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Speedway nights: Cinder tracks, sliding motorcycles, team rivalries and the working-class sport of speed
Paperback
Publisher: Publishdrive
Published: Jul 31 2026
Pages: 308
Weight: 0.91
Height: 0.65 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
From Australian showgrounds and British cinder tracks to packed Polish stadiums and the modern Speedway Grand Prix, speedway has built a century of noise, danger, rivalry and fierce local loyalty.
Speedway Nights tells the complete story of the motorcycle sport in which four riders race four laps on machines built for acceleration, balance and controlled sliding. It follows speedway's Australian beginnings, its explosive arrival in Britain, the rise of club colours and team competition, the first World Championship at Wembley and the extraordinary post-war stadium nights that made riders household names.
The story moves through the champions and nations that reshaped the sport: Sweden's Ove Fundin, Denmark's Ole Olsen, Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen, New Zealand legends Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger, Australia's generations of travelling professionals and Poland's transformation into the modern centre of world speedway.
Beyond the champions, this book enters the pits and workshops where mechanics prepare engines, clutches and tyres for races decided within seconds. It examines the courage demanded by the first bend, the injuries that changed lives, the development of air fences and protective equipment, the decline of Britain's great stadium crowds and the volunteers, promoters and supporters still fighting to keep local tracks alive.
Written as a flowing, fact-based narrative, Speedway Nights is a history of motorcycles and competition, but also of industrial towns, international travel, working-class entertainment and communities united beneath the floodlights.
Disclaimer: This is an independent, unofficial work of historical nonfiction. It is not authorised, sponsored, endorsed by or affiliated with the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, Speedway Grand Prix, Speedway Ekstraliga, British Speedway, any speedway league, club, rider, promoter, broadcaster, motorcycle manufacturer or other organisation mentioned in the text. All names, team identities, competition titles and trademarks are used solely for factual, historical, descriptive and identification purposes. No endorsement by any rights holder is implied.
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