Dick Barrie's
Speedway Website

Speedway Today - As I See It

Can the sport survive in the high-tech 21st century?

Did it go wrong in the '70's, with four-valve engines and too-slick circuits?

I suggest the answer to both questions is a resounding "yes" - but there have to be changes…..

When I first saw speedway in 1949, it was virtually the same sport I saw again in the early '60's, when Scotland reopened for racing. A smaller back wheel and a new-style cam in the JAP engines - nothing much else was different.

Within a few years the Jawa (called Eso back then) engine challenged, then ousted, the redoubtable JAP and riders - like our televisions - embraced colour. These changes were OK. Indeed, the American influences of jazzy leathers, jockey-style back protectors and full-face helmets had to be good.

When the first modern four-valve engines arrived from Queensland in the '70's, nobody realised the changes that would come, and keep on coming, in their wake.

Tracks became too slick, riding (seriously!) became too easy. Racing became more predictable - maybe closer, but more predictable.

The two biggest body-blows for speedway - near-fatal damage from which the sport has yet to recover - were the "Sunday People" revelations (those implicated, even although many are good personal friends of mine, should have been banned for a lengthy time, to make it clear speedway was cleansing itself) and the rider-power "strike action" which caused important meetings, scheduled for prime-time television, to be rained off.

Since then the sport has retracted, promotions have become fan-driven and meetings have become too serious. Thirty years ago, a good-going fist-fight between riders would be encouraged (even paid for!) to enliven a drab meeting by a wise promoter. Now we have the authorities threatening suspension for people who even write the wrong things in a programme!

Riders no longer cruise around on parade to let spectators see them without helmets.

Too much about speedway is done for the rabid, dedicated supporter - and not nearly enough for the casual spectator. Why? Promoters are now mainly fans, and want to win titles - but isn't it better to put bums on seats week after week, year after year, than spend your war-chest on buying a super-team to win home matches by a boring barrowload of points, and end up going out of business after a couple of seasons?

Too often this is achieved at the expense of an enthusiastic, perhaps gullible, sponsor-turned-promoter - with the riders and "experienced professionals" in the new promoter's team taking far too much cash out of the sport. I submit.

The Sky Sports meetings are well-presented - but after three years, don't we need to move on? If the meetings shown are always between the same few teams, the law of diminishing returns will erode viewing figures. Sky should also select a few Premier League matches to leaven their dough.

Similarly, after even longer, what can be done to bring the sparkle back to Grand Prix meetings - both at the track and on TV? When will Ole and his guys achieve their aim of broadening the array of fixtures? There should be a business plan in foot, demanding the introduction of at least one new GP nation/venue each season. Plus, a decision to axe an GP nation which fails to measure up to the highest standards after two bad years. At this level, the sport cannot afford to be easy-going.

An extended GP programme would create a true elite among the riders, and hopefully prevent British clubs contracting GP entrants - that way, the best BL riders have something higher to aim at, and clubs (and more importantly, spectators) would not be robbed of the weekly appearance of their personal favourites. "We've signed Hans Nielsen - but because of GP duties, he'll only ride in one-third of our home meetings" isn't good news, you know….

That the sport can still attract fresh new support, and be wildly successful, is obvious.

But we have to make it more entertaining, or speedway could die with my generation.

The youth of today must be led to the sport, as fans or contestants. They will otherwise be lost to computer games and the like. What is more exciting? Making a 500cc motor-bike go sideways, or leading an expedition to Mars in virtual reality? To me, there is no choice - but to a six-year-old (as I was in 1949, when I first sniffed the Castrol R) fifty years later it might not be such an easy choice...

I welcome your opinion on what needs to be done - either email me or post your opinion on the message board.