Doug Nicolson pays tribute to riders whose injuries in the 60s ended their careers.

 

More than retired hurt

“Retired hurt” is a term used in cricket for injured batsmen who are unable to continue playing, though they may return later in the innings. Injuries in speedway can be more far reaching. While some riders return with little or no difference in their scoring; others have the “never quite the same” tag, while there are the unfortunates for whom the injury means the end of their career and it is the last category that we will be looking at.

 

Hands, knees and outsa daisy

Goog Allan was 32 before he came to the UK to ride for Newcastle and was an ever present in the Diamonds PL title winning side. He became the odd man out when Newcastle successfully fought to retain Brian Brett, the temporary replacement for Ivan Mauger, when the Kiwi returned from injury. Goog ended up helping the injury ravaged Cradley side for the rest of the season. He missed the 1966 season being involved in Mike Parkers attempt to stage speedway in Italy before returning to Brough Park in 1967. He represented Britain twice in ice racing in Russia in the following winters, being hospitalised there after a crash in early 1968. However worse was to follow on his return to Britain, when a knee injury sustained at West Ham in June proved to be far more serious than originally expected and he never rode again.

Edinburgh signed Preben Andreasen, a 20 year old Dane, to strengthen their injury riddled side in their inaugural BL campaign in 1965, but he failed to score in three rides on his debut at home to Hackney at the end of July, falling in his third outing and injuring his knee. He had a try out at a challenge meeting at Newcastle but found the his knee was too painful to continue… and he was never seen on our tracks again.

Tony Armstrong was on the fringes of a team place at Crayford in 1968 and became established as a Highwayman the following year and was a regular through to the end of the 1970 season when the track closed. He switched to newcomers Hull in 1971 but crashed on his debut and his knee injury called time on his riding.

Geordie Mike Hiftle had an unusual start to his career, being unable to break into the strong Belle Vue Colts side but going to First Division Glasgow, for whom he rode for the remainder of the 1969 season. He got a full time berth with the Aces the following year and subsequently joined Halifax, riding for the Dukes until 1975 when he dropped down to Berwick in the second tier. In some ways he was returning to his roots as he had had his first rides at Shielfield in 1968. He made nearly 100 appearances for the Bandits before sustaining a knee injury in a late season crash. He had looked to have retired from the sport but was talked into returning to help beleaguered Workington in 1981 but crashed on his debut, breaking his leg and hung up his leathers for good.

Cornishman Chris Blewett - though he was actually born in Canada! -was an old school wild man who had many spectacular crashes, most of which he walked away from. Like Goog Allan, he was in his 30s before he took up speedway and while a broken jaw didn’t seem to faze him, a broken arm sustained in May 1963 while riding for St Austell at Exeter proved to be more problematic, keeping him out for over a year, before an abortive come back for Glasgow failed, keeping him out until 1965 when he joined Exeter. The inside edge at The County Ground was really quite high in places, and quite sheer too, as Chris found to his cost at the first meeting I saw there. Chasing Russ Dent, he ran out of room when Dent’s bike failed coming out the second bend and, in taking avoiding action, hit the inside edge square on and got thrown some distance down the track. It looked bad but he got up and dusted himself down and went out and won the rerun. Despite falls like this being common place, he held down a team place for the next six seasons but a fairly simple fall resulted in a broken wrist which was to prove complicated and led to his retirement at the age of 40. A real Falcons legend!

Legs Eleven

Murray Burt had a tough time in his first year in the UK in 1967 when he was a Wimbledon tailender and joined Newcastle on being replaced at Plough Lane, but his experience stood him in good stead riding for Nelson in the newly formed Second Division in 1968. He averaged over 8.00 for the Admirals and continued this level of scoring the following year until he sustained a badly broken leg in a track crash in July that year. He returned to New Zealand and as his injury hadn’t healed sufficiently to allow him to ride again subsequently took up speed car racing, becoming an NZ champion.

Tony George was a young hopeful at the Weymouth training school, catching Barry Briggs’ eye. He signed for Plymouth in 1968 and moved to Romford with Wally Mawdesley and Pete Lansdale when the duo sold Plymouth. His promise was cut short by a broken leg that effectively ended his career before he was twenty.

Edinburgh signed Henry Harrfeldt, brother of Sverre, ahead of their first season in the British League, hoping he would follow in his brothers tyre tracks. He was a virtual ever present, averaging just under 6.00 and there was a hope he would continue to progressin 1966 but a crash at Old Meadowbank left him with such serious leg break which required a lengthy stay in hospital. When the doctors warned him he could lose his leg if he injured it again, he wisely called time on his riding.

