Legtrailers

Strangely, dirt track racing evolved from a sport which had nothing to do with dirt.  A century ago bicycle racing was all the rage in the USA.  Special velodromes were erected to stage the racing.  On these tracks some of the cycle races were paced by motorcycles.  It wasn’t long before the motorcyclists began to stage races too.

This new sport quickly outgrew the cycle velodromes.  Timber was plentiful and labour was cheap.  Spurred on by former cycle racing promoters like Jack Prince, massive, banked oval tracks were built in many parts of the country.  As the tracks grew in size, so did the bikes.  Within a few years huge 1000cc. machines,  without brakes,  clutches or exhaust pipes were thundering round the near vertical wooden walls.  It was spectacular – and it was dangerous.  And not just to the riders.

A series of fatal accidents involving spectators led to a move away from the boardtracks.  By the nineteen twenties US promoters began to favour holding their sport on the many horse racing ovals which dotted America.  There riders developed a riding style which exploited  the tracks’ dirt surface.  Malwyn Jones is credited with being the first rider to corner using a broadside technique known as the ‘pendulum skid’.  Soon a controlled slide became the accepted way to corner on all  US dirt tracks.

Then, in late 1925,  three American riders, Cec Brown, Sprouts Elder and Eddie Brinck  decided to try their luck in Australia,  where,  unknown to them,  exciting things had been happening…..