Birmingham Speedway

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

7 hours ago, marko said:

I feel sorry for the fans but the track is rubbish because it’s prepared that way and the promoter shouldn’t be allowed to have anything to do with the sport ever again.

I firmly believe that Birmingham’s track has been poor this year because every Monday it has been baked by the hot weather, last Monday the racing was better and the outside line worked a bit better, why ? Because it rained half way through the meeting, not a lot but enough to keep the moisture in the surface, last night it was baked again and racing was poor, nothing wrong with the shape either but it does have an adverse camber from half way out on corners 

[Petecc]

7 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

I firmly believe that Birmingham’s track has been poor this year because every Monday it has been baked by the hot weather, last Monday the racing was better and the outside line worked a bit better, why ? Because it rained half way through the meeting, not a lot but enough to keep the moisture in the surface, last night it was baked again and racing was poor, nothing wrong with the shape either but it does have an adverse camber from half way out on corners 

Perry barr track always came to life after it had rained. 

[kitten2502]

3 hours ago, Petecc said:

Perry barr track always came to life after it had rained. 

A pity most of the riders didn't follow suit!

[stevebrum]

11 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

How many would you estimate were there last night the stadium looks like it could hold three thousand easily given they have only been getting 500 odd per match it seems a stretch to think multi thousands turned up ?

I’ve no idea as could only see a small section of inside the stadium from the fence outside the car park. I’ve no idea what the capacity is but I’m someone said 1500.

8 hours ago, The H Man said:

Just to clarify about people being turned away last night, the stadium has a capacity that is set by the local authority and has to be adhered to by the stadium manager and the appointed safety officer.   

The club widely advertised advanced tickets which were available at 4 previous Brum meetings and online via Try Bookings and almost 600 were purchased ahead of last night.   Everyone with a pre-paid ticket was accommodated AFAIK.  

Unfortunately, at just before 7.25 pm the legislated stadium capacity was reached.     So the perimeter gates were closed, no one in the entry queue at that time was denied access to the stadium and the decision at all times was that of the safety officer and stadium manager, who have to ensure they legally follow protocol.    

I understand a small number of fans couldn't gain access to the stadium grounds and that of course is disappointing for them and I understand their frustrations/anger, but unfortunately the club couldn't overrule the decision.   The promotion have got many things wrong over the 4 years with which I have been involved with the club and I can't disagree with most of what has been said on this forum, but in this instance it was out of the club's control.   

It was a fantastic turn out to say goodbye to Perry Barr.   

 

 

 

I’m assuming then that numbers were being accurately monitored via bookings and sales to know that capacity was reached?

Friends inside said that there was room to move about. 
obviously it explains a little more why people were turned away.

I just hope ticket sales confirmed the capacity limit because it’s one last chance for Tolley and Co to make maximum amount of return which he absolutely deserves. 

[GiveusaB]

17 hours ago, marko said:

I feel sorry for the fans but the track is rubbish because it’s prepared that way and the promoter shouldn’t be allowed to have anything to do with the sport ever again.

Tolley is fine....he's just clueless but has money to burn....Rogers is the problem...clueless and doesn't put any money in...but he will expect you to stroke his over inflated ego and compliment him on all his hard work behind the scenes, whilst he plays Roy of the Rovers with the NDL set-up!

[ONTWOMINUTES]

5 minutes ago, GiveusaB said:

Tolley is fine....he's just clueless but has money to burn....Rogers is the problem...clueless and doesn't put any money in...but he will expect you to stroke his over inflated ego and compliment him on all his hard work behind the scenes, whilst he plays Roy of the Rovers with the NDL set-up!

Summed up very nicely and the downfall of the brummie dream.  Rogers has done nothing for Speedway other than don a foreign team manager hat at and given opportunity,  obviously they were scraping the barrel. 

[*JJ]

2 hours ago, GiveusaB said:

Tolley is fine....he's just clueless but has money to burn....Rogers is the problem...clueless and doesn't put any money in...but he will expect you to stroke his over inflated ego and compliment him on all his hard work behind the scenes, whilst he plays Roy of the Rovers with the NDL set-up!

Nonsense.

[martinmauger]

Shame Bimingham have closed at Perry Barr & I feel for Brummies fans who had their last 'farewell' Monday nite, but it could be worse.  At Hull we had no such 'farewell' as the track(s) closed without any warning - twice. At the Boulevard there were rumours the speedway promoters weren't on the greatest terms with landlords Hull FC (who were on the up at that time) but there was no indication that speedway would end at the venue.  Fans only discovered this news in the Hull Daily Mail - on the Thursday nite after the final meeting in October 1981. 

Similar at Craven Park, though there probably were clues, again the rugby landlords, this time Hull KR, were on the up, wanted to increase he size of the pitch with talk of enlarging the speedway track to Workington, Derwent Park size.  Sadly again, the speedway club closed & were evicted with no warning with 2 home fixtures outstanding, the previous treble-winning season of 2004 with a huge wage bill due to slamming teams home & away all season impacted hugely. This time finances were the main factor, as coincedentally occured at Workington in later years.  In fact I shared a few conversations with Comets team manager Tony Jackson about speedway requiring a 'wage cap' of some kind, but there would be the situation of telling your no.1 who maybe scored a full maximum, he is needed once again in heat 15, or perhaps again in a 'super heat'.

Anyhoo, hopefully speedway could return to Hull (came very, very close on a couple of occasions in recent years I'm not allowed to discuss), in Exeter, Newcastle, Wolves, etc & now Birmingham.  The sport in the UK can't affod to lose any more tracks: in 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18-ish teams, so 36 in total.  In 2025 there are approx 16 in the entire country, not including the non-league venues such as Duns & Lydd.  I still watch speedway on TV & live at Scunny when I can make it, but it isn't the same as having a team of your own, and as the song goes "you don't know wat you've got, til it's gone".  Sigh.

