History

Racing on dirty oval tracks can be traced back to the start of the 20th century and it’s said that a race in South Africa in 1907 was the start of it all, for bikes at least. But the first recorded motorcycle speedway (or dirt track) event, where prize money was on offer, was in 1923 in West Maitland, Australia when Johnnie Hoskins organised the first truly professional event. This led to the first rules, regulations and the trademark sideways sliding action.

Hoskins and others headed to Blighty shortly after and imported their anti-traction antics here in 1928. The High Beech meeting in February of that year is generally accepted to be the first speedway meeting in Great Britain, as it led to the sport taking off around the country. Around 30,000 spectators allegedly turned up and the event appeared on the front of the Daily Mail. Only a year later Hoskins organized the first event in Wembley and the famous Wembley Lions were formed, as was proper speedway league racing. The rest is history…

Article Source:

http://www.visordown.com/how-to-do-just-about-anything/be-an-expert-on-speedway-in-5-minutes/14877.html