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Back to the future?
Speedway Rules
(Left) Here is an example
of what the Unlimited
Speedway Association
would like to see on the
track In 1994. This Jawa
model 898, owned by
Russell Racing, features
all of the current
speedway technology
Including the leading-link
fork, laydown
engine/lrame combination
and 22·lnch rear tire.
There are less than five of
these motorcycles In the
U.S, and they are Inelglble
for competition at Costa
Mesa Speedway and
Auburn Speedway.
(Below) Brad OXley's
Russell Racing-backed
Weslake Is typical of the'
current breed of
speedway bikes, which
have looked the same for
over 15 years. Note the
19-1nch rear tire and the
upright engine position.
OXley has also refrained
from switching to the new
leading-link front fork
assembly that was made
legal last season. This Is
an AMA-Iegal speedway
bike for 1994.
By Scott Rousseau
y its very nature,
speedway racing is
probably the simplest form of
motorcycle racing.
Riders compete on
methanol-burning fourstrokes with dry clutches
and no brakes. There's really
not a lot that can go wrong
mechanically, and when
something does the problem
is obvious. The same goes
for the races thernselves j
four laps and you're either
on your way to the main or
onto the trailer - no practice;
no second chances.
It's the behind-the-scenes
of speedway - the struggle
between the rule makers, the
promoters, and sometimes
trying to play both roles that can, at times, make
speedway racing as complicated as any form of motorcycle racing. And so it has
been tha t the start of the
1994 season - one which
many speedway insiders say
could make or break the
sport in America - has
already seen more turns
than the racers themselves.
Just like the previous five
years, 1993 was a difficult
year for speedway. Promoters agonized
over the dwindling crowds as speedway
- once one of the most popular motorsports attractions in Southern California
- fell victim to the local economy and
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was forced to compete head-on with the
myriad other forms of entertainment for
the spectator's hard -earned dollar.
Those speedway promoters who started
out the year well would later find that
they were just trading dollars at the end
of the year as slim head counts ate into
their first-half profits.
The economy has had a trickle-down
effect on the riders, too. In the early '80s;
a top-level first-division speedway star
could feasibly make $5000 racing four
nights a week in Southern California.
But the recent lack of good crowds has
brought about shrinking purses. Riders
