Bruce Penhall

Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne had won the second ever title at Wembley in 1937.

As a previous World Championship winner at Wembley, Milne was a special guest of the meeting and saw Penhall break America's 43-year drought.

Bruce Lee Penhall (born May 10, 1957) is an American former professional motorcycle speedway racer who later starred in television and in film.

In 1976 he toured Israel and in 1977 Australia and New Zealand, before being lured to Cradley Heath Heathens in 1978 by Dan McCormick and Derek Pugh.

On his Dudley Wood debut against Sheffield in a challenge match, Penhall notched just a single point.

Never again in his British career would he score less than four for the Heathens.

In his second match - his league debut - he scored nine; within a month he clocked double figures and topped the scorechart for the first time with 13; in July he took over as club captain following the departure of Bruce Cribb and hit his first Heathens maximum; and by the end of the year he had achieved a season average of over 9.00 points per match.

After a slow start which saw Penhall and Kenny Carter in 3rd and 4th places behind 1976 World Champion Peter Collins and Australian Phil Crump, both riders fought their way past Crump and into 2nd and 3rd behind Collins.

Carter moved under Penhall into 2nd place at the end of the 2nd lap, and both riders proceeded to bump each other down the front straight with Carter emerging in front.

Carter then went wide through turn 1 which allowed Penhall to come back underneath him.

Carter then fell coming onto the back straight and went through the fence causing the race to be stopped.

Norwegian referee Torrie Kittlesen then excluded Carter from the race for causing the stoppage.

In 1979 Penhall won the Master of Speedway competition around Europe, as well as becoming the first American holder of the Golden Helmet match race championship.

He was runner-up to John Louis in the British League Riders' Championship and led Cradley to Inter-League Cup success and their highest-ever league position.

Also in 1979, Penhall rode in the World Pairs Championship Final at the Vojens Speedway Center in Denmark.

Originally to be partnered by Kelly Moran (the pair had finished second in their semi-final round to qualify) until Moran had to withdraw due to injuries from a practice crash, Steve Gresham was called in as Moran's replacement.

However, Gresham was left stranded at the Heathrow Airport in London (as was a hurried third replacement Ron Preston), Penhall was forced to ride the meeting with the reserve riders as teammates.

By 1980 there were more cup victories, along with SWAPA Overseas Rider of the Year, American National Champion, a first World Final appearance (scoring nine points).

He was the World Speedway Champion in 1981 and 1982 and rode for the successful Cradley Heath Heathens speedway team in the United Kingdom.

He would win 4 World Championships in total, adding the 1981 World Pairs and 1982 World Team Cup to his individual titles.

Penhall first rode speedway when he was 16 at Irwindale Raceway on the American west coast.

From novice status, he quickly established himself in the US National Championships, twice finishing in the top three positions.

The 1981 season was Penhall's all-conquering year.

At the last World Final held at the famous Wembley Stadium, 92,500 people witnessed Penhall come from behind to pip both former World Champion Ole Olsen of Denmark and later another Dane Tommy Knudsen on the finish line.

His only loss of the night was finishing second to England's Kenny Carter when he only needed to finish third to clinch the title.

Also in 1981, Penhall partnered with fellow American Bobby Schwartz to win the World Pairs Championship in Katowice, Poland, and alongside fellow 1981 World Finalist Erik Gundersen of Denmark (himself a future multiple World Champion), led Cradley all the way to their first ever league title victory, topping the individual league averages on the way.

On top of a clean sweep of all the SWAPA personality awards was a special citation from US President Ronald Reagan.

However, Penhall had less than one year left in speedway before moving on, firstly to the world of Hollywood movies and later to powerboat racing (where he would become a world champion again).

He retired from speedway racing the night he won his second World Championship in 1982 in front of his home crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In his relatively short career, Penhall appeared in 7 World Finals in all speedway competitions, including riding for the United States in the World Pairs Championship and the World Team Cup.

In 1982 he won the World Team Cup with the USA at the White City Stadium in London.

Penhall caused a stir at the 1982 Overseas Final, also at White City.

Heat 19 of the event involved 4 riders from the USA (brothers Kelly and Shawn Moran, Penhall and his childhood friend Dennis Sigalos).

Penhall, having already scored enough points to qualify for the World Final, deliberately finished last in the heat (ending his chance of winning the meeting) to allow Kelly Moran and Sigalos to also qualify for the Intercontinental Final in Vetlanda, Sweden.

English commentator Dave Lanning called it a circus, but also noted that it wasn't an unprecedented happening, claiming that riders from other nations had previously done similar in order to help their countrymen qualify.

Penhall went on to achieve his one last speedway ambition which was to win the Individual World Final on his home soil in America.

Heat 14 of the 1982 World Final proved the most controversial of the night.

He would score 14 out of a possible 18 points with four wins and two third places to finish in 5th place.

He did this by winning his last 4 rides (after finishing 2nd in his first) and finishing with 14 points for the night.

He then did what many expected and effectively retired from international speedway on the podium as reigning World Champion.