00:00:00:02 - 00:00:15:22 Speaker 1 This is Dave Clifton conducted conducting an interview for Speedway at Wimbledon Stadium Oral History Project on the 22nd of April 2026. Good afternoon. Just to start, can you tell me your name. 00:00:16:00 - 00:00:17:07 Speaker 2 ISteve Brine 00:00:17:08 - 00:00:18:21 Speaker 1 And where were you born? 00:00:18:22 - 00:00:21:10 Speaker 2 I was born in Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire. 00:00:21:11 - 00:00:23:03 Speaker 1 And what year were you born. 00:00:23:04 - 00:00:24:15 Speaker 2 In 1951. 00:00:24:16 - 00:00:27:11 Speaker 1 And what did your parents do for a living? 00:00:27:13 - 00:00:34:05 Speaker 2 My father was a professional speedway rider and my mum was a full time housewife. 00:00:34:07 - 00:00:40:04 Speaker 1 So can we talk to you about the early days of your involvement with Speedway? What years did you go to Wimbledon Speedway? 00:00:40:05 - 00:01:03:01 Speaker 2 So? So all through the 50s, obviously as a young baby, I only went to a very few meetings and I can't remember those. But yeah, from the sort of mid 50s onwards went with my dad to Wimbledon and most of the other tracks around the country. 00:01:03:03 - 00:01:17:02 Speaker 2 Yeah, it was, it was the days of bigger crowds, a lot of big time, big name riders and very exciting for someone of, you know, eight, nine, ten years old. 00:01:17:04 - 00:01:22:09 Speaker 1 So you're probably young. Can you remember your first visit to Wimbledon Speedway? 00:01:22:11 - 00:01:58:16 Speaker 2 That's a good question. It's probably when I was about 7 or 8. I sit and do my homework in the in the main stand. Obviously with the meeting starting, there was a lot going on. So distractions were many and consequently only got two O-levels. That's probably the reason. But now to to see the beginnings of a meeting, preparing the track, the riders coming out, walking the track to see what it was like was sort of wondrous, really, in those days. 00:01:58:17 - 00:02:07:23 Speaker 2 The colors. And as the lights went, the daylight went down. The lights came on. Quite a magical atmosphere. 00:02:08:00 - 00:02:15:02 Speaker 1 Okay. And what were your early impressions of speedway? The sights, the sounds, the smells or colors. 00:02:15:04 - 00:02:50:13 Speaker 2 The first thing is the smell. The methanol, the oil and the shale mixed together, a addictive cocktail. I think anyone that goes to speedway will tell you that you never lose that. And I suppose the sound as they're starting their bikes, warming them up, and that moment when blaze away rattles out over the tannoy is the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. 00:02:50:18 - 00:02:58:15 Speaker 2 And that's where the fans start to really move forward and the excitement starts. 00:02:58:17 - 00:03:20:01 Speaker 1 Okay, we want to talk about Wimbledon, the stadium. Can you describe the stadium? Oh, sorry. Sorry. Obviously your father was a speedway rider, so you had a big family involvement. But can you explain your family involvement, your how involved your mother was as well? 00:03:20:03 - 00:03:44:15 Speaker 2 Well, my mother probably was the one that would sit there and worry that it was going to come out unscathed, supporting him. But also some of the younger riders were their wives. There was a very much a family atmosphere, so the wives would all be together as far as. 00:03:44:17 - 00:04:25:01 Speaker 2 The rest of the family is concerned. My uncle oldest son rode up in Liverpool. Percy Bryan, brother in law rode for Wigan, Dick Geary, then my the youngest brother of all. He was a mechanic for my dad. He also designed and built speedway frames, leaving my dad to be the the rider. Very, very talented. I would say that, but up until he had a very, very bad accident in 1952. 00:04:25:03 - 00:04:43:11 Speaker 2 Nearly losing his life, and his leg had 17 fractures between his ankle and his shin. But nine months later, road again and a 17 year career with Wimbledon. 00:04:43:13 - 00:04:50:10 Speaker 1 How did the whole family come to be involved in Speedway? Was it one person who dragged them in or had the grandparents been involved? 