz Boßlet, I would be most grateful to hear what he had to say.