The Golden Age of Speedway

ISBN-13: 9780752458311 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 160 str.

Philip Dalling

Opis

The post-war era was British speedway s golden age. Ten million spectators passed through the turnstiles of a record number of tracks at the sport s peak. With league gates as high as 80,000, speedway offered a colorful means of escape from the grim austerity of the times. A determinedly clean image, with no betting and rival fans mingling on the terraces, made speedway the family night-out of choice. The sport thrived despite punitive taxation and government threats to close down the speedways as a threat to industrial productivity. A three-division National League stretched from Exeter to Edinburgh and the World Championship final attracted a capacity audience to Wembley. Test matches against Australia provided an yet another international dimension. Even at the height of its popularity, speedway was a sporting edifice built on unstable foundations, which crumbled alarmingly as the 1950s dawned and Britain s economic and social recovery brought competing attractions like television. Only now is it beginning to regain its former popularity with regular Sky Sports coverage of the Elite League."