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Midland Red

Birmingham Wheels

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I am not surprised by this news at all. They are a council unfit for purpose & have been for many years. 

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Usual politicans, whether national or local, being open to question who, afteral, are supposed to represent the community they are elected to serve.

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I did see this a couple of months back on the local news. Sad to see another motorsport venue could be going :(

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I spent many a happy times at Birmingham wheels in my teenage years, not cause of speedway, I was there most Saturdays and Sundays either racing BMX or doing the ramps, we caught the train with our bikes, loved the place and it worked getting kids off the streets, sadly these days the area around the place is less than desirable and that’s being kind, a place like wheels is needed in every town, being brought up with a focus like bikes (motor or otherwise) is a good distraction against the pitfalls of those teenage years 

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Without Birmingham Wheels, put simply, I would not have a career.  I did my first ever commentaries on the stock cars there and spent just about every Saturday evening of my 20s there.

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Birmingham Wheels is where Joe Owen had his tragic final ride 

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1 hour ago, Midland Red said:

Birmingham Wheels is where Joe Owen had his tragic final ride 

I didn’t know that 

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2 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Birmingham Wheels is where Joe Owen had his tragic final ride 

1985 wasn't it MR?

Zlata Prilba was a track marshall and was one of the first on the scene when Joe Owen had that tragic accident:( 

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Also where the guy from Teng Tools was killed at a Banger meeting I believe. 

I personally hated the place. OK it kept us operational for a while but was a cold bleak filthy place and wrong part of he City for me. 

The City Council are very sport minded. Sadly many initiatives over the years have been blocked by national governments and we have a complete wazzicj in the elected Mayoal role. 

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13 minutes ago, HGould said:

Also where the guy from Teng Tools was killed at a Banger meeting I believe. 

It was a BriSCA Formula One Stock Car meeting and sadly the last Spedeworth meeting at the track. 

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Speedway at Birmingham Wheels was unsuccessful during the three seasons of its operations there. There were many reasons for this, most of them being out of the control of Birmingham Speedway. The place was in its complete infancy, getting there was difficult and not very safe with no entrance via the main Bordesley Green Road, only via a dark and dismal lengthy back street (Landor Street) and approached through an unlit railway tunnel. The spectator facilities there were non-existant and what little spectator comforts were minimal.

Sharing the track with banger cars was a disaster. This is possible at some existing stadia I know, but at the Wheels Park, the banger cars used it daily so preparation of the track for speedway meetings was virtually impossible. Even so, despite the problems, the track was a very good shape and before the cars wrecked it, produced some very good racing, and for all it's primitiveness, spectator viewing was very good.

The speedway venture ended when at the instigation of the new Wheels Park Manager, an application to extend planning permission to beyond those first three seasons, was arbitrarily withdrawn, so Tony Mole who had just purchased the speedway rights, wasn't able to continue even though he was prepared to do so. Later attempts to get back into the Wheels Park using a different, unused part of the site to constructed a new exclusive for  speedway track, were blocked by the same Wheels Park Manager.

Could speedway have re-established itself there? I think it could have. We could have had our own track and used it for training as well as public meetings, and now that there is the access to the site from the main road, we could have capitalised on the fact that it is now on several bus routes, and that Adderley Park Rail Station is close by. The Wheels Park is still located in one of the less glamourous parts of the City it is true, so it might have been a long slow haul to get the club back on it's feet, but I always thought the place had possibilities.

Now it seems that the City Council are looking for ways of recovering some of the massive debts it has run up in its efforts to promote the Commonwealth Games, and are trying to reclaim and re-sell the land on which the Wheels Park is situated. All the hard work which has gone into building a popular and well used operation from very small beginnings, will be wasted if they succeed, and I wish the group who are challenging this truly outrageous plan, every possible success in their opposition, and will be happy to help in any way if I can.

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10 hours ago, Midland Red said:

Birmingham Wheels is where Joe Owen had his tragic final ride 

Unfortunately I was there that night and remember it clearly.

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On 7/1/2022 at 12:00 PM, steve roberts said:

Usual politicians, whether national or local, being open to question who, after all, are supposed to represent the community they are elected to serve.

They do represent the community, it's just that there are other communities that they represent as well, and other communities are in the majority in that part of Birmingham where the Wheels complex is located, and they are growing rapidly and need housing.

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To quote a biblical phrase - "Man cannot live by bread alone." We all need housing and we all need food, but we all need a bit of leisure activity as well!!

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