History
The club was founded in 1928 racing at Monmore Green, and after a brief flirtation with speedway, saw its last pre-war meeting in 1930. It was 20 years later that the sport returned to the town.
During 1948 and the post-war optimism, record crowds were attending speedway events up and down the country. With towns keen to cash in on the boom, Wolverhampton's stadium owners applied to the local council for a track to be re-built at the original site. Australian Arthur Simcock set the ball rolling and was granted permission to promote speedway in Wolverhampton and finally his dream came true on 14 October 1950. The first to test the new track were some visiting Norwich riders, en route to a meeting. They declared themselves satisfied. Officially once again founded in 1951, known as the Wolverhampton Wasps, the racing keen fans saw a Wolverhampton team defeat Sheffield 58-26 (old 14-heat formula). With all parties happy, Wolverhampton were admitted into Division Three of the National League of the same year.
However the winter of 1952/3 was a tumultuous one for speedway in the Black Country. Cradley Heath had endured a tough season in the Second Division, but meanwhile Wolverhampton had enjoyed a solid Third Division campaign. Due to the events at Cradley, a merger took place between the two promotions and saw a new formed team racing in the Second Division at Monmore Green. (Dudley Wood closed and didn't hear the roar of speedway bikes until 1959). Wolverhampton were pleased with this 'promotion' and saw the only meeting where supporters had been 'locked out'. It was reported 12,000 fans turned up with many more scaling the walls. The first meeting against Stoke in their new form saw the Potters demolished 52-32.
This was however short lived and the side was thumped home and away in the early part of the 1954 season. A decision was made by the promotion and in early May of the same year, Wolverhampton closed its doors to speedway. It wasn't until 1961 when the sport returned to the venue again. Since 1965 Wolverhampton have competed in the top tier of British speedway with the exception of 1981 (second tier) and 1982/3 (inactive). Today, they race in the Elite League with a 15-heat formula.
Read more about this topic: Wolverhampton Wolves
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