00:04:50:12 - 00:05:20:15 Speaker 2 No. I think it was a case that in Hertfordshire there was a number of grass track venues, small food, Barnet and my dad started riding in the early 30s successfully. So it was really, I suppose, a sport that that was accessible to people in those days. 00:05:20:17 - 00:05:44:11 Speaker 2 And then carried on. He rode grasstrack in the army and then when he came out of the army, was originally signed to to Wembley. But in 1946 they reorganized and he was allocated to Wimbledon, where he stayed until 1962 when he retired. 00:05:44:13 - 00:05:53:03 Speaker 1 Okay, if we talk about the experience of Wimbledon Stadium, can you describe the stadium? 00:05:53:05 - 00:06:14:01 Speaker 2 Yeah, it's quite a place. The huge car park with the workshops at the back. But then we went into the stadium. The main stand and glass from floor to ceiling that used to vibrate during the meeting. 00:06:14:03 - 00:06:44:02 Speaker 2 And the crowds used to have very good crowds in those days. But as a lot of sports, the peaks and troughs, they went through some doldrums. But generally it was, you know, you'd go into the pits and the atmosphere there, the smells and the sounds. But the people were all, you know, proper fans, I would say, and the riders very accessible. 00:06:44:07 - 00:07:20:09 Speaker 2 So you'd finish up, I wouldn't finish up in the bar. I'd be there with my dad. But the riders used to go into the bar after the meetings and the fans would be there chatting to them, getting autographs. So a very accessible sport. Probably a lot different nowadays. But you know, the stadium I think was was built for that as well as the Greyhounds, obviously it was I suppose designed for the comfort, the Greyhound supporters, but they were very well in tandem during those times. 00:07:20:11 - 00:07:24:21 Speaker 1 Okay. Was there a particular place you liked to watch from? 00:07:24:23 - 00:07:47:16 Speaker 2 Yeah. In the in the main stand, the box, there were boxes. So you were quite an elevated level enough for them to put all my exercise books out. But sort of in my younger days that been able to go down and run around the terraces and then go into the, into the pits at the end of the meeting. 00:07:47:21 - 00:08:10:20 Speaker 2 So you weren't in the way to be able to have access to pretty much all areas at the time, I was probably the the old, the only sort of eldest child of the riders. There were a couple more had younger than me. But but yeah, it's a very privileged position, I would say. 00:08:10:22 - 00:08:18:18 Speaker 1 Right. And I suppose you didn't pay or was going to ask about how affordable entry was, but it wouldn't have been a problem for you. 00:08:18:21 - 00:08:46:20 Speaker 2 Well, there's a picture I've got, which was, I think one and six for the main stand, which was saying old money about £0.07, I suppose, or new money, should I say. I think it was, it was, it was an affordable sport, a great spectator sport. And I don't think that's changed or think speedway is still a great spectator sport. 00:08:46:22 - 00:09:16:20 Speaker 2 Biased, I'd say it's probably unparalleled. You know, football was a lot of money to go in. You get 90 minutes or 50 minutes depending on how long the ball's in play. But speedway, it's almost like you're involved right from the start and where you've got these guys speeding around with very, very fine margins. The excitement is, you know, you can almost taste it. 00:09:16:22 - 00:09:19:08 Speaker 1 And was it busy? 00:09:19:10 - 00:09:48:02 Speaker 2 Yeah, certainly in the early 50s Wembley would get crowds of 80 90,000. They'd run busses from local areas and people would travel down from Hertfordshire down to Wimbledon. So I can't remember what the sort of capacity at Wimbledon would be. But you've got pictures with all sides of the, the ground covered, sort of, especially around the pits would be packed. 00:09:48:04 - 00:10:05:16 Speaker 2 So you're probably talking about, you know, 5 to 10,000 people at the least, and especially when the bigger teams came, came to town, Bellevue and the later days, Southampton's people like that always attracted big crowds. 00:10:05:18 - 00:10:11:07 Speaker 1 Okay. Can you tell us, was there any merchandise or programs available in the stadium? 00:10:11:09 - 00:10:45:15 Speaker 2 Yeah, you'd have to have people selling pictures, rosettes. That was a great thing. People would would buy the programs, program holders. So you'd have rigid cards, people in their programs to to fill them in. But a lot of small badges, a lot of things like that, programs from other meetings. So you'd probably only have sort of maybe 1 or 2 vendors at each ground or stadium. 