Ian

Trevor Redmond - an amazing character. In addition to riding for a number of clubs, TR (as he was known) promoted at Neath, St Austell and Glasgow White City. For the latter two he was actually rider/promoter. Trevor was always good for bizarre interval attractions. I remember him appearing in a Kruschev mask during a Britain-Overseas test at Meadowbank in 1962, I think. After White City reopened in 1964 he and Ian Hoskins used to produce wonderful theatre on the centre green during Monarchs/Tigers matches. Oh for a few more like those two!

Yes, Kiwipirate, that was Gab Kadirov.

I must say I don't remember the name Gruzinsev at all, TigerTom, but there you go. I suspect most people on this section of the forum would agree with you that Belle Vue will forever mean Hyde Road. My memories of it go back to 1963 and the days of the Provincial League Riders Championship. Ahhhhh!

Thanks for that 2ndbender. I think it must have been Gab who was from Tashkent after all. Excellent little rider, along with team-mates like Plechanov, Samorodov (rode like a man possessed!), Kurilenko, Trofimov etc. These were also the days of the terrific Polish touring teams - Wyglenda, Migos, Pogorzelski, Huszsa etc. Anybody support the reintroduction of the Cold War so we can have some of them back?

Listening to today's news of the tragic events in the Uzbeqi town of Azbizhan, I got to wondering whether there has ever been an Uzbeqi rider in speedway. I may be completely wrong about this, but I think that one member of the superb Russian touring sides of the mid-sixties was from the capital, Tashkent. Was it Gab Kadirov? I'd be pleased to hear if anyone knows the answer to this, as it's the sort of question which will annoy me now for days on end.

I was there too Norbold. In fact, I had a free pass for the season. Another interesting question is why the crowds there were so much bigger than at any other track at that time. I remember Speedway Star taking the view that there was a certain section of the population who would attend any sporting event at Wembley for no better reason than it was Wembley. I've often wondered whether that was true. If it was, then you'd have to conclude that the current state of speedway venues is a contributory factor to the much lower crowd levels of today. On the other hand, it must be remembered that Wembley presented a complete show, with celebrity announcers (I think they were called Ed Stewart and David Hamilton). Maybe that's what made the difference.

I'll tell you what I think, Iris123, then Norbold can tell me if I'm right. My recollection is that the opening night crowd in 1970 was 17,000. I believe it subsequently averaged around 10-12,000. Now we await the judgment of Norbold, who is to speedway history what Lord St John of Fawsley is to constitutional affairs! Except that Norbold's a good guy, of course.

What a fascinating and information-packed post. 93,000 people at the Worl Final during a period of decline! I imagine every one of today's promoters would give his eye teeth for that sort of decline nowadays. Thinking with the benefit of hindsight about that tax imposition, you would imagine that the promoters of the day would have found ways to avoid it. Free entry but you have to pay for the programme would be one that would come to mind. If I'm not mistaken I went to a match at Rye House years ago when there was some sort of restriction on Sunday speedway and the "entry by programme" angle was in use. I realise that you'll be well aware of this Norbold, but, for the benefit of anyone who isn't, the government that implemented this killer tax was a Tory one. You know them, the party of low taxes! How about a Forum-wide campaign to write to Michael Howard asking why the Tories tried to kill speedway, and what any future Tory government might do to make amends for this? History records, of course, that during the Wilson government from 1964 onwards speedway was on a roll......

All together now...... Oh no it isn't!

This section of the Forum contains a large number of interesting posts from those of us who can look back over many years of watching speedway, and also those who are keen to know more about what it was all like. We've had threads about who was the best rider, what was the best meeting, what was the best track and things of that type. Here's one, though. Who was the greatest promoter of his or her time? I started watching the sport in 1962, so I have a few to consider in my list. But first we need to define what it is that makes a promoter "great". Is it long-term commitment to a club? Is it showmanship? Personality? Business acumen? PR capability? Maybe it's a combination of these and other factors. I suppose that Johnnie Hoskins would get a very high percentage of the vote if a poll were held. The Great Man's place in history is assured by the sheer volume of written and anecdotal evidence which surrounds him, together with the not inconsiderable advantage of being credited by many with having "invented" the sport. However, Johnnie was probably past his peak by even the early sixties so I'm not sure I could put him in first position. I can immediately think of five from the 60s whom I would regard as "up there or thereabouts". Here they are. Ian Hoskins during his Old Meadowbank era. A showman supreme, helped along by his experience and interest in acting. Ian could hold an audience of 6000 in the palm of his hand; he would run the whole gamut of emotions from A through to B (apologies to Dorothy L Parker!) and then on a bit further. Any small snippet of information would attain the significance of a worldwide exclusive; the arrival of his latest signing would be heralded as if it were the second coming. A home defeat for Monarchs called for every response short of actual invasion of the victorious team's town, or in the case of really heavy defeats, possibly even England. He managed to convey much of that personality through into the press too. Perhaps his most endearing characteristic was his capacity for letting us all laught at him as well as with him. Len Silver at his best at Hackney. To be honest I always thought he had learned a lesson or two from the Hoskins family because there were some similarities. The nickname "Leaping Len" was certainly justified by the energy he would put into these Friday night shows. Who else could make such a major issue of throwing a coin into the crowd after the toss? Trevor Redmond in the 60s promoted at Neath, then at Glasgow. Here was another larger-than-life personality who knew how to get a crowd going (and that's largely what "atmosphere" at meetings is about, isn't it?) I think Trevor drifted away from speedway after his spell at Wembley in the early 1970s, and I always felt that was our loss. Here's a controversial nomination - Mike Parker. After the disastrous slump in attendances in the middle 1950s, the long climb back to a golden age for speedway started in 1960 with the formation of the Provincial League. Mike Parker started that league, and I seem to remember that he owned about half the teams that participated. I never saw a Mike Parker-promoted meeting; perhaps he was a thoroughly dull individual. But it can't be denied that Mike, along with partners like Reg Fearman and Bill Bridgett, really went for it and may have been speedway's salvation. Controversial? He certainly would have been on this Forum. After all, he looked like a guy who was making money, and he owned more tracks that the Russell brothers have had hot dinners. If the greatest promoter is defined as the one who makes the biggest success of the largest number of tracks then Mike's the boy. He was astute enough to resist trying to be popular - that was a job for the riders. How about Dave Lanning at West Ham in 1965, first year of the British League? A fabulous team and a brilliant front man. I remember the night they came to Meadowbank as one of the most memorable meetings I ever saw. We were beaten, but did it really matter? There was a virtuoso performance by Big Dave and Ian Hoskins each doing their bit to get the crowd going. Sheer theatre of course, but theatre of a very high standard. Dave went on to bring his enthusiasm to many an ITV speedway broadcast, and may well have won over new fans in the course of doing so. That's my five for today, with apologies to all the good guys whom I didn't mention. Incidentally, they all had one common understanding which I sometimes think is lost on some of today's promoters - they knew the importance of projecting the personalities of their riders to the fans, and they were smart enough to let the riders get on and do that.

