They still come is various shapes and sizes.

May be bonus points should be the deciding factor, rather than heat wins. Afterall in a Golden Heat second and third outweighs a first place. Just a thought 

could be good or embarrassing for speedway

I can't quite agree with that statement as we ultimately withdrew all our  sponsorship in the sport as a result of the  spiralling costs which over a very short time just became ridiculous . In the sport we went from  half a dozen riders using Japs with the rest on two valve Jawas all of which could be home serviced by the average( Journey man) rider  or an informed individual  .You had Ivan & Co on works engines but to a large extent the rest of the riders operated at an  affordable level  .  Enter first the two valve Piper Conversion ( not a huge cost ) then the Street conversion ( half the cost of a new engine from memory ) Weslake ,four valve Jawa and Godden in the mix as well all in a matter of a few years . Riders being as we know are  influenced very easily chopped and changed at a whime ,we spent upwards of over 25k( on engines alone ) in three yrs and this was in the seventies .   Imo that period is when the dynamics of the sport changed  the riders took control to a large extent  part of their reasoning was the inceased cost of being competitive .Up until this point the average rider didn't have a tuner lucky to have two bikes and went to a primary job the next morning .This was when the the sport was at it's peak now it has all but dropped of a cliff your and your average rider wants to make a full time living out of it !  

The team that started my love of speedway was Bradford Northern at Odsal stadium. My dad used to take me from the age of 6 onwards. We used to stand on the first bend and got splattered by the shale on every lap. And that smell !!! Nothing like it . My team included Alan Knapkin, Dave Baugh , Alf Wells . Robin Adlington , Dave Schofield, Alan Bridgett, Sid Sheldrick ( in his white leathers) as well as others . Also the mercurial and sadly missed Gary Petersen. Wonderful days that started it off. Still love the sport now though that’s tested a lot more these days but that’s a different discussion. 

Yes As long as we don’t adopt their program lay out