Bradford Tudors

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The Bradford Tudors 1950 - 1958

At the end of July 1950 the Bradford Tudors replaced the Bradford Boomerangs. At the time it was said that the name change was due to the riders hating the Boomerang nickname, or maybe they believed that a change of name would herald a change of fortune. The Tudors of 1951 repeated the feat of the Boomerangs of 1948 and finished bottom of the National League.

The early post war boom was soon over and the attendances at tracks throughout the country were declining. One reason was the increasing ownership of televisions, which affected all forms of entertainment, but speedway was different from say football and rugby league because it was subject to entertainment tax. This tax was imposed on all sports, which were judged to be sports of speed rather than skill and in its wisdom the government decided that speedway was such a sport. In 1951 the tax was set at 52% and at this level of taxation it was little surprise that tracks increasingly found it difficult to attract break-even crowds, never mind ones to make a profit.

One bright spot was Arthur Forrest, a local rider who was the product of the Monday night training school, finished third in the 1956 world final. With the decreasing attendances it was not a surprise that at the end of the 1956 season that it was announced that league racing would not be staged at Odsal in 1957. In 1957 former riders Oliver Hart, Ron Clarke and Ron Mason took over as promoters and staged a number of open meetings and when in August Birmingham quit the National League as a result of internal speedway politics they took over their remaining fixtures riding as Bradford Tudors.

Leading Bradford Tudors Riders: Ron Clarke, Oliver Hart, Jack Biggs, Eddie Rigg, Dent Oliver, Arthur Forrest, Arthur Wright, Jack Hughes, Al Allison, Guy Allott, Nigel Boocock