coldace 109 Posted December 31, 2020 Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,241 Posted December 31, 2020 1 hour ago, coldace said: Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. Ian "Tiddler" Turner was another. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chunky 6,017 Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, coldace said: Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. Johnny Chamberlain was also 4' 9". Jerzy Kowalski was another under 5 feet, I know, and so was Sam Nikolajsen. Obviously, there have been plenty of "short" riders, but I'm not sure how many have been exceptionally short (5' or less). Edited December 31, 2020 by chunky Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coldace 109 Posted December 31, 2020 Didn't realise Chamberlin was as short as that. Do you know the height of Peter Craven and Billy Bales? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chunky 6,017 Posted December 31, 2020 3 hours ago, coldace said: Didn't realise Chamberlin was as short as that. Do you know the height of Peter Craven and Billy Bales? I've found nothing "official", but it seems that both were around the five feet mark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sotonian 603 Posted December 31, 2020 Lionel Levy was exactly 5ft Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ONTWOMINUTES 105 Posted December 31, 2020 Steve schofield wasn't the tallest of riders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chadster 221 Posted December 31, 2020 Norman Strachan? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chunky 6,017 Posted December 31, 2020 1 hour ago, Sotonian said: Lionel Levy was exactly 5ft I had a feeling he would have been on the "short list"... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,241 Posted December 31, 2020 23 minutes ago, Chadster said: Norman Strachan? Beat me to it! Paul Gachet was another. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Triple.H. 1,972 Posted December 31, 2020 I don't know how tall Sam Nickolajsen was but when he retired he became a painter and decorator and had to have a special skirtingboard ladder made for him 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nw42 2,048 Posted January 1, 2021 Soren Sjosten was responsible for this 7 year old genuinely believing I would only need to wait a couple of years and I could become a fully fledged Belle Vue Ace, if someone as diminutive as Soren could do it with such style and success then nothing was going to stop me, nothing! I'm 61 in Feb and I've still never sat astride a running speedway bike, yet I still think I could've been a contender, maybe this will be the year I finally make it to a ride n slide day, if only to put my dreams to bed. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coldace 109 Posted January 1, 2021 So many great calls here. Generally speedway riders tend to be on the average to shorter side. But what prompted me to post was the photo on page 91 of Philip Dalling's excellent book which shows Sonny Dewhurst in relation to all of the others. May have had a bigger impact if he had been stood next to Reg Fearman that night! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites