Marian Spychała (3 April 1932 – 26 February 2015) was a motorcycle speedway rider and manager from Poland. He managed the Poland national speedway team.[1][2][3]

Marian Spychała
Born3 April 1932 (1932-04-03)
Pasierby, Poland
Died26 February 2015(2015-02-26) (aged 82)
Opole, Poland
NationalityPolish
Career history
Poland
1949–1956, 1959Rawicz
1958Wrocław
1960Tarnów
1961–1970Rzeszów
Team honours
1961Polish league champion

Career edit

Spychała started his speedway career with Kolejarz Rawicz during the 1949 Polish speedway season.[4] He remained with the club for eight years, in which time he won a silver (1955) and bronze medal (1954) with the team in the Team Speedway Polish Championship.[5]

After spells with Sparta Wrocław and Unia Tarnów he joined Stal Rzeszów for the 1961 Polish speedway season. He rode with the team for ten years until 1970[2] and won several team medals, including the gold medal for the league championship in 1961.[6]

In 1970, he was denied the chance to appear in the 1970 Speedway World Pairs Championship final because Poland did not send the team to the event despite qualifying for the final.[7]

He retired after the 1970 season and later began coaching. He gained significant recognition as the manager of the Polish national team manager in the late 1970s and the manager of the Kolejarz Opole team from 1994 to 2008.[1][3]

on 2 July 2015, the Opole Speedway Stadium was renamed in his memory and took the name the Marian Spychała Speedway Stadium.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Marian Spychała is dead". Przeglad Sportowy. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Marian Spychała". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b "A veteran who played a trick on the authorities. The legend of two Railwaymen". Sporto We Fakty. 26 February 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Historia Speedway Polsce 1949". Speedway History. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Polish Team Championship DMP". Speedway.hg. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  6. ^ "1961 Polish season". speedwayw. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  7. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  8. ^ "Stadion". Kolejarz Opole speedway club. March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2024.