Thomas Ogilvie Miller (2 February 1924 – 12 June 1975) was a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider from Scotland.

Career

Miller was first noticed during the Scottish Winter training school and then won the best pairs championship at Bothwell Park during March 1950. He began racing for Glasgow White City Tigers during the

1950 Speedway National League Division Two The 1950 National League Division Two was the fifth post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Summary The League was extended again to 15 teams with the promotion from Division Three of Halifax Dukes, Plymouth, Y ...

season. He made an immediate impact by topping the team's averages and helping the team to a second-place finish in the league. The following season in 1951, he established himself as one of the league's leading riders with an impressive 10.70 average. In 1953, he continued to impress and recorded a sequence of 17 league matches without being beaten by an opponent in any race and in 16 home matches that season only dropped three points. In 1954, Glasgow did not enter the league which forced Miller to look for a new team, he signed for

Lanarkshire Eagles Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

for £1,500, the highest sum paid for a rider by a Scottish club at the time, and despite better offers from English clubs. His time with the Motherwell club was not a happy one and he asked for a transfer in July 1954. After turning down a bid from Belle Vue Aces, he joined the defending league two champions Coventry Bees and would top the team averages by the end of the season. After spending the 1955 season and the first half of the 1956 season with Coventry, he switched to Oxford Cheetahs for the remainder of 1956. He earned 18 caps for the Scotland national speedway team (including Scottish select matches). After speedway, he sold motor bikes and then cars but died aged 51.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Tommy 1924 births 1975 deaths British speedway riders Scottish speedway riders Coventry Bees riders Glasgow Tigers riders Motherwell Eagles riders Oxford Cheetahs riders