Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • I II ~ t America's most successful and controversial speedway promoter "T he man who said that Costa Mesa 's noise problems would be solved if someone put a silencer' over Harry Ox ley's mouth was typical' of those who see America's p remier (speedway) promoter as nothing but a loud m outh. In a country where those who shout the loudest often achieve the most, Ox ley can raise his decibel level with th e best, but his critics are generally motivated by jealousy and envy of his ability to survive and prosper. " So began a recent article on Oxley in the British Speedway Star weekly magazine . By Suzie Mann Photos by Denn is Greene , 1 6 sport. but in most cases he has been The past three seasons of racing have been a bit lean on the small southern California circuit, not quite reaching the heighths of popularity achieved during the 1973-1975 seasons, The team racing concept, attempted in 1976, fizzled; 1977 was plagued by a rider strike, and the past several seasons have seen a drain of some of our best 'n'ders to England to race in the British. League. Despite the loss of Scott Autrey, Bruce Pen hall, Kelly Moran. Mike Caruso, Steve Gresham and this season, Bobby Schwartz, Ron Preston and Dennis Sigalos , Oxley and the other SoCal promoters are optimistic about the future of speedway in California and America . One of th e' brg reasons for this optimism is the recent affiliation with th e American Motorcyclist Association, For the first time in II For the past 10 years since he and partner Jack Milne, former World Speedway Champion; revived speedway racing in this country, Harry Oxley has been a hrghly visible , out· spoken, and controversialfigure in this relatively small but hrghly charged form of circle racing, Oxley has been a prime mover in southern California speedway racing, and neither his critics nor his admirers will argue that he really cares about the sport , It is precisely this concern and a certain willingness to fight for what he believes to be the "best thing for th e sport" that has caus ed him to be so controversial. Some of th e other people involved in speedway haven 't always agreed with Oxley 's ideas of what u'as best for th e riglu, years, the southern California speedway circuit will not be running under its own association sanction, This affi"liation could have come about even sooner, perhaps last year, except that Oxley still had a lawsuit against the AMA involving a last minute pulled sanction of the 1976 annual U.S.. . s, the World match v races. The lawsuit has since been settled and says Oxley, "We have come to a meeting ofthe minds, " He would also like to point out that the one had absolutely nothing to do with the othe r; in other words, affiliation was not a term in coming to an ag reement on the lawsuit , Both Oxley and 'the AMA have been slowly heading in that direction for years. Oxley's hesitancy was based on the amount of time and personnel the national organization was willing or able to devote to speedway, One of the primary reasons for the affiliation, in addition to helping the sport grow, is that it wr1l help solve the rider drain problem either through a rider exchange program with the B ritish. League or possibly some ruling to bring Amen"can riders home for a certain number of meetings per year - a condition imposed by several of the Scandinavian countries for their riders who race in British. League, 'The expense ofreturning the rider to his home country several times a year is picked up by the British promoters, " says Oxley, "because if he wants a rider who is good, it 's worth it to him, He'll figure that in the cost of the rider's contract, Otherwise, at this time they are just ripping off some of our good warm bodies, and if it continues without any exchange, it could really hurt our sport here, It seems as though we are running a training school, and that s not right , "

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