Still, things aren't all 'doom & gloom' as proved by Scunny, Redcar, Leicester & now Workington tracks can & do return, interestingly in more rural than urban settings.....

Edited 6 hours ago by martinmauger
hopefully making more sense. hopefully.

[ONTWOMINUTES]

7 hours ago, *JJ said:

Nonsense.

What's nonsense? Both parts of the post make total sense to everyone but you .

[MattB]

On 8/26/2025 at 5:01 PM, The H Man said:

Just to clarify about people being turned away last night, the stadium has a capacity that is set by the local authority and has to be adhered to by the stadium manager and the appointed safety officer.   

The club widely advertised advanced tickets which were available at 4 previous Brum meetings and online via Try Bookings and almost 600 were purchased ahead of last night.   Everyone with a pre-paid ticket was accommodated AFAIK.  

Unfortunately, at just before 7.25 pm the legislated stadium capacity was reached.     So the perimeter gates were closed, no one in the entry queue at that time was denied access to the stadium and the decision at all times was that of the safety officer and stadium manager, who have to ensure they legally follow protocol.    

I understand a small number of fans couldn't gain access to the stadium grounds and that of course is disappointing for them and I understand their frustrations/anger, but unfortunately the club couldn't overrule the decision.   The promotion have got many things wrong over the 4 years with which I have been involved with the club and I can't disagree with most of what has been said on this forum, but in this instance it was out of the club's control.   

It was a fantastic turn out to say goodbye to Perry Barr.   

 

 

 

Have to say having worked in the hospitality area at Perry Barr in the lalst two years that the attitude of certain senior members of the stadium staff on Monday left a rather bad taste in the mouth.  One or two of them made it pretty clear that they held Birmingham Speedway and it's staff and supporters with contempt

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

23 minutes ago, MattB said:

Have to say having worked in the hospitality area at Perry Barr in the lalst two years that the attitude of certain senior members of the stadium staff on Monday left a rather bad taste in the mouth.  One or two of them made it pretty clear that they held Birmingham Speedway and it's staff and supporters with contempt

Doesn’t suprise me, my mum used to work at monmore green and she told me one of the stadium managers hated speedway and it’s fans and would tell anyone who would listen to him but he left years before the speedway was kicked out, having read a lot of comments about greyhounds lately it sounds like their fans don’t care for our sport at all 

Edited 1 hour ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[OGT]

6 hours ago, martinmauger said:

Shame Bimingham have closed at Perry Barr & I feel for Brummies fans who had their last 'farewell' Monday nite, but it could be worse.  At Hull we had no such 'farewell' as the track(s) closed without any warning - twice. At the Boulevard there were rumours the speedway promoters weren't on the greatest terms with landlords Hull FC (who were on the up at that time) but there was no indication that speedway would end at the venue.  Fans only discovered this news in the Hull Daily Mail - on the Thursday nite after the final meeting in October 1981. 

Similar at Craven Park, though there probably were clues, again the rugby landlords, this time Hull KR, were on the up, wanted to increase he size of the pitch with talk of enlarging the speedway track to Workington, Derwent Park size.  Sadly again, the speedway club closed & were evicted with no warning with 2 home fixtures outstanding, the previous treble-winning season of 2004 with a huge wage bill due to slamming teams home & away all season impacted hugely. This time finances were the main factor, as coincedentally occured at Workington in later years.  In fact I shared a few conversations with Comets team manager Tony Jackson about speedway requiring a 'wage cap' of some kind, but there would be the situation of telling your no.1 who maybe scored a full maximum, he is needed once again in heat 15, or perhaps again in a 'super heat'.

Anyhoo, hopefully speedway could return to Hull (came very, very close on a couple of occasions in recent years I'm not allowed to discuss), in Exeter, Newcastle, Wolves, etc & now Birmingham.  The sport in the UK can't affod to lose any more tracks: in 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18-ish teams, so 36 in total.  In 2025 there are approx 16 in the entire country, not including the non-league venues such as Duns & Lydd.  I still watch speedway on TV & live at Scunny when I can make it, but it isn't the same as having a team of your own, and as the song goes "you don't know wat you've got, til it's gone".  Sigh.

Still, things aren't all 'doom & gloom' as proved by Scunny, Redcar, Leicester & now Workington tracks can & do return, interestingly in more rural than urban settings.....

I think there was a fairly similar situation at Birmingham in 1986 at The Wheels. The season ended and then they didn't open in 87, that was it. I can't remember any mention of them not coming back, though the sands of time may have clouded my memory somewhat. 

[YeOldPitGate]

36 minutes ago, OGT said:

I think there was a fairly similar situation at Birmingham in 1986 at The Wheels. The season ended and then they didn't open in 87, that was it. I can't remember any mention of them not coming back, though the sands of time may have clouded my memory somewhat. 

I vaguely remember that from memory some wealthy race horse owner had taken over the Brummies and was trying to turn things round but the Wheels complex at the time was pretty basic and although he invested a lot of money (sounds familiar) the crowds just wouldn't come. Corbett or something similar was his surname as I say like many promoters he was very successful away from the shale.

[OGT]

4 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

I vaguely remember that from memory some wealthy race horse owner had taken over the Brummies and was trying to turn things round but the Wheels complex at the time was pretty basic and although he invested a lot of money (sounds familiar) the crowds just wouldn't come. Corbett or something similar was his surname as I say like many promoters he was very successful away from the shale.

I always thought that Tom Evitts and Les Powell just gave up as they'd had enough of the stock cars leaving the track in a state. 

That name does ring a bell though.