VOLUME 58 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 5, 2021 P115
speedway racer. The modifica-
tions didn't work very well, but
Cordy didn't care—he was into
racing. And he was soon to bring
his big brother into the sport with
him.
In 1933, a pair of Comerford-
JAPs arrived from England
for Jack and Cordy. Jack was
impressed by his little brother's
earnings and decided they
could make a living from rac-
ing. He sold his service station
and bought the speedway bikes
for $300 each. With their new
speedway racing bikes—featur-
ing 500cc single-cylinder motors
with a 16:1 compression ratio,
methanol-fueled and weighing
just 200 pounds while produc-
ing some 40 horsepower—both
Milne brothers began winning a
lot of races on little short tracks
and high-school cinder tracks,
running tracks up and down the
West Coast. And they were mak-
ing $15 to $30 per night each.
"There were six or seven sta-
dium tracks in Southern California
and an equal number up north,"
Jack said. "Gilmore Stadium, at
3rd and Fairfax in Los Angeles
held 18,000. Sacramento's sta-
dium held 15,000, and they were
regularly filled. California didn't
have other pro sports and motor-
cycle racing was big time."
Gilmore Oil became the broth-
ers' sponsor and the company
picked up the tab for a trailer,
gas, oil, tires and other expenses.
In 1934 Jack was involved in
a hard crash with Putt Moss-
man, which resulted in crushed
vertebrae for Jack—an injury that
nearly ended his racing career.
Jack recovered from his
injuries and returned to racing to
finish runner-up to his brother in
the 1935 American Speedway
National Championship. That
winter, the Milnes went to San
Francisco and hopped on a ship
to Australia, having accepted an
offer to race Down Under.
"In those days, there weren't
any jets, so it took a good two
months just to travel to Australia
and England," Milne said. "You
could buy an around-the-world
ticket for $350. We paid our own
way to Australia, so if we didn't
win, we didn't get home."
There, the brothers found the
Aussie tracks were of a much
higher standard than what they
were used to in America. Jack
had a solid foreign racing debut
by finishing third in the 1936
Australian Speedway Champion-
ship, despite having to learn to
do standing starts (American
races at the time were down with
rolling starts).
In 1936, Jack finally bested
his little brother and won the
U.S. title. Again, they went to
Australia for the off-season and
it started what would become a
historic year for Jack. He won
the Australian title that year over
fellow American Wilbur Lamor-
eaux. From there, he moved to
England to contest the popular
and lucrative-paying British
League. Six weeks by ship from
Australia to England through the
Suez Canal gave Jack and Cordy
plenty of time to work on their
bikes below deck.
British League Speedway was
a team sport, and even though
less than a decade old, it was
Jack Milne: AMERICA'S
FIRST WORLD CHAMPION
