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Before we can look at the origins
of the sport in the North East of England, first we need to visit the other
side of the world! Australia is where it all began.
History of Dirt Track Racing The Origins of The Sport - UK, USA
Or Australia?
The origins of the sport are not entirely crystal clear but it is generally
accepted that Australian farmers started it all. They were racing their
motorcycles around rough oval dirt tracks during the early 1920s. Early
motorcycle owners in the USA can tell a similar story but they did not have
a man like Australia's Johnnie Hoskins who had a vision when he watched the
farmers racing their motorcycles.
 In
1923, Johnnie was the secretary of the West Maitland (New South Wales)
Agricultural Show.
As a "side attraction" to the agricultural show, he introduced motorcycle
racing on an oval dirt track under floodlights. Speedway had just been
born!
From West Maitland it spread across Australia like a wildfire. Hoskins the
entrepreneur was so keen on promoting the sport he had helped to invent that
he soon had ambitions that lay outside Australia.
Pound signs were flashing, the UK was beckoning.
By 1927 Johnnie had set sail and arrived in Great Britain to introduce the
spectacle of Dirt Track Racing to the unsuspecting British public.
UK Dirt Track Racing
Arguments rage among speedway historians, although most agree that "Dirt
Track Racing" first took place in English Towns in the following order;
Camberley, Droylsden and at High Beech.
Camberley in Surrey, staged racing on 7th May 1927, although it bore
little resemblance to speedway. The "track" was mainly sand so this does
not really qualify as a Dirt Track.
Droylsden near Manchester was next, 25th June 1927. This track was
cinder covered (Cinders were a by-product of the local power station). Cinder
tracks became the norm at this time, presumably because cinders were cheap
and in plentiful supply from Britain's heavy industries. The Droylsden venture
suffered from council objections. It never "took off" as a venue.
High Beech in Epping Forest also attempted to stage racing in 1927
but their application for a license was refused until 1928. The opening meeting
at High Beech was staged on 19 February 1928 before an amazing crowd of 30,000
spectators. It was a huge success and High Beech is considered to be the
birthplace of British Speedway.
Dirt Track Racing On Tyneside
This totally novel form of entertainment immediately hooked a large section
of the UK public and the North East didn't lag far behind, with not one,
or two, but three venues.
The Newcastle Motor Racing Club Ltd applied to lay a track inside the recently
built horseracing venue at, Brough Park, Byker. A rival company Tyneside
Speedways Ltd., applied to use Newcastle's Rugby Union ground in Gosforth
Park and also the Rockcliffe Rugby Ground at Hillheads, Whitley Bay for dirt
track racing. These ventures had to wait until 1929 to stage their first
race
meetings.
  
Early programme cover pages from all three Tyneside tracks. All very collectible
items, Whitley Bay's Programme shows more imagination than the other
two.
At three pence in "old money" they may well have been more affordable than
any of today's programmes (priced at £2.50).
First up was Whitley Bay. They staged their first Dirt Track racing
on 20th April 1929.
The first ever Dirt Track meeting at Newcastle's Brough Park took
place on 17th May 1929.
Then Newcastle's Gosforth Park opened its doors for Dirt Bikes on
1st June 1929.
Whitley Bay may have been the first to open but unfortunately they were the
first to close too, although the Hillheads Stadium survives to this day as
a Football Club. Gosforth lasted until 1931 but by then it had played its
part in establishing Newcastle upon Tyne, as a Dirt Track centre. It was
left to Brough Park in Byker to entertain the "Geordie" speedway fans and
"Brough" remains as the city's only Speedway Track to this
day. |
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