00:10:45:15 - 00:10:51:07 Speaker 2 But yeah, you could certainly buy everything you needed really. 00:10:51:09 - 00:10:53:23 Speaker 1 And what was the food and drink available? 00:10:54:00 - 00:11:17:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. You you still get the sort of normal fare, a dodgy hotdog or something a little bit better in the, in the main stand you could have a drink. The bars were open for a while afterwards, and the local pubs would, would attract some of the riders after the meeting so they could have a maybe a quiet a drink on their own. 00:11:17:14 - 00:11:42:09 Speaker 2 But you know, which differs greatly from from these days. The riders would ever have a drink, even have a inner just before the meeting to calm the nerves and but yeah, nowadays it's the fitness levels are such that yeah, I wouldn't test my dad over 100m against some of the riders now. 00:11:42:11 - 00:11:50:08 Speaker 1 So you said you said it was a longer night when a 90 minute football game can can you describe it to people? Race night. How he can folded. 00:11:50:10 - 00:12:09:21 Speaker 2 Well, I suppose similar to today, the you know, the gates would open maybe around 536, so people would start arriving. You know, the same issues about getting to and from the stadium, the car park starting to fill. 00:12:09:23 - 00:12:50:06 Speaker 2 But then people would come in and try and get their favorite spot by the pits so they could see the riders, and get absorbed in the atmosphere. The meetings normally started around 730, probably 15, sometimes a bit longer, higher number of seats in a in a league match, and then you'd have maybe 7 or 8 different match races after the main event for for various sponsored trophies. 00:12:50:08 - 00:13:00:20 Speaker 2 So probably finishing 930, 10:00. So great value was a save from, from a spectator point of view. 00:13:00:22 - 00:13:06:20 Speaker 1 And from your father was a racer so would eat an Apple League. Would he have a lot of preparation to do? 00:13:06:22 - 00:13:13:14 Speaker 2 Yeah, he would get there probably around 5:00. 00:13:13:16 - 00:13:24:02 Speaker 2 They'd go and get changed ready and then then go to get the bike ready to warm up. 00:13:24:04 - 00:13:58:17 Speaker 2 And I suppose at that point, you know, I wouldn't have been specifically involved in that because then it's his time. And the riders, a lot of riders just wanted to have a quiet time. Others would be chatting to each other, whether it be a rival or a teammate. So much more camaraderie. You know, comparing notes on the track, what set up on the bike, I would have, so really the prep then was was there time? 00:13:58:19 - 00:14:09:07 Speaker 1 Okay. And I wanted to talk about the experience of being a fan of being a rider, son. Yeah. Can you tell us about any particular riders or teams that you followed? 00:14:09:09 - 00:14:47:19 Speaker 2 Well, Wimbledon was was the team Bellevue was the, the archenemy. And you know, trips to to Manchester were quite exciting because it was if they'd come to Wimbledon or we'd go to to Bellevue, it was always the advantage to the, to the home side. But the, the riders within those teams, you had huge names, running Barry Briggs, Bob Andrews, Ron Howard at Wimbledon were fantastic people. 00:14:47:20 - 00:15:06:07 Speaker 2 Then you'd come up against the Peter Craven's, who was an amazing style world champion. So that that made it something special that you'd know you'd be coming up against sort of top riders over funding. Who again, another world champion. 00:15:06:09 - 00:15:12:12 Speaker 1 So, so the you said the advantage was to the home side. Why was that that crowd or the. 00:15:12:14 - 00:15:35:12 Speaker 2 I think the track the track suited the home riders. You know, there were some other tracks that, you know, that may favor, you know, a particular rider, how how close the circuit was, how tight the corners were, how the track was laid out, how much water was on it. A lot of a lot of things how packed the corners were. 00:15:35:14 - 00:16:05:04 Speaker 2 So you'll see now, if you watch it on television, they go around with a, the meter to, to test the moisture and, and the depth of shale on the, on the track. And yeah, probably the track was then prepared to favor the home team. Wouldn't say all the time, but it would be watered extra water. They want on it a little bit deeper in one corner. 