Tommy Pettersson

Swedish speedway rider

For other people with similar names, see Tomas Pettersson and Thomas Petersson (disambiguation).

Tommy PetterssonBorn|  (1952-12-29) 29 December 1952 (age 72)
Norrköping, Sweden

|

Nationality| Swedish
Career history
Sweden
1971–1979| Vargarna
1981–1988| Smederna
Great Britain
1977| Bristol Bulldogs
1977| Leicester Lions
Individual honours
1972| Swedish U21 champion

Thomas Pettersson better known as Tommy Pettersson (born 29 December 1952) is a Swedish former motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 7 caps for the Sweden national speedway team.[1]

## Career

[edit]

Born in Norrköping, Pettersson learnt to ride a speedway bike in England, at Olle Nygren's training school in Boston.[2] He made his competitive debut in 1971 for his home town team Vargarna, and won the Swedish Junior Championship the following year.[2]

He rode for Sweden in test matches against the Soviet Union in 1973 and England in 1974, and was due to tour England with Sweden in 1975 and ride for Reading Racers[3] but a broken leg from a racing crash ruled him out.[2]

In 1976 he signed for Birmingham Brummies but a dispute between Birmingham and Vargarna meant that he only appeared in three challenge matches for Birmingham.[4] He returned to Britain in 1977, first with Bristol Bulldogs[5] and then a longer spell with Leicester Lions.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Ultimate rider index, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
2. ^ a b c Oakes, Peter & Mauger, Ivan (1976) Who's Who of World Speedway, Studio Publications, ISBN 0-904584-04-6, p. 232
3. ^ "Three new stars for the Racers". Reading Evening Post. 23 January 1975. Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. ^ Jones, Alan (2010) Speedway in Leicester: The Lions Roar, Automedia, p. 157
5. ^ "Bulldogs free Swede Tommy". Bristol Evening Post. 24 June 1977. Retrieved 26 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.