Tommy Price

Tommy Price
Personal information
Nationality	England
Date of birth	(1911-12-02)2 December 1911
Place of birth	Cambridge, England
Date of death	1998 (aged 87)
Current club information
Career status	Retired
Career history
Harringay Tigers Wembley Lions Cardiff Nottingham Wasps	1934 1935-1939, 1946-1956 1936 1936
Individual honours
World Champion British Riders' Champion	1949 1946
Team honours
National League Champion National Trophy winner British Speedway Cup winner London Cup winner	1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 1948, 1954 1947 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951

Thomas "Tommy" Price (born 2 December 1911 Cambridge- died 1998) was an international Speedway rider. In 1949 he won the first Speedway World Championship to be held after the Second World War.^[1]

Career

Price started his career with the Wembley Lions in 1935 after only a handful of appearances for Harringay Reserves in the previous season. In 1936 he was loaned out to Cardiff and Nottingham. Within three years he had qualified for his first World Final.^[2]

After the war, Price rejoined the Lions and spent a further eleven seasons at the club until he retired in 1956. During that he was a member of the teams that won the National League Championship seven times, and the National Trophy twice.

Price was selected to ride for England in the Ashes series against Australia, but never toured overseas during the winter.^[3]

Following his retirement, Tommy opened a small engineering workshop in Wembley, North London where he was able to produce small quantities of specialist items for riders. Often these would have been economically non-viable for larger companies and Tommy was seen as a saviour by many a 'Rocker' of the day. Speedway faced a crisis at the end of the 1963 season when Southampton closed, due to the stadium being sold for redevelopment. Realising that the then senior National League could not continue to operate with just 6 teams, Lord Shawcross was appointed to lead an enquiry into the running of the sport. It was decided amongst senior promoters that a seventh team was vital to the continuance of the sport at a senior level, and it was decided that West Ham was ripe for a re-opening. After lengthy discussions and a large cash injection funded by the promoters of other National League teams, West Ham reopened after 9 years with Tommy Price at the helm as both promoter and team manager. Price continued in the role until the end of the 1965 season when he led West Ham to a unique treble, winning the British League, the KO Cup and the London Cup.

World final appearances

• 1938 - London, Wembley Stadium - 13th - 8pts
• 1949 - London, Wembley Stadium - Winner - 15pts
• 1950 - London, Wembley Stadium - 5th - 8pts
• 1954 - London, Wembley Stadium - 11th - 5pts^[1]

References

Speedway World Champions 1936 - L. Van Praag 1937 - J Milne 1938 - B. Wilkinson 1949 - T. Price 1950 - F. Williams 1951 - J. Young 1952 - J. Young 1953 - F. Williams 1954 - R. Moore 1955 - P. Craven 1956 - O. Fundin 1957 - B. Briggs 1958 - B. Briggs 1959 - R. Moore 1960 - O. Fundin 1961 - O. Fundin 1962 - P. Craven 1963 - O. Fundin 1964 - B. Briggs 1965 - B. Knutsson 1966 - B. Briggs 1967 - O. Fundin 1968 - I. Mauger 1969 - I. Mauger 1970 - I. Mauger 1971 - O. Olsen 1972 - I. Mauger 1973 - J. Szczakiel 1974 - A. Michanek 1975 - O. Olsen 1976 - P. Collins 1977 - I. Mauger 1978 - O. Olsen 1979 - I. Mauger 1980 - M. Lee 1981 - B. Penhall 1982 - B. Penhall 1983 - E. Müller 1984 - E. Gundersen 1985 - E. Gundersen 1986 - H. Nielsen 1987 - H. Nielsen 1988 - E. Gundersen 1989 - H. Nielsen 1990 - P. Jonsson 1991 - J. Pedersen 1992 - G. Havelock 1993 - S. Ermolenko 1994 - T. Rickardsson 1995 - H. Nielsen 1996 - B. Hamill 1997 - G. Hancock 1998 - T. Rickardsson 1999 - T. Rickardsson 2000 - M. Loram 2001 - T. Rickardsson 2002 - T. Rickardsson 2003 - N. Pedersen 2004 - J. Crump 2005 - T. Rickardsson 2006 - J. Crump 2007 - N. Pedersen 2008 - N. Pedersen 2009 - J. Crump 2010 - T. Gollob 2011 - G. Hancock 2012 - C. Holder 2013 - T. Woffinden 2014 - G. Hancock