00:16:05:06 - 00:16:15:14 Speaker 1 Okay. So what was a general demographic of fans? The gender, ethnicity, age? Were the family there? 00:16:15:15 - 00:16:24:13 Speaker 2 Oh, it was it was it was a huge family sport. 00:16:24:15 - 00:16:53:02 Speaker 2 And it's hard sort of looking back to say, you know, were they younger? It was a huge cross-section of people, you know, people that have been going since the 40s and people new to the sport. But definitely a family or not male or, and said so much a lot of the female fans had their favorite riders and would congregate around the pits to see them. 00:16:53:04 - 00:17:01:24 Speaker 2 So yeah, that's what I say. It's it was a was and still is, I think a huge sort of family sport. 00:17:02:01 - 00:17:13:13 Speaker 1 Okay. And you mentioned a away matches. To what extent did foreign riders and away teams bring their own fans to Wimbledon? 00:17:13:14 - 00:17:49:11 Speaker 2 You'd have a nucleus of of traveling fans. Foreign riders obviously sparked a lot more interest. There weren't as many in the early days, sort of late 50s, a change of how many foreign riders could be in each side. But yeah, they'd conjure up a bit of mysticism. I suppose that, you know, this, this Swede that's turned up and turns out to be a world beater? 00:17:49:13 - 00:18:26:14 Speaker 2 Yeah. And you'd have the favorites and obviously the villains of the piece. The Australian riders. Always tougher. A little bit of much more. Sort of. I would say much more. Probably the same amount of contact, which could finish up with a rider in the fence, sometimes not accidentally, but, yeah, very competitive. But again, each foreign rider bought his own character to to the sport. 00:18:26:16 - 00:18:39:02 Speaker 2 Very dedicated the the Scandinavians, the poles. Very tough. Not saying the Brits weren't, but they bought an extra edge. 00:18:39:04 - 00:18:47:01 Speaker 1 Okay. And were there any rivalries with other teams, specifically rivalries between Wimbledon and. 00:18:47:02 - 00:19:20:14 Speaker 2 Yeah, I suppose in the early days that the London teams West Ham, New Cross, Wembley, Wembley and Wimbledon was a big sort of local derby. Then you go to, to Bellevue in their ascendancy to to be in one of the top sides. As I say, it conjured up a lot of a lot more atmosphere. But then you had teams, you know, coming up from the South Pool, Exeter, who'd have top riders in the side. 00:19:20:14 - 00:19:35:00 Speaker 2 So there was that rivalry. But after you could probably count in the fingers of one hand at times where the rivalry slipped into something a bit more spicy. 00:19:35:02 - 00:19:43:19 Speaker 1 Okay. And how important was Wimbledon Speedway in your social life? 00:19:43:21 - 00:20:14:20 Speaker 2 I suppose all absorbing, really. If I wasn't going to a meeting, I'd be dropped off at my nans in Rains Park. But most of the time. Excuse me. I'd be going with my mum and dad. So coming to Oxford. Swindon? Big adventure. Know that if you went to Manchester, you'd stop at the Blue Bore on the M1 for a midnight feast, that sort of thing. 00:20:14:21 - 00:20:38:17 Speaker 2 There would be the the riders were traveling convoy a lot of the time. You need 2 or 3 cars going up to the same venue. So it was it was an excitement for me personally. But yeah, I think, you know, the Speedway fanatic, it is all absorbing. 00:20:38:19 - 00:20:49:09 Speaker 1 Okay. Can you can you tell us about any of the relationships you had with other people in the Speedway community? Were the pubs, clubs wider community, but you were involved. 00:20:49:09 - 00:21:17:01 Speaker 2 In, the only, only relationship and I think we were about four was Freddie Williams, who rode for Wembley. His daughter and I were, were great friends and we used to run around in Wembley Stadium, really enjoying ourselves. Other, other. My cousin, for example, used to go. 00:21:17:03 - 00:21:38:23 Speaker 2 And you meet other riders, children maybe at the the different meetings and strike up a friendship. Not having lasted all this this time, but, Yeah, you'd have that. The passing relationships. It was it was all really good fun. 00:21:39:00 - 00:21:42:21 Speaker 1 Okay. Thank you. 00:21:42:23 - 00:21:50:03 Speaker 1 And where are you found? Clubs or family events? 