Nostalgia

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

5 hours ago, bellevueace said:

This does seem to happen far more than back in the day when riders were loyal to their teams it was their club, and there was a real rivalry riders we,rnt seen stood in the opposite side of the pits chinwagging with rivals, there was far more altercations between them that created real atmospheres but they were not rivals one night and team mates the next. No wonder we dont see the characters of yesteryear.

I’m not sure it was different way back when it’s just the perception of it felt different but nowadays with social media we see a lot more of riders lives 

[orion]

Speedway decline was when Poland and Sweden overtook them in places Riders wanted to ride first . teams got weaker crowds dropped and the rest have been a slow death.Like many and like life itself some great memories that sadly you are  unlikely to experience again.

[GeneralMelchett]

1 hour ago, orion said:

Speedway decline was when Poland and Sweden overtook them in places Riders wanted to ride first . teams got weaker crowds dropped and the rest have been a slow death.Like many and like life itself some great memories that sadly you are  unlikely to experience again.

Oddly enough the fall of the Berlin Wall opened up eastern Europe like never before and the rest is hisotry!

You are right in so many ways in the late 90s and very early 90s the UK scene still was the top place to be now we are just the poor relations. 

[cowboy cookie returns?]

On 8/27/2025 at 5:04 PM, GeneralMelchett said:

Oddly enough the fall of the Berlin Wall opened up eastern Europe like never before and the rest is hisotry!

You are right in so many ways in the late 90s and very early 90s the UK scene still was the top place to be now we are just the poor relations. 

UK speedway was never ran professionally & the great chance of creating a future was blown when the Sky money was wasted. 
 

The fact that the poles have a product that attracts huge crowds, investment form business & more than one tv company broadcasting the league live is down to their hard work & running the sport professionally.

 

[Hawk127]

2 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

UK speedway was never ran professionally & the great chance of creating a future was blown when the Sky money was wasted. 
 

The fact that the poles have a product that attracts huge crowds, investment form business & more than one tv company broadcasting the league live is down to their hard work & running the sport professionally.

 

Sums up nicely want can be achieved with the right attitude.

In the UK they are basically clueless in terms of promoting, understanding what the punter wants to see, attracting the right age groups and pandering to every other European league. U K speedway needs to get a grip and recognise it is not on the same level as the likes of Poland and cut its cloth accordingly.

A shortage of riders is in part down to the way the sport is run and many a promising prospect has been lost because of the speedway hierarchy and its rules.

What will it take for the morons in charge to realise a radical change is needed. If you want just one reason why they have the wrong attitude, read the international thread and the topic on news from Poland where money and clout calls the tune.

The current custodians of the sport in this country should be held in contempt for the damage they have done by the crass management. 

Nothing will change, it will simply disappear into the annals of history. Well done BSPL and co.

[macky]

Speedway possibly needs go the same way as cricket. Look how the hundred has attracted huge crowds due to a different approach with the format with world class players performing every match. The cricket purists said it wouldn't work and have been proved wrong. Perhaps a similar thing should be tried and with a little thought and proper promotion you never know.

[Chris116]

On 8/25/2025 at 9:38 AM, Hawk127 said:

Bank holiday Monday meetings were always packed Rayleigh with speedway in the morning and Stock cars in the afternoon where Chick Woodroff was the promoter.

My parents used to take me to Rayleigh and we would enjoy both the Speedway and Stock Cars before rushing back to the station to travel back to Wimbledon for the evening meeting at Plough Lane. The last few years saw the Stock Cars replaced by PRI Bangers and Mini Rods or Anglia Rods, personally Stock Cars and Mini Rods would have been our favourite but the Stock Cars had been replaced by the PRI Bangers by the time the Mini Rods started.

Being a Stock Car, Speedway and Railway enthusiast I thought it was a great day and always looked forward to our Rayleigh visits.

[Glen]

I probably disagree with a lot that has been written on here - Seem to recall the best riders available riding in the U.K. when Sky were the paymasters. Tended  to think that the U.K. business model has been for promoters to run speedway not because it was seen as sport but simply as a way of making money. Consequently I think business tended to give speedway a wide berth over the years as the people involved were let’s say ‘in it for themselves’. We are now down to the enthusiast promoters who are in it for the sport and not the money. In some respects the arrival of Woffinden Lambert and Bewley is probably 20 years too late to have an impact in U.K. terms.

Poland has always been different go back to the 70’s and 80’s and they would get 40,000 at test matches - their league was football like in support and always has been but their rider quality wasn’t up to U.K. standard until the fall of Soviet Union and free enterprise took over. They were destined to become the power in speedway with that kind of support.

Sweden saw a renaissance when Tony Rickardson appeared and their club sides signed the best riders available. Sadly time has caught up and their strong tradition of developing riders has virtually gone. Clubs went bust and crowds disappeared. 
Denmark could be similar - when Ole Olsen became world champion they expanded their league and produced some of the finest talent. They are still a strong nation but like Sweden are finding it difficult to attract youngsters to the sport - golf is the new favourite.

I am now 2 hours drive away to the nearest track when 10 years ago there were at least 5 within an hour. Times change it’s a sad situation now. 

 

 

[orion]

On 8/28/2025 at 8:36 PM, Hawk127 said:

Sums up nicely want can be achieved with the right attitude.

In the UK they are basically clueless in terms of promoting, understanding what the punter wants to see, attracting the right age groups and pandering to every other European league. U K speedway needs to get a grip and recognise it is not on the same level as the likes of Poland and cut its cloth accordingly.

A shortage of riders is in part down to the way the sport is run and many a promising prospect has been lost because of the speedway hierarchy and its rules.

What will it take for the morons in charge to realise a radical change is needed. If you want just one reason why they have the wrong attitude, read the international thread and the topic on news from Poland where money and clout calls the tune.

