The 1956 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 11th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The World final was sponsored by the Sunday Dispatch and was televised live. Despite being televised a crowd of 65,000 saw the first Scandinavian winner in 23 year old

Ove Fundin Ove Fundin (born 23 May 1933) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1951 to 1970. Fundin is notable for winning the Speedway World Champ ...

from Sweden.

Nordic Final

*8 June 1956 *

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

* First 7 to European final

Continental Final

Fritz Dirtl Friedrich "Fritz" Dirtl (1928–1956) was an international speedway rider from Austria. Speedway career Dirtl was a two times champion of Austria after winning the Austrian Individual Speedway Championship in 1949 and 1951. He was also a six ...

was tragically killed competing in the Continental final. He was involved in a crash with fellow Austrian rider

Josef Kamper Josef Kamper (1925–1984) was an international Motorcycle speedway, speedway rider from Austria. Speedway career Kamper was a five times champion of Austria after winning the Austrian Individual Speedway Championship in 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958 ...

and the fell into the path of

Mieczysław Połukard Mieczysław Połukard (1930 in Warsaw, Poland – 26 October 1985 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) was a Polish motorcycle speedway rider and coach, the first Polish rider to ride in the Individual World Championship Final in 1959 and won the World Team Cu ...

. *10 June 1956 * Oberhausen * First 7 to European Final

Championship Round

Venues
*7 events in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

*( Peter Craven seeded to World final)
Scores
First 11 to World final + 1 reserve

European Final

*8 July 1956 *

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

* First 4 to World final plus 1 reserve

World final

*22 September 1956 *

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Classification

References

{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

Individual World Championship Individual Speedway World Championship Individual Speedway World Championship Speedway competitions in the United Kingdom