00:21:50:05 - 00:22:05:20 Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. The supporters club dances were legendary. All the riders would attend. The lady, Mrs. Batson, was. It's a bit of a cliche, but you dub her the super fan. 00:22:05:22 - 00:22:45:09 Speaker 2 She was probably as much of Wimbledon as the track was. Knew all the riders birthdays, their children, and yeah, grouped groups of fans that would travel. The riders would acknowledge them. So the supporters clubs, they would have their meetings and again, I think time you know, it wasn't there wasn't as much distraction as, you know, there is now internet what have you that they used to meet up and make it a very much a social event. 00:22:45:11 - 00:22:50:22 Speaker 1 Okay. And can you tell us, besides your father, who were your speedway heroes? 00:22:50:23 - 00:23:35:12 Speaker 2 Oh, God. Well, Ronnie Moore style, unbelievable. Rider one I keep in touch with still Bobby Andrews. So Maidment. Great personality. His trick. He used to roll me up in a carpet along the bar and stand me in the corner. I remember that quite, quite vividly. And of course, Barry Briggs amazing character. Yeah, he w Davy Sprocket after my cowboy hero and was would always. 00:23:35:12 - 00:23:56:05 Speaker 2 I've got about 50 autographs in my autograph book. He was never short of of doing that. But yeah, more like uncles. But then in sort of latter days you've got the bikes of Peter Craven who sadly passed away. 00:23:56:07 - 00:24:10:18 Speaker 2 That they conjured up an interest and a a sort of a mysticism around them. How, how fantastic ride as they were, but mainly Wimbledon riders. I would say that. 00:24:10:20 - 00:24:14:03 Speaker 1 Okay. And how old were you when you were being rolled up in a carpet? 00:24:14:06 - 00:24:35:11 Speaker 2 I was probably about 5 or 6, which has contributed to my claustrophobia, and I thought it was great. Hoot. They had a rug along the front of the bar that it made me lay down and roll me up, but it's one of those things, maybe what I am today. 00:24:35:13 - 00:24:46:13 Speaker 1 And do you have a memory of a particular night or nights that were particularly memorable at Wimbledon? 00:24:46:15 - 00:25:16:13 Speaker 2 I suppose if I can't, I can't put it specifically, but sort of indices and the children would be taken down onto the track, setting the track to and driven around. Given an Easter egg, there'd be a firework display. Those those are sort of memorable from a personal perspective, but just the spectacle of it, you know, you see odd clips from from those days. 00:25:16:13 - 00:25:25:22 Speaker 2 There's not that much on video, but, yeah, it brings it brings it all coming back to you. 00:25:25:24 - 00:25:29:16 Speaker 1 Okay. 00:25:29:18 - 00:25:37:09 Speaker 1 And can you tell us about traveling away to away meetings? Obviously. You you follow your father around? Yeah. 00:25:37:11 - 00:25:38:22 Speaker 2 Yeah, that. 00:25:38:22 - 00:25:42:00 Speaker 1 Would be other tracks. But weren't your father's home on track? 00:25:42:02 - 00:26:10:13 Speaker 2 Yeah, it was if I wasn't with the babysitter, which wasn't all many times I'd be carted around, asleep on the back seat. But again, it was a great adventure, and the team would stop off on the way for a cup of tea in a sandwich. So that was quite a big treat. In those days. I could take some of my friends to some of the meetings. 00:26:10:16 - 00:26:21:17 Speaker 2 School friends had come with me. I'm very proud to have you down there racing, but yeah. 00:26:21:19 - 00:26:26:10 Speaker 1 So if you were with the babysitter, was it was your mother a supporting role for your father's career? 00:26:26:11 - 00:26:31:21 Speaker 2 Oh, very much so. Yes. Yeah. 00:26:31:23 - 00:27:11:10 Speaker 2 Certainly through through the early days when they got married. Then I came along. She actually stops the hospital, amputate dad's lake when he had the accident. So 100% supportive of what he did. And there's a consequence. My brother and sister didn't come along until after he'd retired. She didn't want that, and he'd responsibility, but, 00:27:11:12 - 00:27:26:15 Speaker 1 And what role within the speed do you know about the other sports within the Wimbledon area? What was the role of speedway, along with the obviously with greyhounds and football? How did they work together in the Wimbledon area? 00:27:26:17 - 00:28:03:03 Speaker 2 Well, I suppose seasonally, you know, the Wimbledon Championships, tennis Championships, you knew they went on, but you know, they went on in tandem with the meetings at Wimbledon. Fortunately, they weren't too close together. The Greyhounds always dovetailed later on when the stock cars came in. That was sort of more or less past my dad's time. But I think in those days the sports were tolerant of of each other. 