1996 North America Speedway History

Sweden Speedway News (added November 25, 1996)

1997 Canadian International Motorcycle SUPER Show - January 3,4,5
North America's LARGEST motorcycle show (over a quarter million square feet)
Toronto International Center - (905) 655-5403
Friday 3-10pm, Sat. 10am - 10pm, Sun. 10am-6pm
Admission $10. Kids under 12 and parking FREE
See you there !

Jan. 4, 1997 - SPEEDWAY and MONSTER TRUCKS
Kingdome in Seattle
Speedway racing on polished concrete
There will be 10 riders from the west coast, and local favorites, Pat Hafey and Frank Crane. This will be the first appearance of speedway in the Kingdome.

Speedway at El Centro, California ( on Interstate 8 in the desert east of San Diego) -Wayne at: The Flat Track Page says it was the 23rd or the 30th, Gary Roberts says it is Friday November 29th!

New photos have been added to the '96 Canadian National Speedway page, East Riders page, Chris Temple, Chris Slabon, Gene Bonsignore, Greg Comstock, and Mark Engel.

Fall Classic International Ice Racing Championships - EAST meets WEST! My photos are back! See the Indoor Ice Race (October 26th) in the Corel Center Arena, Kanata (Ottawa), Ontario, Canada.

California! Read the US National Speedway Championship Results from Tom Simrak, and see the photos that Gary Roberts has from the National. Also, see the California State Championship

Central California Speedway reopens as Fairgrounds Raceway Santa Maria.

Speedway Race Schedule and Results for 1996 - West Coast - Other Tracks

1996 CSRA Awards November 9, 1996

Indoor Ice Race promoted by Gary Densford, October 26th,'96 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

USA SPEEDWAY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP(Sept. 28, 96)

Central California Speedway is now Fairgrounds Raceway Santa Maria (Sept. 3, 96)

'96 Canadian National Speedway Motorcycle Championship results!

Canadian Speedway Racing Association total points for 1996
(This site will soon appear on a CD-ROM titled "Sports on the Internet" by Italian publisher, Jackson Libri. )

Victorville Speedway in California closes August '96

Canada's National Half Mile Schedule Changes (May 10, 96)

Niagara Speedway News (April '96)

Canadian Speedway Team Races In Sweden (April '96)

Fast Fridays Speedway in California has new management (Feb. '96)

Canadian Speedway Racing Association Meeting - Dec. 9, '95

Speedway in Washington State , Nov. 95 to Feb. 96

Canadian Speedway Racing Association Meeting - Nov. 11, '95

Canadian Speedway Racing Association Awards Oct. 21,1995

Old news from 1995

USA SPEEDWAY NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Interesting rumor heard last night was that Billy Hamill will not be coming over for the National and that his place will be taken by Eddie Castro. Whilst being a disappointment to the spectators, it would make life easier for favourites, Steve Lucero, Bobby Schwartz, Greg Hancock and Mike Faria. Lucero's chances took another step up on Friday, when he became California State Champion again. Gary Roberts

National Predictions

National Press Conference

National Results!

photos

Indoor Ice Race

Central California Speedway is now Fairgrounds Raceway Santa Maria

From: David Chan: I have closed the deal with the previous owner/builders of the track and I and my investors are the owners now. Fairgrounds Raceway Santa Maria will resume speedway racing with Division 2 riders with the intent of moving up to the Division 1 riders next season. Phil Collins school will be restored as interest in the Fairgrounds Raceway Santa Maria grows.

From: David Plivelich. The track is larger than Costa Mesa and was designed by Brad Oxley in the Ascot style. It is an awesome track and all of the riders seem to love it. Phil Collins is operating his Speedway School from there so if there's any one out there who is interested in getting into the sport, here's the chance to learn from a real pro.

Canadian Race Schedule Changes

May 10, 1996 - Major changes have been made to the half mile National races for this year, moving the three remaining national rounds into Ontario in August. See index.htm for dates and tracks/index.htm for track information.

Niagara Speedway News

Niagara Speedway has taken an aggressive step forward in '96, putting $8000 into advertising, producing a top level twenty page program for the spectators, and signing some great deals with big corporations like Labbats Beer. Call Jack Doan at (905) 835-2937 for advertisement rates for the 1996 Official Race Program.

Fast Fridays Speedway in California has new management

From: RC Jones Feb.28
The Latest from Sacramento:

Fast Fridays Speedway has been sold to Mark and Dave Joiner. Speedway will run as normal. (well nothing is normal in speedway) Phone number is (916) 878-race.

