Graham Drury, the former Workington Comets team manager, has died at the age of 71.
He had been involved in the sport for almost 50 years – as a rider in 1971 and a co-promoter when he finished in 2017.
A proud Welshman, he had been a regional grass track champion before moving into speedway.
He began his British League career riding for Rochdale during the 1971 season before switching the following year to Ellesmere Port.
He spent two years with the Gunners in the second tier of British speedway and built his average up to 9.03 and then 9.31.
After starting the 1974 season in good form he moved up to the higher division with Halifax Dukes.
The following season he joined Crewe Kings and topped the riding averages before moving on again to Hull Vikings in 1976.
In 1977, he topped the team averages for Hull and was their leading rider and then over the next three seasons was an ever present for the team until the 1980 season.
In 1980, he made the decision to race in West Germany, which was unusual because most of the world’s riders raced in the British leagues at the time.
He returned to Hull for 1981 before switching to Oxford Cheetahs in 1982 for the National league season.
After two years at Oxford he had a contractual dispute, which later led him to becoming a magistrate in Oswestry.
Following the dispute with Oxford. who were in the process of moving up a division and changing the face of speedway in terms of spending, he joined Long Eaton where he finished his riding career and started his managerial career.
After retiring as a rider Drury became involved in several speedway pursuits including promoting ice meetings at Telford with Ian Thomas the former Workington promoter.
He later became team manager for several clubs including Long Eaton and Workington Comets, under Tony Mole’s promotion in 2005 and 2006.
He was also involved as co-promoter with Mildenhall Fen Tigers and finally Birmingham Brummies, leaving there in 2017.
Former Workington Comets star Carl Stonehewer said: “It’s a very sad day. Graham obviously saw something in me when I was starting off at Long Eaton and gave me the push in the sport I needed.
“When I qualified for the Grand Prix series in Italy I had told Graham beforehand that I didn’t know whether I really wanted to qualify. But he said that if I did wouldn’t it be great to tell my grandkids that I had been a Grand Prix rider.
“I also gave him his nickname the Judge when I heard he had become a JP – and that name stuck throughout speedway.”
His wife Denise was a big part of his speedway career, particularly in later years when he was promoting the sport.
