That was an amazing loss.

[singy13]

Recently read a book about speedway - well to be more accurate it was about the 'covid 19' wrecked season.

It's a great book called 'NO BREAKS' - A LOST SEASON IN BRITISH SPEEDWAY. 

The many stories about speedway's struggle in 2020 are captivating to say the least.

However one story reflecting on a rider's financial woes had me shocked to say the least. The author seems to be friend of a rider, I wont say name but initials are NK - no not NKI.

and this rider reckons his covid19 hit income was a disaster. I quote the author. "He tells me he reckons his income is down by a considerable amount, about £100,000 less than he'd have expected had the season gone normally". 

I mean blimey if he's down by £100,000 what on earth was his usual earnings? Not a GP regular either.

So reading that I have now more than ever an inbuilt sympathy for the promoters of this steadily declining sport.

Buy this book most will enjoy it.

[SJA]

If the NK happens to be Danish then he would ride in Poland, Denmark and both leagues in the UK. So £100k could be £40k DK, £35K Prem and £25k Champ as only the Polish league ran so actually its not as much as you would think. He is also not afraid to have the odd EU based open meeting so say £2k per one of those he missed out on.

[mikebv]

Riders riding in several leagues can easily outlay well over £30k a season...

They need some decent money to make sure it justifies that level of outlay...

Hellstrom-Bangs, a couple of years ago, said he spent well over £100k, on his equipment and tuning,  in an interview in the Speedway Star, and said that is what is needed to give himself the best chance of success, particularly in Poland... 

 

[IainB]

1 hour ago, SJA said:

If the NK happens to be Danish then he would ride in Poland, Denmark and both leagues in the UK. So £100k could be £40k DK, £35K Prem and £25k Champ as only the Polish league ran so actually its not as much as you would think. He is also not afraid to have the odd EU based open meeting so say £2k per one of those he missed out on.

Wasn't that NK doing deliveries for Tesco during Covid... at least he had a company vehicle 🚚

[singy13]

1 hour ago, IainB said:

Wasn't that NK doing deliveries for Tesco during Covid... at least he had a company vehicle 🚚

Yes he certainly was.

[singy13]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

Riders riding in several leagues can easily outlay well over £30k a season...

They need some decent money to make sure it justifies that level of outlay...

Hellstrom-Bangs, a couple of years ago, said he spent well over £100k, on his equipment and tuning,  in an interview in the Speedway Star, and said that is what is needed to give himself the best chance of success, particularly in Poland... 

 

But given the low crowds ( ok Poland the exception) how on earth can promoters hand out so much to satisfy the riders outlays? It just doesn't add up at all. I mean NK obviously earned much more than £100,000 as a norm........what about the other 6 team members earnings too.

[SJA]

13 hours ago, singy13 said:

But given the low crowds ( ok Poland the exception) how on earth can promoters hand out so much to satisfy the riders outlays? It just doesn't add up at all. I mean NK obviously earned much more than £100,000 as a norm........what about the other 6 team members earnings too.

Teams not team, 2 British and a Danish team. 

[singy13]

35 minutes ago, SJA said:

Teams not team, 2 British and a Danish team. 

Ok............each team have 7 riders to pay. And NK says he lost £100,000 to Covid19 cutbacks.....Note he lost £100,000. He doesn't say how much he actually earned though, which I presume was much more than his loss? 

 

[Fromafar]

On 5/19/2025 at 1:41 PM, singy13 said:

Recently read a book about speedway - well to be more accurate it was about the 'covid 19' wrecked season.

It's a great book called 'NO BREAKS' - A LOST SEASON IN BRITISH SPEEDWAY. 

The many stories about speedway's struggle in 2020 are captivating to say the least.

However one story reflecting on a rider's financial woes had me shocked to say the least. The author seems to be friend of a rider, I wont say name but initials are NK - no not NKI.

and this rider reckons his covid19 hit income was a disaster. I quote the author. "He tells me he reckons his income is down by a considerable amount, about £100,000 less than he'd have expected had the season gone normally". 

I mean blimey if he's down by £100,000 what on earth was his usual earnings? Not a GP regular either.

So reading that I have now more than ever an inbuilt sympathy for the promoters of this steadily declining sport.

Buy this book most will enjoy it.

GB Promoters have created their own downfall by letting the riders dictate unrealistic demands in declining sport in UK.

[E I Addio]

56 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

GB Promoters have created their own downfall by letting the riders dictate unrealistic demands in declining sport in UK.

It’s a vicious cycle really. Promoters want a winning team, at least at home meetings otherwise the attendances drop, so top riders on good equipment will usually put numbers on the gate but that costs money so it’s a difficult balance .   Round about 2015/6 the late Jon Cook told me it was costing around £20k to run a speedway meeting. I forget what the gate money from spectators was but it was well short of £20k so apart from any TV money the balance had to come largely from   sponsors and again sponsors like to be associated with winning teams so good riders  can almost command their own pay  if    they are. successful.  When Bomber was riding for Coventry he told me he never paid for anything and the sponsors paid for it all but I think he was the exception rather than the rule.
 I don’t pretend to know the details of how all this works but speedway has not been awash with money for years. In Len Silvers book he describes what it was like in the’60’s and 70’s for promoters and how most lived pretty much hand to mouth, even in those days. According to Silver, he couldn’t afford to pay the Hackney riders top dollar but he gave them a longer season to make their money up. It probably works differently from club to club.

Not many people retire from speedway as rich men, either promoters or riders. Having said that, I don’t think the BSPA have much idea, at least in recent years.

[Fromafar]

4 hours ago, E I Addio said:

It’s a vicious cycle really. Promoters want a winning team, at least at home meetings otherwise the attendances drop, so top riders on good equipment will usually put numbers on the gate but that costs money so it’s a difficult balance .   Round about 2015/6 the late Jon Cook told me it was costing around £20k to run a speedway meeting. I forget what the gate money from spectators was but it was well short of £20k so apart from any TV money the balance had to come largely from   sponsors and again sponsors like to be associated with winning teams so good riders  can almost command their own pay  if    they are. successful.  When Bomber was riding for Coventry he told me he never paid for anything and the sponsors paid for it all but I think he was the exception rather than the rule.
 I don’t pretend to know the details of how all this works but speedway has not been awash with money for years. In Len Silvers book he describes what it was like in the’60’s and 70’s for promoters and how most lived pretty much hand to mouth, even in those days. According to Silver, he couldn’t afford to pay the Hackney riders top dollar but he gave them a longer season to make their money up. It probably works differently from club to club.

Not many people retire from speedway as rich men, either promoters or riders. Having said that, I don’t think the BSPA have much idea, at least in recent years.

Expenditures more than Income only ends one way though.Riders demands and moaning about can’t make living out the sport(wanting years earnings for5/6 months riding) need to be addressed.While don’t know about Premiership attendances the Championship crowd levels in the North are certainly nothing to write home about.

[singy13]

46 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Expenditures more than Income only ends one way though.Riders demands and moaning about can’t make living out the sport(wanting years earnings for5/6 months riding) need to be addressed.While don’t know about Premiership attendances the Championship crowd levels in the North are certainly nothing to write home about.

And having suffered twice with my team from 'poor attendance' closures - it gets a bit alarming to read programme notes negatively, and rather scary in truth, saying "sponsors saved closure last year"......Hopefully a tactic to make fans rally round. 

[Fromafar]

1 hour ago, singy13 said:

And having suffered twice with my team from 'poor attendance' closures - it gets a bit alarming to read programme notes negatively, and rather scary in truth, saying "sponsors saved closure last year"......Hopefully a tactic to make fans rally round. 

Sponsors and Fans Supporters funding is keeping a few Clubs afloat nowadays.

[FAST GATER]

IOM the  gate money is no where near enough to keep a s/way team afloat ,sponsors have for  a long time  been a significant and vital source of income  to keep the sport alive  .I would imagine that the costs of such riders as Jason Doyle and  Emil Sayfutdinov are mainly underwitten by sponsors not the club  .

My experience( 30yrs ago admittedly ) of dealing with riders with regard to  the money side of s/way was  extemely challenging to say the least  I personally have a lot of sympathy for  any promoter trying to run a team  in this day and age  .

Edited Wednesday at 10:01 AM by FAST GATER

[The Dog]

Have been saying for years that riders demands are a huge contribution in closing clubs down. Less demands mean promotors can be viable easier and any sponsorship money can go towards building a club and maintenance, but it never seems to work like that. 

[singy13]

32 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Have been saying for years that riders demands are a huge contribution in closing clubs down. Less demands mean promotors can be viable easier and any sponsorship money can go towards building a club and maintenance, but it never seems to work like that. 

So it's seemingly a case of riders biting the hand that feeds them? If too many clubs close down the riders will have nowhere to practice an apparent senseless greed?

[Wild Man Vic]

I was speaking to one top Championship level rider that was doubling up about 9 or 10 years ago and I remember him saying in a busy season the previous year he had earned just under £120k. But, when his machinery, tuning, mechanic costs etc were all taken into account they had cost him £109k.

So, basically he had risked his life racing speedway all over the country for around 7 months to be left with £11k. When you see it like that nothing makes sense, which is what I said to him. With a wry smile his reply was; "Yeah, you are right, but at this stage in my life it's better than having a real job!"

I think that sums up how costly it is and why they do it. Although, I bet the amount of money that ends up with engine tuners over a year is quite eye watering!

[enotian]

Inevitable when there's no pathway in which you can progress sustainably. If you're in a Championship team you've got to invest as if you are riding in the Premiership because you're mostly up against riders who are riding in the Premiership and so on. 

[singy13]

1 hour ago, Wild Man Vic said:

I was speaking to one top Championship level rider that was doubling up about 9 or 10 years ago and I remember him saying in a busy season the previous year he had earned just under £120k. But, when his machinery, tuning, mechanic costs etc were all taken into account they had cost him £109k.

So, basically he had risked his life racing speedway all over the country for around 7 months to be left with £11k. When you see it like that nothing makes sense, which is what I said to him. With a wry smile his reply was; "Yeah, you are right, but at this stage in my life it's better than having a real job!"

I think that sums up how costly it is and why they do it. Although, I bet the amount of money that ends up with engine tuners over a year is quite eye watering!

Your last sentence could have hit the nail on the head - engine tuners are perhaps the big winners in the speedway dig for gold stakes.

Mind I must repeat in the original post on this subject the book states NK as losing £100,000 through covid19 restrictions. But so yes that was his loss. So what were his actual full earnings for that period? I guess, just a guess, it must have been much much more? Still a decent wage for sure.

[eric i]

Standardise engines and put rev limiters on, it wouldn't be popular with the established riders but it would equalise equipment, bring down costs and make it far easier for riders to enter the sport.