The best news for me over the weekend is that the American Final will be held at the Auburn track on May 18th. This is the highlight race of the year for a lot of us, and I am glad I do not have to travel 400 miles to see it...

It appears that there will be racing in Vallejo (45 miles east of San Francisco on I-80) stating at the end of July. Rick Delacy is the promoter and will try to run through Sept and maybe some of Oct. It gets real cold there after Sept, so I hope he can get a good 8 week season in.

Riders Meeting Dec. 9, 1995

At the meeting of the Canadian Speedway Racing Association on Saturday night, it was announced that Central Ontario Speedway will not be running events at Paris Fairgrounds for the 1996 season. Dave Havell, the representative of the Paris Agricultural Society says the track will be rented to anyone on a per event or seasonal basis. If anyone is interested in running speedway at Paris here are the costs and details...
track rental for practice events ( no public admission charge )....................... $50
track rental for practice events ( no public admission charge , with lights )... $75
track rental for events......................................................................................$150
ambulance rental ( required for events ) .............................................$52 to $200
Canadian Motorcycle Association sanctioning ( recommended).....................$50
The admission charged last year was $8, with a worst night of 50 and a best night at 300 people. There was no advertising done to promote the track, and with a little, the track attendance could be stepped up to a minimum of 300 to 500. Someone with previous sports promoting experience, that has connections with major businesses ( Molson Breweries, Rogers Cable, City TV etc. ), could easily draw much larger crowds. If no promoter steps forward to take on the job, the CSRA will try to run up to four events at the track ( perhaps closed to club ). The CSRA would prefer not to run a full season of events, as it would be beyond the capacity of our volunteers.

A separate news item, from the CMA, is that NO one day racing licenses will be available this season for riders. A visiting rider will have to pay the full year CMA membership of $60 for a racing license for sanctioned CMA events. Also announced, is the move by major motorcycle manufactures to have five representatives included on the board of the CMA. At this point, two are to be included.

The motorcycle show at the International Center on Airport Road in Toronto is the CSRA's big advertising effort for the year. It runs January 5, 6, and 7th and with a thirty foot booth, five speedway bikes, videos of racing and more, the CSRA hope to attract more fans and riders to our sport. I've written an interactive computer test for the public to time their reaction time at getting the clutch out . We will have that setup at the show rigged up to a speedway bike they can sit on. Printouts of their best time will be available to compare to our top riders. (so far it has shown the average person can dump the clutch in 22 to 33 hundreds of a second, racers can do it consistently in 16 to 17 hundreds of a second. Five hundreds of a second translates to four and a half feet at sixty miles an hour, or a bike length by turn one! )

Speedway in Washington State , Nov. 95 to Feb. 96

From: kelang@ix.netcom.com (KATHERINE LANG) Date:11/11/95 08:13:14 PM We are desperately trying to get speedway going here - in Washington and Oregon. Elliott Long Racing has just created the NW Speedway Racers Association, with a race series at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Battleground, WA. And Robin Nicolaides is working on a series for next summer in Portland, OR.
NSRA Series at Clark Co: November 5&12, December 10&17, January 1&14. Gates open at 9AM, practice at 11, racing at 12 noon. Fairgrounds are off I-5 at 179th St. exit, north of Vancouver, WA. Contact Elliott Long at (503) 666-2342 or Robin Nicolaides at (360) 687-0539 or me (Karin Lang) at the above address.

Riders Meeting - Nov. 11, '95

By Kim Gregory:
I have just got back from the first meeting of the Canadian Speedway Riders Association and have some great news. A deal is in the works through Patrick Ahlund (Quebec) for 7 or 8 of our riders to go to Sweden next year. Arrangements are being made for free accommodations, and Air Canada to provide transportation of the bikes. The riders will just have to pay for a round trip flight. Similar arrangements will bring riders from Sweden to compete in Canada. Another deal in the works by Ian Marsh, is that all Canadian riders will be partially sponsored by Castrol. There may be as many as 12 half miles scheduled this year (double the number run last year), and three tracks in Ontario running weekly speedway events (short track, 200 meters). The Wheatly track will be back in business, Welland and Paris, and maybe one more.... The Speedway Association will now recognize Division Three, and will record points and present awards next season to these riders.

The next meeting will be Dec. 9th, 7:30 PM. (at Kevin & Kim's in Brantford again) a pot luck dinner will be included.