Great Lakes - Would Cycle Speedway take off in North America?

Here, in the great Midwest (and southern Canada, we won't forget you) we have great glacial plains for touring, some of the best topsoil for cyclocross, and great forested areas for everyone's MTB fix. The single speed/fixed gear cult is firmly established in our relatively flat, fitting environment, and there are PLENTY of those vintage steel bike-boom frames and such under every old asbestos-laden household. This combination of relatively expendable bikes, single speed fanatics, and our gracious helping of dirt seems to equate all into one sport: cycle speedway. Really, I was totally unaware of this sport until I saw some videos online of it. It seems like this could really take off, because most recreational cyclists seems to be a bit intimidated by the formal atmosphere of a velodrome. I starting to expect that there would be leagues outside of Europe, but sadly I found none. Is anyone sharing my hope that this might be one of the next big things in [American] cycling?

Looks like fun, but yeah, it's going to need a cooler name to take off here.

Looks like fun, but yeah, it's going to need a cooler name to take off here.

Psychocross? I mean, really, the name would probably evolve into a catchier form, but I have hopes that we wont need that much modification to the sport. It has historical ties to Great Britain, but that shouldn't stop it, should it?

Turns out there is a pretty big league in Poland and Holland. Chicago could welcome the sport.

I'm a brit living in Southwestern Ontario. I used to ride cycle speedway a long, long time ago back in London, England. It was a fun sport and really cheap to put competitive bikes together. Even today it could be done on a very modest budget. I just dont know if it has the overall appeal to work in this market. It always was a sport that was more fun to do than watch. It also could look very good or absolutly dreadful depending on the riders, track, etc.
I'm 56 now and I would still have a go if there were tracks around here. I would also like to be involved with any project to get it started in N.A.

Here, in the great Midwest (and southern Canada, we won't forget you) we have great glacial plains for touring, some of the best topsoil for cyclocross, and great forested areas for everyone's MTB fix. The single speed/fixed gear cult is firmly established in our relatively flat, fitting environment, and there are PLENTY of those vintage steel bike-boom frames and such under every old asbestos-laden household. This combination of relatively expendable bikes, single speed fanatics, and our gracious helping of dirt seems to equate all into one sport: cycle speedway. Really, I was totally unaware of this sport until I saw some videos online of it. It seems like this could really take off, because most recreational cyclists seems to be a bit intimidated by the formal atmosphere of a velodrome. I starting to expect that there would be leagues outside of Europe, but sadly I found none. Is anyone sharing my hope that this might be one of the next big things in [American] cycling?

Is there really that much cycling interest to go around? Really?

There certainly is a good deal of interest in the midwest... to the point that picking which race is the "most important" around here in July or August is nearly impossible (on the road, anyway). Even with that, it's pretty much the same folks at every race, day after day after day. And many of them are already racing Track, Road, and Cyclocross. Or Mt biking and cross.

What new pool of people is this cyclospeedway stuff going to draw from? Or, is it going to pull people from other disciplines (like the velodrome... which is the discipline that seems can least afford it).

Cyclocross seems to have greatly benefited from occurring at a time when no other real form of racing exists. Consequently, anybody who turns the pedals in anger (even triathletes), can get in on the cross party. I don't see any new form of racing around here getting huge, unless it's inside, over the winter, and a good substitute for the trainer. And, even then I'm not sure it would grow very quickly (some of us don't like the idea of racing all year long).

The thing is that the cycle speedway crowd were one of those "stand alone" kind of groups in cycling, maybe a bit like BMK. There was a lot of riders that had no interest in other forms of cycling whatsoever. There is usually that kind of cross-over aspect in things like road-cyclocross-mtb which is understandable, but CS was so unique and somewhat obscure that it had it's own specific following. It was also super easy to get started in and like I said before the bikes were relativly cheap compared to other forms of cycle sport. I owe a great deal of thanks to CS for all that it gave me as a youngster and even though it may appear goofy to some will always hold a special place in my heart.

looks like nascar?

Kind of off topic, but it relates to cycle speedway. Does anyone know why they take their inside foot off the pedal when they corner?

Kind of off topic, but it relates to cycle speedway. Does anyone know why they take their inside foot off the pedal when they corner?

Seems to be a standard technique for high speed cornering on flat dirt turns. Used to be common practice in BMX racing as well, before they started making every corner banked.

I have no idea if it's some kind of center of gravity thing, of it's just to keep them falling over if their tires start to slide out. I suspect the latter.