00:28:03:03 - 00:28:42:21 Speaker 2 There was no real sort of vying for the same fan base. Yeah. It was more sort of the rivalry between teams than the particular sports. And during the early 50s, ice hockey, there was a lot of ice hockey. The ice hockey players had a very close relationship with the speedway riders for some reason. Madness probably. But, yeah, it's those sort of things that and mainly because they were sort of in similar venues. 00:28:42:23 - 00:28:51:08 Speaker 1 So I've got some questions for riders. I wanted to think, can you talk about the safety, the safety aspect? Yeah. 00:28:51:10 - 00:29:05:04 Speaker 2 Well, I think nowadays with the, the inflatable fences, the corners has contributed to a lot less of the. 00:29:05:06 - 00:29:47:13 Speaker 2 The big serious injuries. When my dad was racing, it was a chain link fence with a six inch piece of wood at the bottom. That would if you hit it, it would break up. But but yeah, the equipment, body armor, the boots are much more, you know, cushioned. Whereas you had a set of leathers with a, you know, you might have a set of long johns underneath or a t shirt, now with Kevlar suits, I must admit, I don't see how they're any more protective than than the old leathers were. 00:29:47:15 - 00:30:16:10 Speaker 2 But, and there was nothing finer than seeing teams come out with shiny black leathers. But but from a safety perspective, and I think it is the on track safety is is much more focused now. You still have riders perish. Some of his close friends were killed. And even now, you know, more recently time with them with it. 00:30:16:11 - 00:30:30:10 Speaker 2 Catastrophic injuries. With a sport like like speedway, you'll never stop that. You know where you're traveling those speeds with, as I say, fine margins. 00:30:30:12 - 00:30:33:24 Speaker 2 A split second can mean life or death. 00:30:34:01 - 00:30:43:09 Speaker 1 I suppose. I don't know how aware a child would be of a safe deal. Did your parents keep you away from the safety or did they talk about it? The dangers? 00:30:43:10 - 00:31:10:20 Speaker 2 Yeah. You couldn't stay near the corner because you'd get covered in sort of half inch square chunks of shale, which actually was quite good fun. But yeah, things like going near, near the bikes, because even when they're coming in after a race, they're still traveling at, you know, 15 miles an hour that, if you got clipped by a big lump of iron like that, be serious consequences. 00:31:10:21 - 00:31:24:01 Speaker 2 But that went the same for anyone in the in the pits that, that the care taken had to be paramount. 00:31:24:03 - 00:31:34:02 Speaker 1 Okay. I want to talk about how Wimbledon speedway changed over time. So a question is how did Wimbledon speedway change over time? 00:31:34:04 - 00:32:04:18 Speaker 2 I suppose, and now I'm speaking less from experience, but. You had a lot more where where Brian is riders now a far more. The sponsorship is very high for each individual rider, but the support for the the clubs is very hard. Even in the, in the 50s, it was very hard for promoters to make a profit out of speedway. 00:32:04:20 - 00:32:45:22 Speaker 2 But the riders didn't have the same, very few had had sponsors, whereas now the riders are all heavily sponsored TV rights. You didn't have the same TV carriage. You might have the World Championship world final at Wembley televised, whereas now you have the the series of grand prize televised. Not so much. And I think that's part of a sort of downturn in speedway recently, is that that television has is much more selective in what they cover. 