1970's part two

1976 Joe Owen, Tom Owen, Robbie Blackadder, Phil Michelides, Ron Henderson, Andy Cusworth and Tim Swales

Brian Larner, Ron Henderson, Dave Younghusband, Joe Owen, Phil Michelides, Tim Swales, Andy Cusworth, Tom Owen, Brendan Foster, Robbie Blackadder and Ian Thomas

If you were a fan during the 70's and 80's, you will remember the promoter who brought us the most successful spell of our 75 year history. Ian Thomas. Take a bow Ian!

Ian and I have corresponded recently and he supplied some answers to questions that I have reproduced with his permission below: -

A.. I felt after being closed for 5 years it was ready to re-open and fortunately I was proved right.

Q.. Can you remember the first team signings you made and did you expect the Owens to be so dominant?

A.. Re the Owen's. I knew they were good but to be honest I did not expect them to be as good as they turned out to be. Not sure who my first signing was but I relied on my Australian contacts so maybe it was an Australian.

A.. Just over 6,000 at the opening meeting in 1975. I had booked Ivan Mauger V Jim Mcmillan in a series of match races. The traffic tailed back to the Tyne Bridge.

A.. I didn't have a favourite line up. As a team manager / promoter I feel you have to be impartial.

Q.. Did you really bow to pressure from fans alone when we moved into the first division ?

A.. Financial - Newcastle was losing over £1,000.00 per meeting. That's a lot of money now let alone in the 1980's. It was the correct decision but it is always hard having to close a track.

Q.. Did you ever consider re-opening Newcastle again during its frequent closing down acts ?

A.. The high spots were the continued success the team had over the years. The low spot was having to close down and meeting Robin Stannard.

A.. Yes several were a pain to deal with so I got rid of them, most were good however -they were well paid. I showed them respect and they showed respect to me. That's how it should be.

Q.. How do you rate Newcastle's track for racing compared to the big tracks like Workington?

A.. I like both tracks but in general I prefer tracks where the crowd is nearer to the track. i.e. no greyhound track in between the fans and the track. I also prefer speedway under lights, it looks faster.

Q.. Were you offered a Lada by the sponsors and what happened to it? scrapyard eh?

A.. Yes, I drove a Lada for several seasons and provided you didn't have to go round corners they were fine! They also sponsored Hull.

A.. Yes / Like I was no good! - I was however, paired with Ivan Mauger once in a challenge match at Brough Park.

When I signed Nigel Crabtree he cost me £61.00 and I sold him for £6,000.00. I could not agree a fee with Scunthorpe for Nigel so we said that Newcastle would pay £100.00 for every point of his average at the end of the season. He attained a 0.61 average, hence the £61.00. He cam good later and I sold him for £6,000.00.

One of the most popular press conferences was when we signed Tom Owen for life. (we did release him later). We booked a model with hardly any clothes on and covered her in balloons - we told the press boys we would burst a balloon for each question they asked. It took about 2 minutes for her to end up virtually naked!

Scunthorpe came to Brough one Sunday afternoon. Their promoter Brian Osborne messed us about terribly! He would not let us water, we had a dustbowl and it took 3 hours to complete the meeting! The following day the diamonds were down at Scunthorpe. I took 4 rabbits with me and released them just before the first race! Their meeting was delayed by 45 minutes while they ran around catching them!

Thanks Ian for sharing all of this with us. Er? did you get the rabbits back? NO well here's a couple of mine

2 shots Newcastle V Glasgow or Coatbridge I think? I can make out Joe Owen at gate 4 on the right hand picture anyone help me with the others?

These show the Owen Brothers doing the biz in front Tom on the Left and Joe on the right in the days when Newcastle had riders that could race around Berwick

Brian Havelock was captain of the 1975 side. Here he is with son Gary who became world Champion in the 1990.s

Tom leading Joe on outside at Hull. Not sure who the riders are on the right hand picture. This was the Boulevard long since closed. Our Promoter Ian Thomas also operated the Hull Vikings in those days. Help me out with names etc if you can.

Dry and dusty Brough Park is hard to ride in any condition but spare a thought for the rider hidden by the dust and that section of the crowd about to be blinded.

This Aussie was popular at Brough Park. He was a wild racer and a great team man, he went back to Australia with Denise, a local girl who used to work in the offices of Newcastle's Fenwick's department store. Sadly all of my attempts to obtain action pictures and some news of him have so far failed. If you, like me were a fan of Mr Blackadder's then please come to the rescue and supply us with some pictures and news.

The name of the Australian "Blackadder" could even have its origins in the north east of England. There is a village and a river called Blackadder in north Northumberland. Hey Robbie you could be the heir to a country seat!

Rob Best tells me that Robbie was a bit careless at tying his bike onto the back of his car. He was on his way to Canterbury when the bike and car parted company. The bike was wrecked.

Another popular Aussie of the mid 70's side. Ron Struggled for a while then just as his talent started to become noticeable he decided to quit and become a social worker.

Ron used to ride around in a top hat on pre match parades, have you a picture of him wearing it?

4 pictures of Tom at Mildenhall supplied by Jim Blanchard. Do you know why our skipper was wearing home colour helmet covers? Maybe this was a four team tournament?

Tom riding in red away? Could it not be one of his many defences of the silver helmet, as the holder always rode in red? Also could be Tom and Mildenhall silver helmet challenger (one of the Hines Brothers?) The old bloke in-between was a very important part of the Tom’s set up. Its Bill Colghough his father in law who travelled with Tom for many a year and was a really friendly man, he’s been dead 10 or more years now.

His skill at riding Brough may have equalled that of Ivan Mauger, that is the biggest compliment I can think of to pay Joe. This crumpled picture is from 1976.

Phil was never a big scorer but he made effort every time he took to the track and when he was in front he took some passing.