Harold Frank Milton Arthur (born 12 December 1908 in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It is situated on a low flood pl ...

– died 11 September 1972 in Sydney)Biography of Frank Arthur
/ref> was a former international motorcycle speedway rider who won the first

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 ...

, the forerunner of 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 ...

, in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

.Jacobs, Norman (2001). ''Speedway in London''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Bamford, R. & Stallworthy, D. (2003) ''Speedway – The Pre War Years'', Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Career

Arthur first had success in Australia, winning the Golden Helmet there in 1927.Sandys, Leonard (1948) ''Broadside to Fame! The Drama of the Speedways'', Findon, p. 16 He was one of the pioneers of speedway in the UK. He brought

Max Grosskreutz Max Octavius Grosskreutz (born 27 April 1906 in Proserpine, QueenslandBamford, R. & Stallworthy, D. (2003) ''Speedway – The Pre War Years'', Stroud: Tempus Publishing. - died 20 September 1994) was an Australian speedway rider. Speedway car ...

over from Australia in 1929 and supplied

Dicky Case Roy George Arthur 'Dicky' Case (7 June 1910 Toowoomba, QueenslandBamford, R. & Stallworthy, D. (2003) ''Speedway - The Pre War Years'', Stroud: Tempus Publishing. - 1980) was an Australian international speedway rider who finished sixth in the ...

and Ray Tauser with machines and support for fifty percent of their earnings. Arthur was considered to have the fastest bikes in British speedway in those early years. Arthur rode for the Stamford Bridge Pensioners from 1930 until their closure in 1932. He returned to the UK in 1934 to ride again for the Harringay Tigers. He also represented Australia in test matches against

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 ...

from 1930 to 1934.Foster, P. (2005) ''History of the Speedway Ashes'', The History Press Ltd. He promoted speedway in the United States, and he was also involved in the business side of the sport in Australia, where he helped

to start his career. He promoted at Sydney Royale before losing the lease in 1938. He solved this problem by building the speedway track at the Sydney Sports Ground next door. He also ran midget car circuits in Australia. Frank Arthur died of a heart attack in Sydney on 11 September 1972. In 2007, Arthur was one of the inaugural 10 inductees 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 ...

References

1908 births 1972 deaths Australian speedway riders Speedway promoters Harringay Racers riders People from Lismore, New South Wales Sportsmen from New South Wales {{australia-speedway-bio-stub