chunky

Not really... I will post the rest of the teams later, but I didn't want to make a single post too large and unwieldy!

Okay.... So everyone thinks that British speedway is on its last legs, largely due to the reduction in the number of tracks. In 2023, there were 19 tracks hosting league action - the same number as in other post-covid years. Doesn't seem like many does it? Particularly with the loss of Peterborough and Wolves. Are you aware that there have been a total of 14 seasons with fewer tracks hosting "official" (league) fixtures? A few will remember 1958, when the National League dropped to 10 teams - plus a reserve team from Yarmouth. Everyone thought speedway was dead then. It didn't die. As early as 1935 we had a season with only SEVEN teams in league action - and six of those were London teams! Anyway, now I've eased your worries, let's look at how many tracks have staged league racing since 1929, and how many seasons they have run. That last part of the sentence is the scary thing... I've compiled a list of tracks. When a team changed names (St. Austell, Arena Essex), but rode at the same track, that counts as one. When a team rode at different tracks (Glasgow, Belle Vue) that counts as one. This includes years where a team did not complete the season, but rode in at least one official fixture. Track shares are not counted as separate. 88 - Belle Vue 75 - Coventry 74 - Poole 73 - Sheffield 71 - Swindon 67 - Glasgow 66 - Ipswich 63 - Wolverhampton 62 - Edinburgh, Newcastle 61 - Oxford, Wimbledon 59 - Stoke 59 - Eastbourne 56 - King's Lynn 54 - Berwick, Exeter 53 - Peterborough 46 - Leicester 45 - Birmingham, Rye House 44 - Mildenhall 42 - Cradley Heath 40 - Reading 38 - Middlesbrough 35 - Arena Essex, Hackney 34 - Workington 33 - Plymouth 32 - Bradford, Scunthorpe 30 - Long Eaton, West Ham 29 - Newport 25 - Buxton, Halifax, Southampton 24 - Hull, Wembley 22 - Isle of Wight, Norwich 20 - Canterbury, Somerset, Weymouth 19 - Rayleigh 17 - Boston, Harringay, New Cross, Redcar 16 - Bristol 15 - Milton Keynes

A Big Mac?

Jealousy, jealousy... Did ye put your boot through telly in 1966? Bahsta' Geoff Hurst...

I remember we got stuck there one night, coming back from Belle Vue. There was a loud knocking sound coming from the floor of the coach, and nobody could find out what it was. The driver didn't want to take any chances, so we spent several hours, waiting for a replacement coach. We discovered what it was the next day... Someone has nicked a metal road sign for a lark. Not thinking, they stuck it face down under one of the seats. It was dark, and the back was the same colour as the floor. When we hit bumps in the road, the bloody thing would knock against the frame of the seat ..

Very sad to hear...

Seeing as there is no mention of them on there, I would suspect that they may have been individual meetings - or at least, not classed as "international" (National Team) events. The heat details for June 19 are: 1) Harris, Beattie, Winstanley, Robinson. 2) Paynter, Sharples, Caisley, Oliver. 3) Winstanley, Oliver, Robinson (N/F), Harris (N/F). 4) Sharples, Caisley, Paynter, Beattie. 5) Sharples, Winstanley, Beattie (F), Harris (N/F) 6) Paynter, Robinson, Harris, Oliver (E/F) 7) Robinson, Winstanley, Caisley, Oliver. 8) Beattie, Sharples, Paynter, Harris (F). 9) Robinson, Oliver, Paynter, Caisley. 10) Sharples, Winstanley, Caisley, Beattie. ENGLAND Maury Robinson 0 N 2 3 3 - 8 Paul Sharples 2 3 3 2 3 - 13 SCOTLAND Jack WInstanley 1 3 2 2 2 - 10 Milton Caisley 1 2 1 0 1 - 5 AUSTRALIA Graham Beattie 2 0 F 3 0 - 5 Alan Paynter 3 1 3 1 1 - 9 NEW ZEALAND Peter Harris 3 N E 1 F - 4 Brian Oliver 0 2 E 0 2 - 4 It doesn't seem that there was any strict structure, with teams riding as pairs AND individuals, and note the discrepancy with Milton Caisley's points (posted as 4, but apparently, he scored 5).

The meetings were at Cesenatico (18 June), and Rimini, the following day. Both meetings featured pairs from England (Maury Robinson, Paul Sharples), Australia (Graham Beattie, Alan Painter), New Zealand (Peter Harris, Brian Oliver), and a non-Scottish Scotland pair (Jack Winstanley, Milton Caisley). At Rimini, England won with 21, with the Scots and Aussies on 14, and the Kiwis on 8. Not sure about the first meeting, but at Rimini, the 8 riders also competed in a number of midget car races. Courtesy of Brian Collins' fabulous International Speedway website.

Yeah, I saw the photos. It scared me that I didn't even recognise Martin! Briggo and Broady don't look any different, but Martin...

Didn't know that? I'd loved to have been there. I was never a regular at Blunsdon (Saturdays were always difficult for me because of darts), but I always enjoyed my visits. Still reckon that between the 40's and 60's, Swindon had some of the greatest programme designs ever!

It was, and nobody said anything to the contrary. You must have just misread something.

And flat-track...

How about Xenon Plech? I'm sure he'd be in his element...

You know, that was something that used to annoy me with John (yes, ONE thing)! If there were no comments on the 'Years Gone By' thread for two or three days, he would always email me and tell me how people had "lost interest" in the BSF. At the same time, he would tell me how great 'Speedwayplus' was, even though the site could go a month or two with no comments!

And Chris Harris (E/F)?

If only we had the Internet back then...

Ah, the days when birds were happy for a bunch of drooling men to see them in various stages of undress...

Who can forget the 'Glamour League'? Wonder what reaction that would get these days?

While he stood out in particular, what about any of those other Poles of that era? Pawel Waloszek, Henryk Zyto, and Marian Kaiser? Zyto showed some great form, including winning the Midland Riders Championship, and Waloszek twice finished in the Top 5 of the World Final. Who knows what they may have achieved with an extended spell in Britain?

While we're on the subject, does anyone know the story behind "Gustix"?

Only if he had posted the links himself! Great point, actually...

As long-time speedway journalist John used to be a regular on the 'Years Gone By' thread, I thought it best to make a quick post on here. John sadly passed away on October 14 at the age of 91. There is a thread on 'General Discussions', so I don't know if it would be possible to combine the two on here.

Zyto Zaman Zarzecki Zabialowicz Zaluski Zubenko

Thing is, I know he never won a World Title (individual, anyway), but i just feel it's a bit of a stretch claiming that he wasn't a "major force". I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me...

I didn't, so here goes... Rune Sormander, Alf Jonsson, and Peter Smith never met the 10-match minimum. 8.78 - Per Olof Soderman 8.46 - Bjorn Knutson 8.31 - Soren Sjosten 7.47 - Dan Forsberg 6.38 - Birger Forsberg