Pre Speedway

I started this page, in the hope that with your help, we can go back to an era before the Aussies brought speedway to the UK in1928. To be eligible for this page an item has only to pre date 1928. Items can include oval racing of course but also any type of sand, dirt and tarmac racing from the UK. So please get behind this and let me have your comments and photos. Maybe in time this page will explode a few myths surrounding the origins of Speedway Racing.

The organizers of the 1902 Ashtown race the "Motor Cycle Union of Ireland" was no back street affair as its President was no other than the tire magnate Boyd Dunlop. The M.C.U.I was regarded as such a responsible body that it was approached by the organizers of the worlds 4th Gordon Bennett race, which could not take place in Britain because of its speed restrictions, to oversee the race in Ireland.

Early 1920's USA: This was maybe More Nascar for bikes than speedway but these bikes were lightened by stripping away all components that weren't necessary including lights, brakes and gearboxes. The machines bore a resemblance to the Dirt Track bikes in use a few years later.

More USA Board Racing. A close look at the handlebars reveals that the bars used later by Dirt Track Harley's and Indians handlebars were identical to those shown above.

I think it is quite likely that Speedway actually started in the USA before it got underway in Oz. What are your views John

Here is a programme from 1924. Johnnie Hoskins gave the programme to Reg Fearman a long time ago

The programme shows bicycle and motorcycle racing. The early days of Australian speedway

A number of pictures from the USA sent by Cary Cotterman am American, who has been a good friend of this website.

I am interested in showing that dirt track racing may not have started in Australia. It is in my opinion more likely that the sports origins lie in the USA

Dirt track motorcycle racing on oval-shaped tracks began in the U.S. as early as 1901,(says Cary Cotterman), initially on 1/2-mile and 1-mile tracks normally used for horse racing. If Los Angeles wasn't the first place in the world such racing took place, it can certainly lay claim to being among the very earliest. The first riders appear to have negotiated the turns with both feet on the footrests (or pedals) of their relatively low-powered machines, with their wheels in line, but by 1915 or earlier, photographic evidence attests that riders like Dave Kinney and Maldwyn Jones had developed the technique of breaking traction with the rear wheel and broadsiding around the bends. This development was probably the result of riders' experience and experimentation coinciding with the evolution of high-powered motors. U.S. motorcycle manufacturers of the time, led by the giants Harley-Davidson and Indian, encouraged and publicised racing for its advertisement value, and by the early 1920s the sport had grown to national stature. While the steeply cambered board tracks seem to have held first place in the imagination of the public, dirt track racing was a close second.

Did American riders export dirt track racing to Australia in the 1920s? Probably not. It's more likely that early American exponents travelled across the world to investigate a racing scene that had already existed for a short time, albeit on a smaller scale than in the U.S. When they arrived, they made a success of their more advanced experience and techniques, similar to the way Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs looked in on the nascent speedway revival in California in 1968. The sport probably began in the U.S. and Australia independently because it is simply the nature of industrious, adventurous, curious people to strip down their machines and see what they will do on a race track. However, owing to the proximity and support of the motorcycle manufacturers, the U.S. had the advantage. Dirt track racing started there first, and more than a dozen years before the great Johnnie Hoskins began promoting races in the U.K., American riders had developed a sophisticated technique that included the most distinct attribute of speedway--broadsiding. In contrast to the vast, relatively sparsely populated, and still largely rural settings of both the U.S. and Australia, the geographic compactness and dense population centres of industrialized England in 1928 were probably important factors that led to the almost instantaneous combustion of the sport there into one of the leading mass entertainments of the 1930s.

Thank you Cary. Your views are put most sensibly and America's claim to be the first centre of the sport remains in my opinion to be the case. Maybe Australia and the USA developed their versions alone with a coming together in Britain in 1928 and the sport now known as speedway was as much a British invention as the Brits developed the raw material into a watch able sport. What a debt is owed to the US and Australia for beginning a sport that the British took to their hearts. Speedway was born either in the USA or Australia but has been enjoyed here in Britain since 1928 as if it was our own.

1901 Aster dirt rack racer.

This and the following pictures come from the book the book "American Racer: 1900-1939. If the items are still subject to copyright I will be happy to amend or remove the items or publicise this great book. Send me an email if you are the owner of these items. John

Ralph Hamlin is credited with winning the first dirt track race known to be held in the western U.S., on May 7, 1901 at the Agricultural Park in Los Angeles. This 1-mile dirt horse racing track was located at the future site of the L.A. Coliseum, where the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, and the 1982 World Speedway Final were held. This is the earliest reference in the book to dirt track racing in the U.S
Was it "Dirt", soil/come grass or was it a specially laid dirt track containing shale or cinders? Does it matter what the track was made of? Dirt is a loose surface like cinders after all. The Americans were racing motorbikes around this oval back in 1901 so does it qualify as the first ever Speedway type racetrack? I cannot imagine these early bikes developing enough power to broadside the corners, that will come later.

This picture really looks like it depicts dirt track racing although the back wheel is not breaking away. It was taken in LA 1908/09 Maybe Broad sliding had not been possible with the power output of these bikes being so low

This is Dave Kinnie in Detroit circa 1915 on a corner, riding a Cyclone, with his rear wheel throwing up a plume of dirt, Surely Dave was a "speedway rider" back in 1915? Why not give the US it's due and say that this is early speedway? Where are the earlier photos from Australia, South Africa or Ireland? If you have any send them to me. John USA is my bet for the origins of our sport.

This is Maldwyn Jones 1916 credited with being the first rider to broadside a bike. If this is so maybe Maldwyn was the first real speedway rider. This action shot sure looks like speedway to me. So is this the origin of the sport? 1916 on a Harley Davidson?

This is 1920 at the Orangeburg race track USA. If this isn't dirt track/speedway racing then what is it? Have I convinced you that speedway started in the US and this guy Maldwyn Jones on his Harley Davidson was the first star of the sport? I am convinced but of course we owe a huge debt to the Australians who with Johnnie Hoskins brought speedway to Britain.

American rider Eddie Brinck visited Australia in 1926 and won many of his races against the Australians another clue that America was ahead of the game in speedways early days. The US riders had great bikes, Harley, Indian and later the Crocker.

Whomever invented speedway and I have to go for the USA, it is obvious that Australia played a major part in bringing the sport to the whole world. The UK became it's main base and then Scandinavia and Poland were hotbeds. The sport needs its roots examining properly and credit given to its founders (USA I say). Let us hope the sport continues until more modern times, now that we think we know its roots.

Sprouts bike of choice. This Indian was a very potent machine for its time although is was only 350cc. More evidence that the USA was leading the way in dirt track racing.

The USA had two bike manufactures Harley Davidson and Indian who were producing machines capable of speedway racing and they had been doing this since the early days of the new century. It is quite easy to imagine the American owners of these powerful machines stripping them down and taking them out onto dirt tracks around Los Angeles and other American cities. Maybe the early attempts in the States weren't organised as well as the 1923 events at West Maitland Australia who had Johnnie Hoskins in charge but the evidence is there that the USA were doing what Johnnie was doing. Who did it first? Who really knows, but my research points across the Atlantic. Speedway began in the USA that is my conclusion. The Aussies organised it and took it to Europe in 1928. You may say "who cares where it started" It was Britain who made it an international sport and was long time the home of Speedway.

I wish I had a time machine and could visit Australian pre 1923 and America earlier than that to watch the pioneers of the sport riding their bikes. To be able to inspect the tracks and the machines would be great. The earlier riders would have been amazed to hear that 120/130 thousand watched a Polish World Final in 1973 and thousands turned out every week for local league matches in Britain, Sweden, Poland etc.

The USA should support the sport it helped to create in 1900- 1923 and maybe that we are now into the 21st century the "Big Country" will. There has always been great American riders although 80 years later we are still awaiting an American promotional ace like Johnnie Hoskins to lead the sport out of the current slump. So come on USA the sport you created needs you to lead it now.

I expect many will disagree with me in my piece above. If you disagree why not have your say here. I will reproduce what you have to say here without amendment Email me John

This book (now out of print) features sand racing at Saltburn & Redcar on Teesside. The book spans the period 1905 - 1965. The rider on the cover is Freddie Dixon, the picture was taken in 1921.

Maldwyn Jones, Fred Ludlow, Ralph Hepburn, Jim Davis, Ray Weishaar, OttoWalker, Walter Higley
Maldwyn Jones is said by some to have been the first to master the art of broadsiding, if so then he must have had a massive advantage over his rivals.
If the date I have is correct (1920) then this stakes an USA claim as inventors of the sport.