Oldest First time World Final Winner

[E I Addio 15,845]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before but I was looking at some material about Tommy Price recently and it suddenly dawned on me that he must have been about 37 when he won his world title. I know there have been some , notably Greg Hancock , who became World Champion and an older age  but I can’t think of any off hand who were older at the time of their first win ? I am sure Bobbath and maybe a few others have the information to hand so can anyone give us a table of the oldest first time winners? 

Thanks

[chunky 6,093]

1 hour ago, E I Addio said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned before but I was looking at some material about Tommy Price recently and it suddenly dawned on me that he must have been about 37 when he won his world title. I know there have been some , notably Greg Hancock , who became World Champion and an older age  but I can’t think of any off hand who were older at the time of their first win ? I am sure Bobbath and maybe a few others have the information to hand so can anyone give us a table of the oldest first time winners? 

Thanks

Are you talking about World Finals, or just World Champions? Seeing that you mention Hancock, I would think the latter.

Well, the first one that sprang to mind was Tomasz Gollob. He was 39 years and 5 months old when he won in 2010

Tommy Price was 37 years, 9 months and 20 days old (1949)

Egon Muller was 34 years, 9 months, and 9 days old (1983).

Sam Ermolenko was 32 years, 9 months, and 6 days old (1993).

Jason Doyle was 32 years and 22 days old (2017).

Anders Michanek was 31 years, 3 months, and 7 days old (1974)

Artem Laguta was 31 years and 19 days old (2021).

Jack Milne was 30 years, 2 months, and 29 days old (1937).

These are the only riders who won their first titles in their 30's.

[E I Addio 15,845]

15 hours ago, chunky said:

Are you talking about World Finals, or just World Champions? Seeing that you mention Hancock, I would think the latter.

Well, the first one that sprang to mind was Tomasz Gollob. He was 39 years and 5 months old when he won in 2010

Tommy Price was 37 years, 9 months and 20 days old (1949)

Egon Muller was 34 years, 9 months, and 9 days old (1983).

Sam Ermolenko was 32 years, 9 months, and 6 days old (1993).

Jason Doyle was 32 years and 22 days old (2017).

Anders Michanek was 31 years, 3 months, and 7 days old (1974)

Artem Laguta was 31 years and 19 days old (2021).

Jack Milne was 30 years, 2 months, and 29 days old (1937).

These are the only riders who won their first titles in their 30's.

Thank you . Everything I’ve ever read about Tommy Price suggests he was a far better rider than results suggest, perhaps not in his technical skills but he certainly seems to have been a “hard man” and somewhat ahead of the game mechanically. He apparently geared his bike half a tooth lower than everyone else round Wembley on the basis that if he got in front by the first bend, he was such a hard man to pass that he was likely to hang on to that a early lead. In the workshop he drilled extra oil ways to avoid the engine failures occurring to the early J.A,P’s in those days. He also used to start warming his bike up earlier than anyone else because had a special barrel in his JAP engine although I can’t remember what it was made of, or whether it actually was a special barrel or just psychological mind games to con or intimidate the others !

Certainly one rider I wish I’d seen and it’s probably fair to say that if WW2 had not intervened he would likely have had a much better record than he has today.

Edited February 29 by E I Addio

[norbold 7,110]

3 hours ago, E I Addio said:

Thank you . Everything I’ve ever read about Tommy Price suggests he was a far better rider than results suggest, perhaps not in his technical skills but he certainly seems to have been a “hard man” and somewhat ahead of the game mechanically. He apparently geared his bike half a tooth lower than everyone else round Wembley on the basis that if he got in front by the first bend, he was such a hard man to pass that he was likely to hang on to that a early lead. In the workshop he drilled extra oil ways to avoid the engine failures occurring to the early J.A,P’s in those days. He also used to start warming his bike up earlier than anyone else because had a special barrel in his JAP engine although I can’t remember what it was made of, or whether it actually was a special barrel or just psychological mind games to con or intimidate the others !

Certainly one rider I wish I’d seen and it’s probably fair to say that if WW2 had not intervened he would likely have had a much better record than he has today.

Yes, I agree. I think Tommy Price was a better rider and more worthy World Champion (twice if you include the 1946 Riders' Championship) than he is generally given credit for. The fact he and Freddie Williams were both Wembley riders and therefore riding at home always seems to mark them down a bit.

The "missing years", 1939-1945, are, of course, a field of endless speculation. There are a number of riders who are often touted as losing out on multiple world championships. Tommy, as you mention, but also Vic Duggan, Jack Parker, Cordy Milne, Arthur Atkinson, Eric Chitty, Eric Langton and Aub Lawson in particular. But there were many others who would have been contenders - Lionel Van Praag, Ron Johnson, Bill Kitchen, Jack Milne, Wilbur Lamoreaux....and on and on!

Edited February 29 by norbold

[midlandred 206]

On 2/28/2024 at 5:36 PM, chunky said:

Are you talking about World Finals, or just World Champions? Seeing that you mention Hancock, I would think the latter.

Well, the first one that sprang to mind was Tomasz Gollob. He was 39 years and 5 months old when he won in 2010

Tommy Price was 37 years, 9 months and 20 days old (1949)

Egon Muller was 34 years, 9 months, and 9 days old (1983).

Sam Ermolenko was 32 years, 9 months, and 6 days old (1993).

Jason Doyle was 32 years and 22 days old (2017).

Anders Michanek was 31 years, 3 months, and 7 days old (1974)

Artem Laguta was 31 years and 19 days old (2021).

Jack Milne was 30 years, 2 months, and 29 days old (1937).

These are the only riders who won their first titles in their 30's.

The clue is in the thread title. World Final winners, not GP series winners.

[norbold 7,110]

28 minutes ago, midlandred said:

The clue is in the thread title. World Final winners, not GP series winners.

And yet, the originator of the thread mentioned Greg Hancock himself in his opening post. Strange, eh?

Edited March 4 by norbold

[chunky 6,093]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

And yet, the originator of the thread mentioned Greg Hancock himself in his opening post. Strange, eh?

You know, I thought it was just me...

Sounds like midlandred has sand in his ** again!