Very Vernacular! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Gosh! Golly! Crikey!

All together now.... "Oh no it isn't!" Just kidding, Norbold.

Diesn't that seem incredible? They'd never do that now. They might bang people up on the say-so of a politician though. As far as the "trial of speed" goes, the promoters of the day would have done well to argue that football was a trial of patience.

Probably because the promoters of the day believed that they were charging what the market would bear in terms of admission costs. When the exhorbitant "entertainment tax" was dumped on them I guess quite a few thought "sod it, I've had enough". Incidentally, I was told recently that that iniquitous tax was actually levied at a higher rate on speedway than it was on football. Does anyone know what the respective rates were? Is it true that speedway was taxed at an incredible 40%?

I think there may be a very simple answer to this, Norbold. In 1962, when I started watching speedway, the adult admission price at Edinburgh was 2/6d (12.5p in that new money which seems to be catching on). Today you'd be lucky to get away with less than a tenner. Now for a feat of memory. I think that the national average wage in 1962 was around £18 per week. In other words, the average punter's gross wage equated to about 144 speedway admissions. Todat the average wage is something in the order of £450 per week, equating to about 45 speedway admissions. The figures above are rule of thumb, but it's safe to say that in terms relative to income speedway today is three times as expensive as it was 40 years ago. If you add to that the fact that people today have far more commitments than they ever had before (credit cards, mortgages etc) them you might just conclude that speedway is too expensive for a lot of people. Before any of the usual suspects start posting drivel about promoters bleeding the fans dry, I doubt whether much money is made in speedway promotion nowadays. Simply, if a track breaks even, and its crowd drops by 25%, then the cost to be borne by the remaining fans will rise in proportion. Here's the question though. If by some economic miracle admission prices were to drop to a third of their present level (ie go back to 1960's levels in real terms) would crowds rise threefold? Assuming the average attendance at tracks to be in the order of 1000, would the average crowd at British matches scale the dizzy heights of 3000? Personally I doubt it. There are too many other factors competing for people's leisure money and leisure time. For example, if one night out at the speedway for a family of four costs about the same as a month's subscription to Sky TV, I reckon you've got to be a pretty dyed-in-the-wool fan to choose speedway. What do others think?

Who's the punter on the left then Shazzy?

I well remember him with lower bars than anyone else. Tsunami, I also remember him having a major health scare around that time (I think he was diagnosed with meningitis). Can you tell me whether that was in his first or second season? The big story at the time was that the man with the fastest reflexes in speedway was suffering from an ailment which is known to slow your reflexes down (not that it ever seemed to affect him in that way).

Well next time you're five or six minutes away from my office why don't you let me know and we'll go and have a spot of lunch.

Jim, my recollection is that it was a special speedway unit which Matchless produced. To promote it they had Bill Landels as a works rider, plus a season-long series of ads in Speedway Star.

I didn't know that Nigel Boocock had used the Matchless, but I remember Bill Landels doing so. Bill had always seemed to me to be on the way up in speedway, but his season on the Matchless pretty much put paid to that. I have to assume it was the engine that was at fault.

It's interesting to see just how many people have such happy memories of Friday nights at Hackney. I was a regular there for a few years starting in 1968. Here's the question. What was it that made Hackney special? Was it the racing? Was it the show which Len Silver put on? Was it the terracing humour? Was it the smell of confectionery coming from the Clarnico mints factory next door? I'd be interested to know what others think about this.

I've ni idea what her name was, but is there any chance of that lady who used to stand on the back straight and yell abuse at Bobby Beaton being there? If she is, I'll come along too. She used to provide endless entertainment!

Surely that was the best format of all? I seem to remember that ALL individual meetings were run to that format. It was fair to all, with the possible exception of the four riders who had consecutive rides.

Note to all vistors attending the PL Pairs event at Ashfield: Do not fail to secure a pie and chips (AKA pie supper) from the kiosk in the stand.

Sorry CHK, I don't understand the reference to fishing. I'm probably being a bit dense this morning as it's Friday and the week has taken its toll. As it happens I used to have a minor interest in activities of a pescatorial nature, but not any more; I do however consume fish in some quantity.