The American Decade

[admin]

True enough, the Danes - in the persons of Gundersen, Nielsen and Jan O'Pedersen - may have dominated the world championship, especially in the latter half of the decade, but I'll always regard the 1980s as being the American decade.
While most of the great Americans took their first steps on the world stage in the 1970s, it was in the 1980s that they really flowered. Autrey led the charge, followed by Penhall, Schwartz, Sigalos and the Morans. Then came King, Ermolenko, Ott, Correy, Hamill and Hancock.
And wasn't there something special about them, especially the embarrassingly gifted Morans?
It's somewhat sad to see the current state of speedway across the pond, with only the old stagers Hamill and Hancock truly flying the flag.
But great memories from the decade in which the Americans bestrode the stage as a world power abound.

[jimblanchard]

Er... can I correct you sub? ;D

1937 World Final at Wembley saw an all states side podium.

With Jack Milne, Wilbur Lamoreaux and Cordy Milne.

Know what you mean though and I have to agree. I was taking photo's at various tracks including Kings Lynn during the early 80's when the likes of Penhall, Schwartz and Autrey appeared on a regular basis. I thought Dennis Sigalos would have gone further than he did, very fast and stylish. Perhaps, injuries were the reason his career did not blossom as it should have.

[Genghis]

admin said:

True enough, the Danes - in the persons of Gundersen, Nielsen and Jan O'Pedersen - may have dominated the world championship, especially in the latter half of the decade, but I'll always regard the 1980s as being the American decade.
While most of the great Americans took their first steps on the world stage in the 1970s, it was in the 1980s that they really flowered. Autrey led the charge, followed by Penhall, Schwartz, Sigalos and the Morans. Then came King, Ermolenko, Ott, Correy, Hamill and Hancock.
And wasn't there something special about them, especially the embarrassingly gifted Morans?
It's somewhat sad to see the current state of speedway across the pond, with only the old stagers Hamill and Hancock truly flying the flag.
But great memories from the decade in which the Americans bestrode the stage as a world power abound.

Sub,

The Americans were great to watch, and Penhall was a childhood hero.

After his retirement, though, the Yanks were on the backfoot and the rest of the decade was dominated by the red and white of Denmark, who ended up dominating the 80s as a decade in a way no country has done before or since.

During the 80s the Danes won:
7 out of 10 WTCs
6 out of 10 World Individual Finals
5 out of 10 World Pairs.

And between the 1984 Pairs (won by Morton & Collins) and the 1989 WTC (the day of Gundersen's dreadful accident), the Danes won 16 World Championships on the trot!!!

Amazing, and just shows how good Nielsen, Gundersen, Pedersen, etc were!!

All the best
Rob

[jimblanchard]

My own unique photograph of Erik Gundersen at Bradford. This is I am sure the last photo of Erik in action before his terrible accident.

This is the first frame of 16 sequence photo's of which I have never ever shown.

I sold the film to Motorcycle news but when we all realised the extent of Erik's injuries later that day no one wanted to run with it.



I believe it is the only international speedway race where all four riders never rode again. Terrible, terrible day. A superb speedway rider. I have considered producing an art painting of this my photo image but with Erik alone and no other riders and donate it to the speedway museum.

[Doug]

Terrific photo Jim.
Rather than the "American" decade,it was really the "What might have been" decade.If only Bruce had carried on.The decade might have seemed so very different if Kenny and Michael Lee had more self control.And of course Erik.

Glad to see Erik is still involved in the sport,being the new team boss at Holsted.Also see there will be a Norden reunion of sorts later this year.Erik,Hans,Egon and Karl Maier amongst others will all be together at the Longtrack meeting in Scheessel

[jimblanchard]

Thanks Doug.

Yes, I have to agree it was a decade of 'what if' as you say.

[schumi]

jimblanchard said:

This is the first frame of 16 sequence photo's of which I have never ever shown.

Thanks for choosing to share it with us here Jim. Great photo.

[admin]

jimblanchard said:

Er... can I correct you sub? ;D

1937 World Final at Wembley saw an all states side podium.

With Jack Milne, Wilbur Lamoreaux and Cordy Milne.

Know what you mean though and I have to agree. I was taking photo's at various tracks including Kings Lynn during the early 80's when the likes of Penhall, Schwartz and Autrey appeared on a regular basis. I thought Dennis Sigalos would have gone further than he did, very fast and stylish. Perhaps, injuries were the reason his career did not blossom as it should have.