00:32:45:24 - 00:33:26:05 Speaker 2 You know, even up to 4 or 5 years ago, you had had great coverage on the television of meetings, which again, encourages people to to go to see it on the television and want to experience it. But, but it's secular. There's, there's periods during the, the early days that the crowds dropped to, to, you know, a few hundred few thousand teams that are further out other than the big cities, find it harder to attract a high supporter base. 00:33:26:07 - 00:33:36:17 Speaker 2 So I think it's with a lot more distractions. Should I say nowadays it's harder. Everyone's fighting for a piece of the cake. 00:33:36:19 - 00:33:51:13 Speaker 1 Okay, I've got a question about the closure of the Wimbledon stadium in particular, but if you weren't involved in Wimbledon Maritime, the closure of I mean, most of the stadiums around the country are closed. Can you talk about the the effect of the stadium closing? 00:33:51:15 - 00:33:58:06 Speaker 2 Well, I think you have certainly from a distance, it was it was a tragedy. 00:33:58:08 - 00:34:27:03 Speaker 2 As was the local club. I used to go to Peterborough. I've closed recently that the promoters find it harder and harder to make a living. Developers come along on a buy a plot of land, you know, Oxford, for example, prime building land. Some have preservation orders on them, which is great. So the support the sport then limps along. 00:34:27:04 - 00:34:53:16 Speaker 2 But it's tragic, especially for some of those London clubs that were huge to suddenly just disappear without. And it's amazing that John Stevens, for example, keeps the name of Wimbledon very much foremost to a lot of people, a tremendous job. 00:34:53:17 - 00:34:58:05 Speaker 1 And looking back, what did what did Wimbledon Speedway mean to you. 00:34:58:07 - 00:35:03:12 Speaker 2 Mean to me? Oh, God. 00:35:03:14 - 00:35:14:10 Speaker 2 A lot of creed with my friends even going to work. People knew whom a dad was. 00:35:14:12 - 00:35:36:14 Speaker 2 So my involvement was still there to a degree. Supply some of the riders with their foreign currency when they went away on holiday. So I still had a tentative connection, but have also always maintained that special interest. 00:35:36:15 - 00:35:43:17 Speaker 1 The final question, is there anything you'd like to tell us that we haven't covered? 00:35:43:19 - 00:35:55:14 Speaker 2 I don't know, really. I think we've we've gone through pretty comprehensively. I've covered those things that I know most about, and b, I'd know a little bit about. 00:35:55:15 - 00:35:56:21 Speaker 1 My question, if you don't mind. 00:35:56:23 - 00:35:59:22 Speaker 2 No, no, no. 00:35:59:24 - 00:36:05:15 Speaker 1 Can you tell us about. Your dad have to go through in terms of repairing and maintaining his bike? He's going to tell me. 00:36:05:16 - 00:36:33:19 Speaker 2 Oh, yes. Yeah. Well, a great mechanic himself. He had a brother who was very talented, a talented mechanic, a welder. So the whole family really could help in that respect. But, yeah, maintaining the bikes I remember picking engines up from. 00:36:33:21 - 00:36:40:10 Speaker 2 A man in Acton that used to tune them. 00:36:40:12 - 00:36:49:23 Speaker 2 But really, the equipment was was something that was always maintained to a very high level. 00:36:50:00 - 00:37:24:14 Speaker 2 And it had to be really so welding steel shoes for going around corners that you'd wear out in a couple of meetings. So you'd have to to work on that. They'd sort of quite basic things, but very important in that respect. Modifications to bikes, talking about earlier, cutting the tires to ensure better grip. And that might be done right up to the start of the meeting depending on the track. 00:37:24:15 - 00:38:04:09 Speaker 2 So it's it was, I suppose, a lot more rudimentary in those days. The riders would would work on their bikes themselves. More recently you've got a team of, you know, 5 or 6 in the pits that have special rolls. Once hold the fans, make sure you're not hot one to wipe your brow. Maybe being a bit facetious there, but but yeah, I think, from from a dad's point of view, it was very he was very much hands on in how he maintained his, his, his bike and all of his equipment. 00:38:04:11 - 00:38:14:00 Speaker 1 Okay, I've got another one. When when your dad retired from racing, was he was there any involvement within the stadium or. 00:38:14:02 - 00:38:14:13 Speaker 1 At the time? 00:38:14:14 - 00:38:50:06 Speaker 2 Not not so much. Wimbledon. He would go sort of fairly regularly, but he was chairman of the Speedway Riders Association for a while after that. So he had an involvement in that respect. He was he went on a number of overseas tours with England as a technical advisor. He took part in the Monte Carlo Rally. So sport and motorsport was still very much, you know, in his blood. 