Ove Fundin was born in Sweden on 23rd May 1933. Ove got into speedway when he
purchased some equipment and rode at the Monakerna club at the age of 19, it was with them that
he toured Great Britain in 1953 to experience riding outside of Sweden. He soon left them and
joined the local Filbyterna side but moved to the Karparna club in 1957 to be near the Ullevi
stadium in Gothenberg to be close to a airport for his many oveaseas commitments.
In 1954, he rode his qualifying rounds in Europe then came to Britain to complete and
qualify again to reach the final, held at Wembley Stadium. During the winter months of
1954/55 he toured Australia, to gain more experience, and met five times Australian
champion Aub Lawson, who suggested that Ove should join the Norwich team and ride in the
British League. Ove was to ride for Norwich until the track was forced to close in 1964.
In 1955, Ove again entered the World Championship by competing in the Scandinavian and
European rounds and after winning the European Final in Oslo, was seeded direct to the Final,
where he scored ten points to finish fifth.
The following year 1956, Ove pulled off the
World Championship for the first time, plus again won the European and also the Swedish
Championship.
Above: 1956 and World Champion for the first time.
The Following year he was second to Barry Briggs in the
World Final but was Swedish Champion yet again, as he did in 1958 when he was European
Champion again. Ove was third in the 1959 World final but was European Champion for the
third time. The 1960's arrived and Ove was on top of the world when he beat Ronnie Moore
and Peter Craven in a run off for the World Crown that year, the season which also saw him
take his third Swedish title.
Above: 1960, Champion again with Ronnie Moore and Peter Craven
1961 saw the final run for the first time outside of the UK and Wembley.
It was held in Sweden at Malmo, virtually Ove Fundin's back yard. He won the World Championship
again for the second year running and also added to it, the European Championship, the Nordic
Championship and the first Internationale Champion held at Harringay stadium.
Above: 1961, World Champion for the third time.
The following year, Ove had to settle for third
place in the World Championships held back at Wembley Stadium, though he did take the
Internationale for the second time and won the Swedish championship again. Ove did manage to
take back the World Championship for a record number of four times in 1963, riding with an
injured leg, and for the third successive year, was Internationale Champion. Ove as a speedway
rider was setting records which were going to be very hard to beat.
Above: 1963 World Champion for a record four times. With Barry Briggs and Bjorn Knutson
In both 1964 and 1965 he was third in the
World Championship but he was Swedish and European, respectively; both for the fifth time.
1964 saw the end of Speedway racing at Norwich so after 1965, Ove went into semi retirement
but he returned the following year and lined up with Long Eaton. This year was the first
time since 1954 that Ove never
appeared in the World Final though he won the Swedish Championship once again.
Whilst riding in the 1967 European Championship rounds Ove was approached to ride
for Belle Vue. Ove had a dozen matches with them and topped their averages and qualified
for the World Final once again, and going for his record of 5 world championships.
Ove pulled off the incredible being crowned World Champion in addition to the Nordic
champion and Swedish Champion for an amazing seventh time.
Ove; World Champion for a record fifth time displays his trophies at Belle Vue
Since 1954, Ove had appeared in
fifteen World Finals and totalled 173 points and, from 1956-1967, he was never out of
the top three in the Final, except for 1966 when he did not compete:The golden years of
the '60's were over but the 1970's were only just begining. Having ridden for Wembley in
a brief
period in 1970, Ove and Sweden took the World Team Championship at Wembley and Ove was
Swedish Champion once again as he was in 1971, when he recorded his tenth Swedish
Championship trophy. Going again into semi-retirement restricted his racing to Sweden and
demostrations but in 1974, he joined a star-studded troupe of World Champions to race in
America, Australia and New Zealand. 1n 1975, Ove toured with the Rest of the World side in
Israel against the Americans and ended the series as their top scorer. Ove Fundin still takes
part in demstrations at the 'young' age of now 68, but this enigmatic native of Sweden was the
undisputed Champion of Champions.