Of course you can - schumi does it all the time.
Yes, I recalled that year of domination and that Cordy Milne was heavily favoured to win the crown in 1939, until Mr Hitler marched into Poland. And, of course, the American's of that era, in the words of someone, rode foot forward and stayed on, while everyone else was leg-trailing.
I always thought Lance King was the great American rider that never was. Made such a huge impact, but essentially, for one reason or another, never truly blossomed.

[MattJ]

jimblanchard said:

My own unique photograph of Erik Gundersen at Bradford. This is I am sure the last photo of Erik in action before his terrible accident.

This is the first frame of 16 sequence photo's of which I have never ever shown.

I sold the film to Motorcycle news but when we all realised the extent of Erik's injuries later that day no one wanted to run with it.



I believe it is the only international speedway race where all four riders never rode again. Terrible, terrible day. A superb speedway rider. I have considered producing an art painting of this my photo image but with Erik alone and no other riders and donate it to the speedway museum.

It is indeed quite a photo. I remember seeing it for sale on Ebay recently and recognising it as the run up to the accident.

For me Erik was my hero as a kid, I remember getting home from school on the Monday afternoon (we didn't have teletext so had no idea until the news the next day) and seeing the story on Midlands Today as one of my most vivid childhood memories.

I've only recently watched the actual video footage for the first time and what struck me was how fast it seemed to happen. Obviously only seeing still images you imagine something quite different to what actually occurred.

[Deleted]

jimblanchard said:

I believe it is the only international speedway race where all four riders never rode again.

That is an amazing fact Jim, I never realised that........ can you remind us of the other three riders in that tragic race?

[Genghis]

kevh said:

jimblanchard said:

I believe it is the only international speedway race where all four riders never rode again.

That is an amazing fact Jim, I never realised that........ can you remind us of the other three riders in that tragic race?

KevH,

From memory it was Simon Cross, Lance King and Jimmy Nilsen, all of whom did ride again, although I believe you already knew that

All the best
Rob

[donsking]

genghis said:

kevh said:

That is an amazing fact Jim, I never realised that........ can you remind us of the other three riders in that tragic race?

KevH,

From memory it was Simon Cross, Lance King and Jimmy Nilsen, all of whom did ride again, although I believe you already knew that

All the best
Rob

I don't know about the others, but I'm pretty certain that Simon Cross was involved in Gundersen's 'biggun', and I know he rode again, only to be involved in another massive accident that (I think) finished his career later on.

[jimblanchard]

Sorry lads, my mistake. Just an old fart error - I meant to say 'that day'. All four riders did not ride again during the meeting. And that has never happened before....

Unless, I have got that wrong too. ;D


EDIT: I also meant that the whole sequence of the 16 shots totally of EG crash have never been seen or shown. Seemed to have made a 'pigs ear' totally of that posting...

[Deleted]

admin said:

Yes, I recalled that year of domination and that Cordy Milne was heavily favoured to win the crown in 1939, until Mr Hitler marched into Poland. And, of course, the American's of that era, in the words of someone, rode foot forward and stayed on, while everyone else was leg-trailing.

I don't know who that someone was but that isn't entirely true. Foot forward was probably invented by the Englishman, Ginger Lees while Jack Parker and Eric Langton were other very early exponents of the art, well before the Americans hit the big time. Many English riders were foot forward by the late 1930s and some Aussies too.

I thought I'd better add this as Jim said in his newsletter that I would be around to add a few historical notes...

[MattJ]

donsking said:

genghis said:

KevH,

From memory it was Simon Cross, Lance King and Jimmy Nilsen, all of whom did ride again, although I believe you already knew that

All the best
Rob

I don't know about the others, but I'm pretty certain that Simon Cross was involved in Gundersen's 'biggun', and I know he rode again, only to be involved in another massive accident that (I think) finished his career later on.

Crossy broke his back in the 1990 pairs final (i think?) where they had 6 man races. A shame because he was flying that year and would have been a contender in the world final, I believe.

He came back again after this though and had some more very good years with Cradley (especially his partnership in 1994 with Pete Nahlin). I think his last year was 1996 with Coventry, but couldn't be 100% sure when he finished