16 Facts About Bluey Wilkinson

Arthur George "Bluey" Wilkinson was an Australian speedway rider.

At the age of four, Bluey Wilkinson's family moved to Bathurst, New South Wales, which he really considered to be his home town.

Bluey Wilkinson was working as a butcher boy when speedway first started at the Bathurst Sports Ground in 1928.

Bluey Wilkinson upgraded his machinery and the results came with it.

Bluey Wilkinson rode in the lower divisions for three seasons before he was offered a contract by the West Ham Hammers and stayed with the London-based club until 1939.

Bluey Wilkinson won the Dirt Track Championnat du Monde at Stade Buffalo in Paris during 1932.

At the inaugural Speedway World Championship Final at London's Empire Stadium in 1936, Bluey Wilkinson was undefeated to score a 15-point maximum.

However, as the championship counted bonus points from the Semi-finals, Bluey Wilkinson finished with a total of 25 points, one behind fellow Aussie Lionel Van Praag and Englishman Eric Langton.

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

In 1937 Bluey Wilkinson won the National League with the Hammers and in 1938 he won the ACU Cup with the Hammers.

Bluey Wilkinson 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 Eric Langton under a 'bonus points' system which operated during qualifying rounds.

Bluey Wilkinson 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.

Bluey Wilkinson was inducted into the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame in 2008.

Bluey Wilkinson was killed almost instantly with a fractured skull.

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