speedyguy

Do you mean Uncle Bob? http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

There possibly are now that speedway has reached Malaysia. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

No objections to Tai Woffinden getting a GP chance. Cannot see the AMA agreeing to no Americans in the GP at the next FIM Congress. So what Brit would you like to see go out to make way for him? http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

That's not how I remember him. He was a gutsy little rider and great crowd pleaser. If I can remember him after all these years, he must have made some impact. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

The transition took place as a natural progression. There was none of the fast-tracking of kids by shuffling averages that takes place in some sections of the sport in the UK these days. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Yes. It would be great to create an age barrier here as well we hve in UK speedway - where it is ruining the sport. It's ability not age that should decide GP and all speedway placements. In the USA, Gene Bonsignore has just won the season-long East Coast points championship and he's nearly 60 years old. Good job he's not trying for a Conference League place. Someone would find an obscure 15 year old to replace him! http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

That's how it works with GPs in all motorcycle disciplines under FIM rules. If you have objections, suggest you write to them with your views. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

I second all that you say. There is no factual evidence presented in the allegations against Bob Paulson. Your remarks are, as always, very much to the heart of the subject. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Yes I will still look forward to the book. Just thought the 1939 team would get a mention as several of them - certainly Keith Harvey and Mick Mitchell - rode for New Cross in 1946. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

I have just received news that former USA National champion Steve Bast, who had a brief spell at Wembley in the 1970s, has died. Steve was 55 years old and died from complications after suffering pneumonia. RIP. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Dave Dodd. Canadian rider in UK around 1959-60. Rode for Poole and Liverpool. Died from cancer soon after returning home In Canada he was a protege of Mike Tams. Dodd raced mainly at Dundas in Canada. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Wee Bill McGregor. Rode second-half Coventry and in France in late 1950s. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

On the site www.sheffield-tigers.co.uk there is this biog on Bob Paulson:--- PAULSON, Bob - Born: Chilworth, Derbyshire 27 March 1942 Loyal club man who spent the whole of his ten year career at Sheffield. Burst onto the scene in 1965 and was in such a rich vein of form the following year he was selected for the prestigious Internationale event at Wimbledon. Although 1966 proved to be his best season, Bob remained a steady middle order scorer until his retirement in 1974 and spent many years as captain of the Tigers. Scored nearly 2000 points in official fixtures and was part of the famous cup winning team of 1974. He retired at the end of that season and was awarded a testimonial the following year. Bob sadly died in the winter of 1982. Matches Rides Points Bonus Total Average 304 1236 1574 265 1839 5.95 http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

That was my elimination. I went through the Sheffield biographies to find a rider who died seven years after retirement. It fitted Bob Paulson. Does anyone have a transcript of his inquest? RIP. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

No code of secrecy. Just being careful in my investigation. Imagine the trauma if the wrong person was named. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Martin Hewlett died from a stroke aged 20 years. Lief Whallman in a track accident. The sad matter in this case is that the rider apparently took his own life seven years after his retirement. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Isn't this around the time the rider in question sadly died? http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Early post-war German speedway involved (1) a tour by National League riders in the winter of 1945-46 and (2) various army tracks (at least three) where riders included Ron Walton and Alan 'Dart' Clark, possibly Roy Pickering and Harry Emery. Jimmy Squibb was not involved in either of these ventures. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

I look forward to this - as I so all your books! Re Crystal Palace 1939 - does the former Canadian all-in wrestler Eddie 'Flash' Barker get a mention? I saw him back on the wrestling circuit in 1947. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

The best ever formula was six rider teams with two reserves over 14 heats. Team men four races, reserves two races. No T/s or whatever. When a team rider was injured or out with ef, the reserves got extra rides up to a maxim of four. Teams were consistent season on season. Riders leaving a club was big news. Some teams far stronger and stayed that way year on year. But this was years before the era this thread is all about. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

That's sad news. He was one of the more interpretive posters on the BSF. Now we really are in a vaccum over the history of Crystal Palace - at least from his angle. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

There's an article on Ron Johnson in the Files section of this yahoo site: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Was this historical work ever completed? And if so where can it be read? I live about 800 yards from the Penge entrance to Crystal Palace Park. I saw car and motorcycle racing on the big circuit there in the 1960s and 1970s. So far as speedway is concerned - I don't remember it - but I have been told that I was taken to see the 1939 National League Division Two team in about May that year! http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

I think the difference was in the use of the reserve riders - and were teams a different number of riders? http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Here's the Wikipedia definition on The Smiths. Never heard of them! The Smiths were an English rock band active from 1982 to 1987. The group was based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr, and were signed to the independent record label Rough Trade Records. Considered by some critics to be the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British indie scene of the 1980s,[1][2] the Smiths have had a major influence on subsequent alternative music, including the Britpop movement and bands such as The Stone Roses, Gene, Radiohead, Blur, Suede, Oasis, The Libertines, The Verve and Doves. At the time, the group was notable in particular for two things: Morrissey's unusual, witty, ambiguous, and sometimes controversial lyrics, and Marr's complex, dense music, which helped return guitar-based music to popularity after it had fallen somewhat out of favour in the UK charts.[3] The group released a total of four studio albums and several compilations in fewer than five years, as well as numerous non-LP singles. Although they had limited commercial success outside the UK while they were still together, and never releasing a single that charted higher than number 10 within their home country, The Smiths won a growing following both at home and overseas in the closing years of the twentieth century, and they remain cult and commercial favourites to this day. http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway