Frank Varey (31 March 1908 in

Eldwick Eldwick is a small village near Bingley in the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire. It is split up into two main parts, Eldwick, the main populated part, and High Eldwick, the larger but less populated section, situated on Bingley Moor. ...

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 ...

– February 1988 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England) was a former international

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

rider who featured in 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 championsh ...

finals in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

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

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 ...

s, the forerunner to the World Championship, in 1932 and 1933.

Career summary

Rider

Varey began his speedway career competing in open meetings in 1928 before signing for the Belle Vue Aces who had joined the newly formed Northern League in 1929.Bamford, R. & Stallworthy, D. (2003) ''Speedway - The Pre War Years'', Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Varey began succeeding quickly but had a reputation of being a hard, uncompromising rider which often led him to disciplinary problems with speedway authorities, confrontations and occasional scuffles with other riders and on several occasions needing police escorts from stadiums after on-track action upset the home fans at other tracks. During the winter of 1929-1930, Varey rode in meetings in

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, where the local fans gave him the nickname of ''El Dibalo Rojo'' (The Red Devil) which further established his tough image even further. Varey was very successful at Belle Vue. After being made captain in 1931 following the retirement of his friend and rival Arthur Franklyn, the team won the National League Championship four seasons in a row from 1933 to 1936 and were leading in the 1939 season until it was abandoned due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Aces also won the National Trophy in those same four seasons. Varey was selected to ride for

in the first ever Ashes Test Match series against

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 ...

and was awarded the captaincy in the test held at Belle Vue.Foster, P. (2005) ''History of the Speedway Ashes'', The History Press Ltd. He continued to ride during the war and in 1944 won the British Wartime Championship.

Promoter

At the end of 1945 he decided to retire from racing and began promoting speedway at the

Owlerton Stadium Owlerton Stadium, also known as Sheffield Stadium, is a purpose-built speedway track built in 1929 which also hosts greyhound racing The track is in Owlerton near Hillsborough in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Greyhound racing takes pla ...

, staying as promoter of the

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. The Tigers traditionally hold their race n ...

until 1950 before a spell promoting the

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the Speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess. The cl ...

. Varey restarted speedway at Sheffield in 1960 in the

Provincial League Provincial League (formerly known as Professional League) also known as Pro League was the old regional Football league in Thailand in 1999–2008. It was founded in 1999 under the name "Provincial League" organized by Sports Authority of Thailan ...

and remained until ill health forced him to relinquish control. Varey returned to Belle Vue as team manager following the death of Dent Oliver the previous year but despite ongoing health problems he still helped with track preparation at Sheffield.Pavey,A. (2004) ''Speedway in the North-West'', Tempus Publishing Ltd. Varey died in February 1988.

World Final Appearances

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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 ...

- 15th - 3pts + 8 semi-final points *

- 17th - 0pts + 4 semi-final points

Players cigarette cards

Varey is listed as number 46 of 50 in the 1930s Player's

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible ca ...

collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varey, Frank 1908 births 1988 deaths British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Belle Vue Aces riders Speedway promoters