The current custodians of the sport in this country should be held in contempt for the damage they have done by the crass management. 

Nothing will change, it will simply disappear into the annals of history. Well done BSPL and co.

Not sure what the people in charge at the moment can do to be honest the horse has long bolted  ...what do you expect them to do ?  Most Speedway teams rent off there landlords and those staduims are being sold off one by for Houses. again not sure they can do about that..Why Promsing  riders have been lost to the sport because of the rules ? Can give us some examples ?  

[IainB]

On 8/29/2025 at 9:05 AM, macky said:

Speedway possibly needs go the same way as cricket. Look how the hundred has attracted huge crowds due to a different approach with the format with world class players performing every match. The cricket purists said it wouldn't work and have been proved wrong. Perhaps a similar thing should be tried and with a little thought and proper promotion you never know.

I've been suggesting that Speedway go the way of Cricket for the last few years, but sadly I don't think they're even comparable anymore in terms of media contracts. I heard the other day that The Hundred is run by the same company that stages the IPL Cricket, so a multi-national company a bit like WBD and not some rag tag collection of ex scrap metal dealers.

According to reports the TV contact is worth £220m a year... as opposed to the £1m per year for Speedway!! The only way British Speedway will attract the world class performers every match is to pitch it to the TV companies asking for money that would blow Polish Speedway out of the water, probably something like a £50m-£100m a year contract... unfortunately  it's likely that any such proposal would be laughed out of the building starting from such a low base.

[Sir Sidney]

37 minutes ago, IainB said:

I've been suggesting that Speedway go the way of Cricket for the last few years, but sadly I don't think they're even comparable anymore in terms of media contracts. I heard the other day that The Hundred is run by the same company that stages the IPL Cricket, so a multi-national company a bit like WBD and not some rag tag collection of ex scrap metal dealers.

According to reports the TV contact is worth £220m a year... as opposed to the £1m per year for Speedway!! The only way British Speedway will attract the world class performers every match is to pitch it to the TV companies asking for money that would blow Polish Speedway out of the water, probably something like a £50m-£100m a year contract... unfortunately  it's likely that any such proposal would be laughed out of the building starting from such a low base.

What do you think speedway should do 'to go the way of cricket'? In some ways, speedway is already the motorsport equivalent of short form cricket, in that it is short bursts of activity with space for additional activity in-between.  

 

It's widely thought that The Hundred will be converted to a more usual Twenty 20 tournament once more of the franchises are bought by IPL owners. 

 

I'm in Poland at the moment,  and went to a play off match at Leszno yesterday. 

The age profile of the crowd was significantly different to the UK, with much more crowd chanting, scarf waving etc. But it was all about the speedway - no 'novelty ' entertainment between races etc

Edited 6 hours ago by Sir Sidney

[IainB]

14 minutes ago, Sir Sidney said:

What do you think speedway should do 'to go the way of cricket'? In some ways, speedway is already the motorsport equivalent of short form cricket, in that it is short bursts of activity with space for additional activity in-between.  

For me it needs a drastic race day shake up, much like The 100 has, it still mostly needs to be 4 riders over 4 laps on bikes with no brakes... but maybe 250cc? or even a combination of 500cc & 250cc. 15 heats over the course of nearly 2 hours just doesn't cut it in 2025 except for the few of us that still attend, there needs to be a mixture of race types, like you get if you go to a cycling meet, sprints, longer races... the guy on the silly bike thing 😂. What that would look like in Speedway? Handicap racing, devil take the hindmost, 1 lap dashes etc. all incorporated in a match generally made up of 4 riders, 4 laps, it needs variety and the riders need to be in full view of the public at all times, skulking back to the pits head down doesn't tend to work when you're in the entertainment business. 1 league, however many riders it takes in a team to make it viable, all committed to UK racing on race nights that suit the club/crowds. There's so much that could be done but of course it never will with the current crop in charge.

[SPEEDY69]

On 8/25/2025 at 8:50 AM, YeOldPitGate said:

Brilliant times I can remember heading down to Foxhole one bank hol mon afternoon early nineties for the derby was over five thousand their.

My memory of those meetings was on the way back from the morning meeting at Lynn being passed by rider cars/vans on the A134/1088 doing a little over the speed limit!

[SJA]

Looking at learning from the past mistakes I always find Lee Coleman's column in the Speedway Star thought provoking.

He has lots of ideas, some of them would require a sustained long period of investment, which UK speedway is not in a position to deliver at the moment but other are almost cost free. If you implemented the cheaper ones then if crowds increased which attracted greater sponsorship then maybe the sport would be in a better position to commit to a long term investment strategy. 

We need someone with vision to help promote the sport and he would appear to make more sense that many of the so called experts. 

[Glen]

 

The hundred is only there for the summer holidays before and after cricket lapses to its county tradition in front of the few committed followers.

cricket was a huge summer sport which in its long form no longer appeals to today’s young.

speedway has had to fight for its share of entertainment with people no longer rocking up week in week out. Times change and without blaming anyone it’s still here in a smaller way.

 

[SPEEDY69]

38 minutes ago, Glen said:

 

The hundred is only there for the summer holidays before and after cricket lapses to its county tradition in front of the few committed followers.

cricket was a huge summer sport which in its long form no longer appeals to today’s young.

speedway has had to fight for its share of entertainment with people no longer rocking up week in week out. Times change and without blaming anyone it’s still here in a smaller way.

 

It's not necessarily that it no longer appeals - I lost touch with it as soon as it disappeared from BBC as it was something to watch in the school holidays and the sunday league game.  Now I couldn't tell you who any of the players are or where to watch it and all this choice for TV I think has played a part in its downfall.