Open Licences
Open Licences were common from the 1950s through to the 1980s but like a lot of other things have now slipped into history. They afforded the promotion the opportunity to test the water in terms of crowd support while at the same time demonstrating to officialdom that the venue was worthy of consideration for league membership. It was very much a probationary season and it would be expected that a successful year would lead to elevation. However very few tracks seem to have managed this. Kings Lynn way back in the mid 60s followed this classic route but few since have managed to emulate them.
Scotland has seen a number of open licence season at various venues but none of them could be deemed to have been a success. Lets look at the various attempts, examining the prevailing circumstances in Scottish speedway at the time and the difficulties the promotions faced, to see what happened, and perhaps more importantly, what went wrong!
Looking back at speedway history involves records, their interpretation and a bit of deduction too! As always,I would be really pleased to hear from anyone who has additional details or even some contradictory views! I can be reached at
Nicky Nicolson
Some other sites that may be of interest
White City's Final Years - a history of Glasgow Tigers 1964-68
Glasgow Dynamos Remembered - a history of Glasgow Dynamos ice hockey 1966-1986
Glasgow Cycle Speedway History
Hampden and the End of the First Division Era - a history of Glasgow Tigers 1969-1973