John C Hyam says: I am John Hyam's eldest son, also John. Sadly, my father passed away on October 14th of last year (2023), of old age. He was 91.
I was very happy to see the page you have for my late father, and maybe you could add that he has now passed away.
I know there are numerous articles written by father on line, and I hope that they will continue to spread the word about the sport he so loved, Kind regards, John C Hyam 

Writer John Hyam says: This article originally appeared in the Vintage Speedway Magazine in 2007.  Jack Winstanley passed away a year after the article was written. 

When Jack Winstanley went along to former England rider Oliver Hart’s speedway training school in the winter of 1946-47 it was to get advice from him on how to tune a motorcycle engine for use in road racing.  “I had no idea that it would lead me to a career in speedway that was to extend for the next 22 years. It was a great and wonderful experience for me,” he said.

Winstanley was then just 20 years old. “I had been riding motorcycles since I was 14 and  desperately wanted to be a good road racer. Oliver was a renowned local motorcycle racer and I was confident that he could put me in touch with a good engine tuner,” Jack recalled.

“Oliver had laid a speedway practice track on his farm at Coppull, which was about four miles from my home in Lancashire. I didn’t know anything about this when I saw Oliver at his home, but he invited to go and have a look at his speedway track.”

Winstanley added, “When we got there I found a crowd of speedway riders and their bikes. Among them were Jack and Alec Gordon, Cyril Cooper, Eric Blain, Harry Welch, Ernie and Norman Price. Those in charge were Bill Kitchen, Ron Clarke, Oliver and Ron Hart. It was an impressive array of speedway talent.”

It was then that Winstanley made the decision that was to change his concept of motor racing. “One of them - I think it was Ron Clarke - persuaded me to try and ride an old speedway Rudge which was there for use by the real beginners,” Jack said.

“After watching the other riders and doing a few practice laps, I got the idea of what speedway was all about. I was very keen and became a regular at the practice sessions. I was always impressed when Wembley’s Bill Kitchen went out on the track - he rode so smoothly and made it all look so easy, something I admired. 

“In March, Oliver confirmed that he was behind plans to introduce speedway at Wigan’s Poolstock Stadium and he said that I was good enough to take part in the opening meeting.

“However, I was reluctant to commit myself because I did not own a bike that was up to racing specifications. Oliver then offered me the use of the bike he had raced during the 1946 season at Wimbledon. For his part, Oliver said he was buying a new bike for 1947, when he would be riding for Bradford. 

“And he struck a deal with me - I would only pay £50 for his old bike provided I signed a contract for Wigan. It was also agreed that the sale would be on a hire-purchase agreement, with payments taken from my points money.

“This was a wonderful offer and I agreed. So it was, I was included in the line-up for Wigan’s opening meeting the Easter Cup on Good Friday, April 4, 1947. I was plunged in at the deep end but took two seconds and a third place. In my first race I was second to Don Houghton but ahead of Cyril Cooper and pre-war England international Bob Harrison. Next time out I came second to Oliver Hart. It was a memorable debut for me and the start of a very happy time in my life.

“Another memorable first season meeting was a best pairs on May 24, when I partnered the renowned England and Wimbledon star Norman Parker. We finished third behind winners Bill Kitchen and Jack Baxter and the runners-up Ron Johnson and Geoff Goodwin. All great stuff for a first season novice.”

Over the years, Winstanley became ‘a man of many tracks.’ From Wigan he moved on the Fleetwood and Wombwell the following season. In 1949 he rode for Newcastle and in 1950 was at Leicester, then became a Long Eaton rider in 1951. After starting the 1952 season at Station Road, Winstanley moved on to for his first spell with Sheffield, riding for them until the end of 1953.

Then speedway went into its decline, tracks closed and many riders were without a club - Winstanley was among them. When the Provincial League started in the early 1960s, Winstanley had another spell in Sheffield’s colours, and also rode for the Greenfield Stadium team at Bradford in 1963, besides turning out for Newcastle that season.

In 1967, Winstanley joined the Nelson club. He recalls, “I really went to Nelson as their coach, but they always seemed to be short of a rider and I was a fairly regular starter in the team. My speedway career ended at the start of the 1969 when I was injured in Nelson’s opening meeting.”

Apart from his British teams, Winstanley also rode at the Chapelizioid track in Dublin in 1951. The following season he was a member of an international team led by Bill Kitchen which raced at Odense in Denmark.

He said, “Phil Bishop - the original ‘king of crash’ - was on that tour and I struck up a firm friendship with him. As a result, he took me on many other trips to Europe. In the early 1950s, Holland was very much a stronghold for speedway - the annual ‘Golden Helmet’ series were always well supported by riders from many different countries.

“I took part in several of these series in the mid-1950s. The nearest I took to winning one was in 1955 at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. I was beaten in a decider by the Australian international Bill Longley.”

He was back in Holland in 1957 as a member of the England team beaten 3-1 by the host nation in an unofficial test series.

Winstanley was also in a group of riders that leading 1960s promoter Mike Parker took to Rimini in Italy. “We did the pioneer work then for a country which has since produced some good international class riders,” Winstanley said.

Jack also rode extensively in long-track meetings in Germany and Austria. “On these tours I became very friendly with the Austrian star Josef Kamper. Towards the end of the 1970s, I lost contact with him.

“It was a shock to me when I tried to trace him a couple of years ago and heard that he was killed in a mid-1980s road accident, ironically on the way to a dinner organised by Ove Fundin to mark his achievements in the sport.”

As a rider whose career originally embraced the National League, then the Provincial League, Winstanley was quick to debunk theories that in its hey-day the two lower divisions of the National League were stronger competitions than the PL.

He said, “Take it from me, there was no difference in standards. It was equally hard in both of them to score points and earn prize money.”

Looking back on his career, Winstanley felt that his happiest time in the sport was the years spent at Long Easton. “And the greatest rider I was team partner to was the legendary Ivan Mauger when we were at Newcastle in the early 1960s,” Winstanley commented.

Outside speedway, Winstanley also rode frequently in road race motorcycle meetings in Northern Ireland and the North of England. Winstanley commented, “And I also drove midget cars in some of Mike Parker’s ‘Cavalcade of Speed’ meetings in the mid-1960s. These meetings also featured sidecars and stock-motorcycles. The midgets were fast but easy to drive, but in no way did they generate the same sort of excitement as riding a speedway bike.”

Fancy That!

RALPH HORNE, who turned to speedway in wartime meetings at Belle Vue in 1944, was previously a jockey. He later rode for Coventry and Sheffield in a career dogged by injuries.

IN 1947, Tamworth had two riders - Ted Gibson and Fred Yates - who wore spectacles while racing.

AMERICAN rider Billy Gray, who appeared as Doris Day’s younger brother in the 1951 film ‘On Moonlight Bay’ and later in ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’, followed this with appearances as Bud Anderson in the TV series ‘Father Knows Best.’ After ending his acting career, he spent the years between 1970 and 1993 racing on South Californian speedway tracks.

GEOFF DUKE, Britain’s first post-war road motorcycling ace, failed to make the grade on speedway at Middlesbrough in 1947.