Colourful Tyburn Gallows got plenty of press coverage for his adopted persona. When the SCB refused to let him ride under this moniker – his real name was Ray Humphrey – he subsequently changed his name by deed poll. He took part in a second half stunt by hanging an effigy at Stoke – apparently thought to be entertaining! While he shunted around second halfs throughout the country, riding at non league Brafield in 1966-67 but the formation of the Second Division gave him his chance of a regular team place, joining Canterbury. However we were never to find out how good he would have become in the lower sphere as a track crash at Teesside ended his racing days.

Malcolm Mackay was a mainstay of Workington from its opening season in 1970. He quickly established himself as a Comets heat leader and scored over 1500 points in five seasons at Derwent Park which ended after an early season crash in 1975. An attempt to ride at the start of the following year convinced him that he was nowhere near fit enough and his time as on of the leading riders in BL2 was over.

Bill Moulin was another ANZAC to show promise in the early years of the Second Division and to return home after a serious injury. Kiwi Moulin impressed for Belle Vue Colts enough in 1969 to earn half a dozen outings for the Aces but a run in with the concrete wall at Romford’s Brooklands stadium saw him return home to recuperate. After an unsuccessful attempt at a track comeback in Christchurch, he resigned himself to the other side of the fence becoming a referee at the Templeton track.

Berwick had a pretty torrid baptism to league racing in 1968, finishing bottom of the newly formed Second Division. Things looked even bleaker for the following year with the news that neither Bill McMillan nor Brian Whaley would be riding. And it turned out that way in the opening fixtures with the Bandits scoring 23 and 24 in their opening meetings at Rayleigh and Eastbourne. Worse was to follow when they only managed 22 at home to Crayford in what still ranks as their worst home defeat in a 13 heat meeting. The promotion knew they had to do something and they went out and signed Maury Robinson. He had been a second halfer at Newcastle during the Provincial League era and switched to Halifax in 1966 where he turned out quite a few times in the elephant body colour without really establishing himself as a team member. He was an instant hit with the Berwick fans, averaging over 9.00 and finishing fourth in the Second Division Riders Championship. He was their number one for the next two years before being eclipsed by Doug Wyer in 1971. A late season crash into the bottom bend fence at Shielfield saw him carried off, never to return to the track.

All the injuries mentioned so far have been on a UK speedway track but Rick Timmo’s unbroken eight year stint at Oxford ended after being injured while riding as a sidecar passenger in a grass track event in 1974, the same year that Poole’s Norwegian Odd Fossengen seven year spell at Wimborne Road came to an end.

Alan Butterfield was an unsung but valued member of Middlesbrough and Newcastle outfits in the 60s. His ankle injury at the start of 1969 couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Brough Park side. With only a permanent guest facility to cover for the departed Ivan Mauger who got his desired move to Belle Vue, the loss of Butterfield was another nail in the coffin as Mike Parker ultimately sold on his club to Allied Promotions whose tenure in the Northeast only lasted one season before relocating to Reading. Norwegian Helge Langli was another brought in to shore up the Diamonds, but he was injured after a few meetings, and this combined with acute homesickness saw him return home.

Head and Shoulders

Today’s helmets offer far greater than the “pudding bowl” ones prevalent in the early 60s and concussion protocols offer a better long term prognosis too.  Edinburgh’s Kenny Cameron, known as “Casper” for his white leathers, came to the UK in 1963 with quite a reputation earned on Australian tracks, with his leg trailing style. He looked promising in a handful of meetings for the Monarchs but a fractured skull sustained in a crash at Wolverhampton virtually ended his career, though he did turn out for Edinburgh in a Scottish Cup at Glasgow in 1964.

Dave Callington of Coventry went straight into the Bees team in 1968 without trying out in The Second Division. He was a virtual ever present in 1969 until the fateful night at Kings Lynn where he suffered serious head injuries that were initially life threatening. Thankfully he pulled through but he never rode again.

 Erik Tilgaard was another Scandinavian hopeful to try his luck in Britain in the late 60s, signing for Newcastle but suffered horrific throat injuries which ended his UK career though he did return with touring side Fredericia a few years later.

Boston’s popular Russell Osborne joined Peterborough in 1975 but head and shoulder injuries early in the following season saw him retire on medical advice.