Olle first rode at The White City Glasgow on July 6, 1949 in the third round of the World Championship and he made a huge impression on the Glasgow supporters, and not just the female fans who were bowled over by his boyish good looks. Despite still being in his teens, he scored 12 points to qualify for a three man run off for first place along with Gil Craven and Geoff Bennett. He fell, although even years later he would tell you he was knocked off. The other two subsequently progressed to the Championship Round where each rider had three meetings with the top sixteen going forward to the World Final.

Olle made his World Final debut in 1953, scoring four points and was the centre of controversy when New Cross were denied permission to sign him that year, leading to promoter Fred Mockford closing the track. Wimbledon’s Ronnie Greene would later make the same threat when it looked like the Rider control Committee was going to move Olle away from Wimbledon ahead of the 1966 season. However there was no demur from the Plough Lane management a few years later when Olle was released in order to accommodate the returning Ronnie Moore, a move that must had hurt the Swede.

The second coming

It was another 16 years before Olle returned to Glasgow in 1965, during which time he won the Swedish national championship and appeared in five World Finals and was a member of the Swedish World Team cup winning squad. No wonder Tigers fans were excited by a thought provoking article in the Speedway Star by Eric Linden ahead of the BL’s inaugural season, suggesting a National League heat leader should be sent to every Provincial League track with Olle being allocated to Glasgow, on paper at least. Sadly there was never any chance of it happening.

There was great anticipation the night Wimbledon first came to Glasgow in 1965. While Coventry’s visit a couple of weeks earlier had been a real let down, that night had a real buzz to it. His white boots and green scarf made him stand out and, as a younger fan, I was well impressed with this superstar taking time out to sign autographs while at the same time managing to hold at least two simultaneous conversations. The Dons won 41-37, although largely due to Tigers Maury Mattingley’s missing the meeting due to his flight being delayed. Olle took ten points in a meeting that was run very promptly to allow the visitors, who had a home meeting the next evening, to catch the night sleeper south. I’m not sure this travel plan worked as Olle organised a card school and they got little sleep and some returned with little to show for their night’s racing as Olle cleaned up.

Glasgow openings

Olle was Barry Briggs’ October Golden Helmet challenger and, with the first leg in Edinburgh, Trevor Redmond very enterprisingly booked the pair for the Glasgow Open on the preceding night. Barry won the event with fifteen points while Olle tied for second with Sverre Harrfeldt. Obviously a run off was required but there was also a prize for the top Tiger and Bluey Scott and Graham Coombes were equal with eight p7oints each. Rather than have two run offs, Redmond very economically staged just one race with all four in it. Harrfeldt and Scott came out on top in their respective duels.

Olle was again booked for the Glasgow Open the following year. Heavy showers before the meeting left the track greasy and favourite Charlie Monk fell in two races, putting him out of contention. Only Olle and Ivan Mauger seemed able to adapt to the tricky conditions and managed to avoid the mayhem, which was all about them. Their meeting in heat seventeen was to prove decisive with Olle winning this race to clinch the title, no doubt some consolation for losing his Silver Sash to Charlie Monk a few weeks earlier when Wimbledon visited Scotland for a double header weekend racing Glasgow and Edinburgh on successive nights. No sleepers home this time. Olle had held the sash for nearly a month, with defences at Kings Lynn, Poole and Newcastle as well as two at Wimbledon and gained some revenge by winning the second half trophy from Trevor Hedge and Charlie Monk.

Testing times

The 1967 GB v Sweden test at Glasgow didn’t really live up to the standard of the four other tests, although it had more than its fair share of drama and controversy. The Swedes fielded a pretty weak line up, with Ove Fundin being unavailable due to a car racing commitment and more incredibly Torbjorn Harryson and Bengt Jansson being required for the Hackney v Newport BL meeting. Ron Mountford did his bit to make a match of it by unaccountably skittling partner Charlie Monk, putting him out for the night, but really the Swedes were overwhelmed. Olle’s pairing with Anders Michanek put up stout resistance with 10 and 7 points respectively and while Gote Nordin and Bernt Persson both got double figures, they were assured of six points just by finishing ahead of their partners. This was Olle’s second trip in a week to Glasgow having scored 10 for “Stockholm” in a four team event the previous Friday. Olle was recognised as good value for open bookings and this was exemplified in him being booked for the last ever meeting at Edinburgh’s much loved Old Meadowbank stadium. He was well in tune with the emotion of the night being concerned for the Edinburgh public and in particular the kids who were losing their speedway nights out.

