AUB LAWSON INDUCTED INTO SPEEDWAY HALL OF FAME

BY DENNIS NEWLYN

SUCH A WONDERFUL honour in June, 2021 for the late, great Australian international speedway rider Aub Lawson who was inducted into the Speedway Australia Hall of Fame.

Not only very deserving and so very fitting, but long overdue for the man who achieved so much in his career at national and international level, especially in the days of the one-off World Speedway Championship (long before today’s Speedway GP was even remotely considered).

Aub rode in more World Finals than any other Australian rider with ten qualifications, he scored more World Final points than any other Australian speedway rider (84) and was third in the 1958 World Speedway Championship at London’s Wembley Stadium  after he scored 11 points of out a possible 15 point maximum.

Lawson also rode in more Test matches against Gt Britain/England than any other Australian representative (84) and scored more Test points (680) than any other Aussie.

In England he was a star for the West Ham and Norwich clubs and rates one of the most successful Australian speedway riders of all time who competed in the league.

He is also a multi-Australian and New South Wales Solo Champion. 

Who will ever forget his fifth state title victory in 1963 which, at the time, established a record for the event? 

Aged 49, he came out of retirement and on that memorable day at the Kembla Grange Speedway south of Sydney he beat two up and coming future international stars, Jim Airey and the late Gordon Guasco, in the title-deciding final.

Aub also was one of Australian speedway’s most distinguished promoters. For many years he was promoter at Perth’s Claremont Speedway and was also at the helm of Westmead Speedway in Sydney in the 60s.

Aub Lawson died in Western Australia on January 20, 1977 aged 62 of coronary disease.

Footnote: Aub Lawson also was inducted into the 2018 Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame.

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