00:38:50:08 - 00:39:03:17 Speaker 2 He had a motorcycle and, and car sales business, but still was very much the mechanic. He's the man you'd find underneath the car. He wouldn't be sat behind a desk. 00:39:03:19 - 00:39:06:05 Speaker 1 What do you hold in the Mickey card race? 00:39:06:07 - 00:39:36:05 Speaker 2 Yes. He did a lot of testing with with Ronnie Moore and the Sydney Allard. He prepared a midget car with a speedway engine, I believe, inside it. That was quite a handful to the design was to to race it around the track. And there's some YouTube evidence of of dad and his brother getting ready to, to go around the track in that. 00:39:36:05 - 00:39:56:00 Speaker 2 And you can tell by the way he's, he's handling it. It was more than a handful to and I don't think it was something that really took off. I know there was some controversy over it, but that was was passed my pass, my knowledge. 00:39:56:02 - 00:40:05:17 Speaker 1 And another thing, I don't know if this is past your knowledge, can you tell us about any skullduggery you're aware of? 00:40:05:19 - 00:40:31:00 Speaker 2 I suppose it was some of it. The rivalry, preparation of tracks. Once the tracks prepared, the teams would either see how dry it was, wet it was within riders. Yeah. There were some that spilled over from just pure rivalry. 00:40:31:02 - 00:40:47:01 Speaker 2 The easiest thing was to to drift out and push somebody into the fence, knock them off the bike. The dad had been long. Legs would obviously be much more of a. 00:40:47:03 - 00:41:15:22 Speaker 2 Barrier to get passed, but and sometimes it spilled into to, as it does these days, a little bit of fisticuffs in the in the pits. But normally that was all, you know, eased over after the meeting, but, yeah, I think it is. You know, you used to have the starters at the gate hold on to a rider. 00:41:15:24 - 00:41:52:05 Speaker 2 You'd have four guys hold on onto the bikes to make sure they didn't move too soon. The home guys would maybe hold on just a fraction of a second early. Keep the riders waiting at the gate. Now, whether that's designed to favor certain riders, riders creeping forward so as to get a flying start, one very decorated world champion was was quite adept at just moving a couple of inches. 00:41:52:07 - 00:42:16:07 Speaker 2 Not saying that's why he won all those world championships, but but yeah. And Barry Briggs lost fingers. Sort of a blatant move that knocked him off the bike in a world final. So yeah, there was but some generally not too bad. 00:42:16:09 - 00:42:21:03 Speaker 1 Anything else we've not asked? 00:42:21:05 - 00:42:30:07 Speaker 3 You so much in your when your father was riding was so much overseas competition. Like there is now like going to Poland and Sweden or was that a more recent. 00:42:30:12 - 00:43:08:20 Speaker 2 Oh no, there was there was a lot of overseas. He rode there was a team in Dublin, Shelbourne Speedway was set up and the majority of those riders were Wimbledon riders and they would ride on a Sunday. In Ireland he rode Poland, Sweden, Russia, so probably not as accessible as as it is now. You know riders where they're riding here on a on a Monday night and in Poland on a Tuesday or Wednesday. 00:43:08:22 - 00:43:33:12 Speaker 2 But in the sort of 50s, there were meetings nearly every day of the week. So, but then brides would go out to South Africa and Australia during the closed season to race out there. So, but again, travel time was, was such that, you know, you couldn't just hop on a jet and, and fly 15 hours to a venue. 00:43:33:13 - 00:43:36:17 Speaker 2 It was a boat trip. 00:43:36:19 - 00:43:40:16 Speaker 1 So that was behind the Iron Curtain was it was a lot of people. 00:43:40:18 - 00:44:04:21 Speaker 2 In those days. Yeah. The Russian riders. Igor was a top Russian rider. I was lucky enough to go out to Poland with the England team in the early 70s, and those guys were tough as you'd ever meet. But great people. 00:44:04:23 - 00:44:15:01 Speaker 2 But yeah, the former Iron Curtain countries, they they bred them tough. Yeah. Probably tougher than most.