He guested for Glasgow in their opening BL meetings in 1968 at Hackney and King’s Lynn, with his eleven points at Saddlebow Road being crucial in a surprise away win that didn’t quite keep the beleagured Scots off the bottom of the table at the end of that traumatic season.

Wimbledon’s coach, bringing both riders and supporters up to Glasgow, was held up due to an accident on the A74 but Olle, who had travelled independently, had arrived in good time. To fill in until the Dons arrival, promoter Whaley decided to run the second half heats apart from the Wimbledon top scorers’ race and the trophy final. However Olle’s leathers were on the coach and the Dons riders got changed into their leathers en route. Rather than wait for Olle to get kitted up, heat two was run before heat one, in which he was programmed to ride. Promoter Whaley deserves full marks for his ingenuity and time management.

Olle’s final visit of the season to Scotland was a lot more straight forward with the Swedes gaining  revenge on GB for the previous year’s pasting by running up a huge 71-37 scoreline at Coatbridge in front of the biggest ever crowd at the venue.

 

All change

The winter of 68/69 brought huge change, with top liners being most emphatic about where they would or would not move to. In some ways Olle indirectly helped Glasgow. He had been displaced at Wimbledon by the returning Ronnie Moore and, while he, along with a few others, had refused a move to Newcastle, he was prepared to go West Ham, who in turn sent Norman Hunter to Wolves. The next step saw Wolves Jim Airey switch to Sheffield, freeing Charlie Monk to get his desired move back to Glasgow – and there the “chain” ended. Glasgow too had had a winter of change moving from The White City to Hampden. The winter had been harder than normal and the construction of the new track had been delayed. Olle heard through the grapevine that the track was pretty rough and was still bedding in and consequently detuned his bike for the Hospital ammers visit there in late April. Sadly he had been badly advised and he toiled on a track that really wasn’t too bad. I missed that meeting having been down in London on training courses for the preceding three weeks, which afforded me the opportunity to see Olle and the Hammers three times at Custom House, and by the of this time I was cheering for Olle along with the locals. We particularly enjoyed his last heat defeat of Ronnie Moore to clinch the Metropolitan Gold Cup points – and I suspect he did too!

I was back in “the smoke” a few weeks later for another training block and by this time Olle was out injured with a bad leg break and boy did they miss him. I saw them in five further meetings and they lost the lot. Indeed they never looked like winning any of them, particularly a dreadful 59-19 tanking at Wimbledon where Olle’s track knowledge would have been invaluable. John Langfield and Bengt Norregard were drafted in but in truth Olle was irreplacable.

Sad times

West Ham changed their programme cover for 1970 for the first time in living memory with a photo off Olle being superimposed on the crossed hammers, a sign of how much they respected him. Sadly it didn’t bring better luck. Quite the opposite with the Lokeren tragedy being speedway’s equivalent ,of Machester United’s Munich disaster. I was greatly relieved that Olle had missed that trip and he was to prove a tower of strength in keeping things going in its aftermath, somehow keeping the spirits up and helping their weekly guests to blend in. The Hammers put up a doughty performance in Glasgow barely a month after that horrible night, losing just 43-35 , with Les Whaley commending their performance and pluck and saying it was in sharp contrast to the two previous visitors who had scrambled to get 20 points. Sadly the writing was on the wall for the Hammers and, while they managed a further season, it was no surprise when the stadium was sold with the licence going to Ipswich. However I fitted in one last  visit to Custom House and, thanks to a strategically organised course, it coincided with Glasgow’s league match there. While I was disappointed in my beloved Tigers losing 40-38 after being six points up at one stage, I was pleased that Olle got 15 from six starts and won the second half rider of the night too in what turned out to be the last heat I ever saw at this storied stadium.

Last time

Olle was very much the elder statesman of the Ipswich, and now well over forty it would have been no surprise to see his scores tail off quite markedly but one of my last memories of seeing him on track was his last appearance at Hampden in one of the final meetings ever staged at this venue. Riding at number two and partnered by John Louis was a tough gig but he had a heat win in his five paid six as the Witches lost 43-35. He also won the Tankard Final, a second half competition for second strings that night.

He  had a forgetable night at Coatbridge the following year, failing to score from two rides. Not a great way to end trips over the border!