This event was filmed by Dave Beecroft, Odsal speedway fan, as a one-off. Dave also some great old photos of speedway at Odsal on the splendid Defunct Speedway Tracks website (References). Despite the sound being somewhat intermittent, the film gives a real feel of the atmosphere at the one and only time that Odsal hosted the World Speedway Final. It also shows Erik Gundersen at his best, four years before a terrible speedway accident nearly ended his life (see below).  Speedway had been...

This event was filmed by Dave Beecroft, Odsal speedway fan, as a one-off. Dave also some great old photos of speedway at Odsal on the splendid Defunct Speedway Tracks website (References). Despite the sound being somewhat intermittent, the film gives a real feel of the atmosphere at the one and only time that Odsal hosted the World Speedway Final. It also shows Erik Gundersen at his best, four years before a terrible speedway accident nearly ended his life (see below). 
Speedway had been raced at Odsal since 1945, where it stayed before there were two ten year gaps: from 1960 and another from 1975 (there was also some speedway at the old Greenfield Stadium during 1961-1962). In Britain the World Speedway Final had always been held at Wembley, at first every year, between 1936 and 1960, from when it was rotated between European countries, returning to Wembley every three years.   The Bradford Speedway website states that it was a shock when in December 1982 it was announced that the World Speedway Final would no longer be held at Wembley, and equally so when Odsal was chosen instead in 1984. Apparently the FA felt that maintaining the speedway track had an adverse effect on the Wembley playing surface (at least they can’t blame this for the new Wembley!). It was raced at Odsal again in 1990.

In most people’s minds Wembley is associated with football, and Rugby League finals, but from the 1930s through to the 1950s crowds of 40,000 plus were not unusual at weekly speedway league matches, and the Wembley supporters club had a membership of over 25,000.  But given this opportunity, Bradford Council agreed to increase the Odsal ground capacity from 26,000 to 40,000, and construct a new shale track to world championship standards. Total costs for all the refurbishment came to around £1 million. The new track was tested in September 1984 by three members of the Belle Vue team - Chris Morton, Peter Collins and Larry Ross - watched over by an official of speedway’s world governing body, the FIM. The first official speedway meeting to be held at Odsal for nearly ten years took place on 12th May 1985 with a World Team Cup qualifier. 

This event was entirely overshadowed by the horrendous fire at Valley Parade, home of Bradford City FC, on the previous day that led to the deaths of 56 people, and to 265 injured. This was the last home game of the season, against Lincoln City, with Bradford City receiving the league trophy for Division Three. It was also just before the ground was due to be redeveloped. It was a tragedy that would have still been very much hanging over the city several months later on 31st August.

The idea of speedway at Odsal was first mooted in 1939 by the owner of Bradford Northern, millionaire Mill owner Harry Hornby. With the war, more or less, out of the way, the Lord Mayor, Alderman Cecil Barnett, officially opened the 390-yard speedway track on 23 June 1945, just over a month after V E Day. The first speedway team in Bradford, called the ‘Boomerangs’, started out in front of a crowd of over 20,000. The following year, with an average gate of 31,000, a couple of fatal accidents – to Albert “Aussie” Rosenfeld and Colin Watson – led to the track shape being changed to a more typical oval shape.  The following year, on 5 July 1947, a record attendance of 47,050 saw England defeat Australia. It was in Australia that speedway had originated - at West Maitland in New South Wales - around 1923, before taking off in Britain around 1927/1928.

The Boomerangs changed their name to Bradford Tudors in 1950; but during the 1950s speedway declined, with the advent of TV, and not helped by an entertainment tax of 52% imposed on sports of speed rather than skill (as if there was no skill in racing). Changing their name again to the Panthers in 1960, they moved to the smaller and more compact Greenfield Stadium at Dudley Hill the following year. But despite getting reasonable crowds the team were not doing well and folded in 1962. Speedway kicked off again at Odsal in 1970 when the Lancashire team of The Nelson Admirals moved there and changed their name to Bradford Northern. This was changed again in 1974 to Bradford Barons; lasting just a year before their re-appearance in 1986. After the 1985 World Championship Final the Halifax Dukes switched from their home at the Shay, where they were paying a rent of £30,000 per year, to Odsal, which they had rent free for the first three years. In the process they changed their name to Bradford Dukes – winning the British Speedway Elite League in1997.

Speedway is a dangerous sport, and Bradford has seen its fair share of tragedies. On one evening, 1st July 1950, there were two fatal accidents: Joe Abbott at Odsal, and Jock Sheard of the Halifax Dukes – coincidently both born in the same street in Burnley. The Speedway research website provides a list of those who died during their riding career, without however distinguishing those who died on the track.

Erik Gundersen, who had won the previous year and again in 1989, himself almost died in a racing accident whilst with the Cradley Heath Heathens, with whom he rode from 1979 until 1989. Coincidently the accident happened at Odsal Stadium, on the 17 September 1989, whilst riding for Denmark in the World Team Cup final.   The story is recounted on Wikipedia: “His motorcycle locked up on the first bend and he was knocked off by the rider behind. As he lay on the race track he was hit in the head by another rider's rear wheel.”   The accident can be seen on Youtube.

Taken to Pinderfields Hospital the prognosis was dire, having broken his neck and severed the nerves to his body.  He remained in a coma for a period of time before regaining consciousness. Gundersen had to learn to re-use all of his muscles again. According to Wikipedia he later raised a large amount of money for the hospital which saved his life, and went on to manage the Danish national speedway team. A moving video of his rehabilitation can be found on the World News website.

Denmark is a strong nation in speedway: dominant in the late 1980s, with Gundersen and his fellow countryman Hans Neilson; with Ole Olsen, racing in Britain, prominent in the 1970s; and more recently with Nicki Pederson. The last British rider to win the World Championship previous to this was Mike Lee in 1980 (only one other has won since, Mark Loram in 2000). 

Speedway was often run on the same grounds as Greyhound racing, which has generally fared better than speedway, getting crowds of up to three million. Current attendance figures for speedway are disputed, some estimating around 30,000 per week averaged over the three leagues between March and October (which would put it at around the 1 million mark for the year). This figure is in sharp contrast to the heyday of speedway in the late 1940s, after the pains of war, when gates of 20,000 were not uncommon – 80,000-plus turned out for one home match against West Ham (both clubs closed over 40 years ago). It did pick up again with the formation of the British League in 1965. The relatively low attendance has been put down to low investment, but there are many factors – see the discussion on the British Speedway Forum. It often gets a very respectable viewing figure with Sky of over 200,000 – some blame TV coverage for the low numbers attending.   Still, the film gives an indication of the excitement of watching in real life 500cc bikes racing each other around a 300 metre dirt track, running on methanol fuel, with no brakes and just one gear, and accelerating faster than a Formula 1 car!

 

References

For a list of Internet sites see Retro Speedway

Retro Speedway

Bradford Speedway

Speedway research

Defunct Speedway tracks

British Speedway Forum

Erik Gundersen video, World News

Speedway Champions