THE HERITAGE · CHAPTER 04

1928 to 2026 — a long British twilight.

From a wet Sunday at High Beech in Essex to the closed-roof stadium at Cardiff in 2026 — eleven decades of British speedway, threaded together.

British speedway started on Sunday 19 February 1928 at High Beech, Essex — a wet, miry field, a track marked out with petrol drums, and a crowd estimated by the local paper at 30,000. King's Oak, Hapenden and Crystal Palace followed within eighteen months. By 1936 the National League had been formed; the first Wembley World Final ran on 10 September that year, with Lionel Van Praag of Australia winning at Empire Stadium under floodlights and a 70,000 crowd.

The Wembley Lions of the late 1930s were the cultural high-water mark — Empire Stadium drew 85,000 to a single 1946 meeting in the post-war boom, the highest single-meeting attendance in any post-war British sport. The British Speedway Promoters' Association was formed in 1947. Through the 1950s and 1960s the sport's centre of gravity spread out — three divisions, 35 league clubs at the 1953 peak — before TV pulled families to home football and the league reorganised in 1965 into a single British League.

The world-title era ran through Barry Briggs (Briggo), six-time British League champion and 1957 World Champion, and Ivan Mauger, six-time World Champion (1968-1979) — joint record-holder. The 1980s belonged to Hans Nielsen and Erik Gundersen of Denmark; the 1990s and early 2000s to Sweden's Tony Rickardsson, who matched Mauger's six. The Speedway Riders' Benevolent Fund — speedway's equivalent of horse-racing's Racing Welfare — was registered as Charity 209302 in 1976, formalising rider welfare during the height of the sport's professional era.

The 1995 launch of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix replaced the one-off World Final with a six-meeting series. The Cardiff round became annual at Millennium Stadium (now Principality) from 2001 — the marquee British fixture, indoor with a temporary oval, 70,000 capacity. Belle Vue's National Speedway Stadium opened in 2016 — the first purpose-built UK speedway venue in 50 years. Bartosz Żmarzlik's first World title in 2019 marked the arrival of the Polish-rider wave; SGB Premiership branding took over in 2017. The 2026 season runs eleven Premiership clubs and the Cardiff GP on 11 July at Principality Stadium.

The eleven decades.

  1. 1920s

    1928 — first British meeting at High Beech, Essex (19 February). Belle Vue opens later that year.

  2. 1930s

    Wembley Lions dominate at Empire Stadium, capacity 100,000+.

  3. 1940s

    1947 — British Speedway Promoters' Association founded. Post-war boom.

  4. 1950s

    New Zealand's Barry Briggs ("Briggo") wins his first World title (1957).

  5. 1960s

    Ivan Mauger emerges — first World title 1968 (Gothenburg).

  6. 1970s

    Mauger wins his sixth World title (1979). Wembley closes for speedway.

  7. 1980s

    Danish era — Hans Nielsen, Erik Gundersen.

  8. 1990s

    Tony Rickardsson — first World title (1994).

  9. 2000s

    Rickardsson's sixth title (2005). British Elite League era.

  10. 2010s

    Polish-rider wave. Bartosz Żmarzlik wins his first World title (2019).

  11. 2020s

    SGB Premiership era. World GP at Cardiff continuing.

Four numbers from a century.

Different from the homepage four-numbers — these reach across the whole arc, not just the current season.

  • 1928First British meeting — High Beech, Essex (19 February). Six riders, four laps, no brakes. The model unchanged since.
  • 6Mauger's World titles — Ivan Mauger (NZ), six titles 1968-1979. Joint record (with Tony Rickardsson, 1994-2005).
  • 100,000Wembley Empire Stadium — the capacity that hosted Wembley Lions in the 1929-1939 era. The pre-war peak of British speedway.
  • 70,000Cardiff Principality Stadium — capacity for the Cardiff Speedway GP round of the FIM World Championship. The post-war peak.