Arthur George "Bluey" Wilkinson (27 August 1911 – 27 July 1940) was an international speedway rider. Wilkinson was Speedway World Champion in

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the authoritarian regime. ** State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France ...

after narrowly missing out on winning the inaugural Championship in 1936.

Early life

Wilkinson was nicknamed "Bluey" because of his red hair (an Australian custom). At the age of four, Bluey's family moved to

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in ...

which he really considered to be his home town. He was working as a butcher boy when speedway first started at the Bathurst Sports Ground in 1928. It was love at first sight for Wilkinson and he promptly gave up a promising

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

career and invested his savings in a battered old belt driven Rudge.

Career

On the Rudge, Bluey Wilkinson wasn't a world-beater, but when

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and international star rider

Lionel Van Praag Lionel Maurice Van Praag, GM (17 December 1908 – 15 May 1987) was an Australian motorcycle speedway champion, who won the inaugural Speedway World Championship in London on 10 September 1936. Van Praag's victory saw him established as Austra ...

came to Bathurst he loaned Wilkinson one of his spare bikes. In a battle of future World Champions, Wilkinson defeated Van Praag in a match race and his talent was recognised. He upgraded his machinery and the results came with it. In 1929 he headed for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in an effort to get noticed by rich Speedway clubs. He rode in the lower divisions for three seasons before he was offered a contract by the

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team, first promoted by Jimmy Baxter in 1929. History They operated from the West Ham Stadium until the outbreak of World War II under several different promotions, most successfully under the control ...

and stayed with the

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

based club until 1939. He went on to finish third in the

Star Riders' Championship The Star Riders' Championship was the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship and was inaugurated in 1929. The competition was sponsored by ''The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already m ...

in 1933. The Riders' Championship was the forerunner to the

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official champions ...

which was first held in 1936. Wilkinson continued to return home to Australia to race in the Australian season, usually October through April. 1935 saw Bluey win the

Australian Championship The National Second Division (NSD) – also referred to under the working title The Championship – is a proposed Australian national second-tier men's, soccer league, to be run by Football Australia and the Association of Australian Football ...

at the Sydney Showground. He would win the title again in 1938 at the 509m long Showground, winning both the three lap and four lap titles and on both occasions defeating

Wilbur Lamoreaux Wilbur "Lammy" Lamoreaux (born 26 February 1907 in Roseville, Illinois, United States - died 11 May 1963) was an international motorcycle speedway rider who qualified for three Speedway World Championship finals and never finished lower than f ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. At the inaugural Speedway World Championship Final at London's Empire (Wembley) Stadium in 1936, Wilkinson was undefeated to score a 15-point maximum. However, as the championship also counted bonus points from the Semi-finals, Bluey finished with a total of 25 points, one behind fellow Aussie Lionel Van Praag and Englishman

Eric Langton Eric Kemp Langton (27 September 1907 – 1999) was an English motorcycle speedway who won the Star Riders' Championship in 1932, the forerunner to the Speedway World Championship. League career Born in Leeds, England in 1907, Langton began hi ...

. Van Praag won a runoff from Langton with Wilkinson credited as finishing the Final in third place. In 1937 Wilkinson won the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with the Hammers and in 1938 he won the ACU Cup with the Hammers. However the pinnacle of his career was becoming

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 1938 at Wembley Stadium after finishing third in the inaugural Championship in 1936. He was unlucky not to win the crown in 1936 as he was unbeaten in five races in the final held at Wembley, but was relegated to third place behind winner Lionel Van Praag and England's

under a 'bonus points' system which operated during qualifying rounds. Wilkinson's 1938 championship win was considered a gutsy effort after he had actually broken his left collarbone in a meeting for West Ham the night before the World Final. Determined not to miss the final, Bluey had the

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

club doctor put his arm and shoulder in plaster. He ignored the pain he was in to win his first four rides before finishing a safe second in his fifth and last to clinch the World Championship before a crowd of 95,000. Bluey Wilkinson retired from riding in 1939 to become the promoter at the Sheffield Speedway. During his career, Wilkinson also rode for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in test matches against

and the

. He scored a maximum 18 points in each of the five Tests against England staged in Australia in the 1937/38 season, a feat he failed to duplicate the following season by only a single point. Wilkinson was inducted into the

Australian Speedway Hall of Fame The Australian Speedway Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2007 to recognise the contributions made to Australian speedway. In 2006 Speedway Australia formed the National Speedway Induction Committee (NSIC) consisting of competitors, promoters, medi ...

in 2008.

World Final Appearances

* 1936 -

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 Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

- 3rd - 25pts *

- Winner - 22pts

Death

After being involved in dozens of spectacular crashes during his speedway career and walking away from them all, Bluey was killed in a road accident in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on 27 July 1940. Riding a motorcycle with his wife Muriel as

pillion A pillion is a secondary pad, cushion, or seat behind the main seat or saddle on a horse, motorcycle, bicycle or moped. A passenger in this seat is said to "ride pillion". The word is derived from the Scottish Gaelic for "little rug", ''pillean' ...

he was struck by a lorry which had swerved to avoid a car. He was killed almost instantly with a fractured skull. Muriel survived the accident physically with only little more than a few cuts and bruises.

Players cigarette cards

Wilkinson is listed as number 48 of 50 in the 1930s Player's cigarette card collection.

External links

Bluey Wilkinson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Bluey 1911 births 1940 deaths Australian speedway riders Individual Speedway World Champions Sportsmen from New South Wales West Ham Hammers riders Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in New South Wales Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees