Bob Dugard has revealed the family pledge which took Eastbourne speedway to its 80th anniversary celebration.

But, as the club prepares for its big day by staging a star-studded Elite League Pairs on Saturday, the rider turned promoter admits there is a 90% chance the Eagles will close down at the end of the season.

Dugard, 67, is stepping down as promoter and says no concrete offers have come in to take over the reins.

He is going out in style.

Most of the league’s top riders will do battle over 21 races in what should be a fantastic occasion at the East Sussex track.

It is a last hurrah, assuming there is no late relegation scare to breathe new importance into the four remaining league meetings.

Or maybe a lifeline, a chance to sell the charms of a unique stadium to a large crowd and TV audience.

The Dugards have been synonymous with Eastbourne speedway since Charlie, Bob’s father, bought his first shares in the track when he was still riding in the 1930s.

Bob still remembers Dad buying the track outright and restoring it to working order after it had been used as a Canadian army base during the Second World War.

A third generation of Dugards later took to the shale, most notably British GP winner Martin, who now trains young riders and carries out raceday chores behind the scenes.

However, with the club set to lose £50,000 or more this season and with a busy family business to run, Bob Dugard is pulling the plug this autumn.

Which could mean a future of Saturday night stock car action at the purpose built motorport venue owned by Bob and his brother Eric.

“My brother and I discussed it at the start of the season and said it would be criminal not to get to the 80 years in the old man’s memory,” Bob revealed.

“He was a prime mover for the club right back in the 1930s.

“We gave him our pledge in the last few years of his life that we would run the club for as long as we could and keep the stadium as a place of entertainment.

“He loved the fact he was providing people with entertainment.

“He was a true promoter. In the end he was 60 and busy with his business and couldn’t keep it up.

“There were no facilities there in those days but his crowds averaged in excess of 4,000.

“We used to get 3,500 for National League (second division) racing in the old days.

“The entertainment level this season at Eastbourne has been phenomenal.

“But unless something very dramatic happens I’m 90% certain the club will close and I can’t see anyone coming in and making it profitable.”

If Eagles go, it will not be the first time.

Dirt track racing, as it was then known, was launched at Arlington with a meeting made up of individual and team races on Monday, August 5, 1929.

In 1931, the track stood silent as action migrated to a new grass track venue at Horsebridge.

More significantly, the Eagles were taken to the Pilot Field in Hastings for the 1948 and 1949 seasons, attracting huge crowds before being evicted because of complaints about the noise.

Charlie Dugard shut down the Arlington operation at the end of the 1964 season having become disillusioned with the way speedway was being run.

Bob Dugard, TV commentator Dave Lanning and Colin Gooddy relaunched the club again in 1969 but the going has not always been slick since then.

Most notably, Dugard closed the club in the autumn of 1990 after they were denied a place in the top flight, only for speedway to return the following May as struggling Wimbledon moved to the Sussex track and were eventually taken over.

Dugard has also owned top-flight speedway rights at Oxford and White City.

Arlington’s remote location is a challenge. Hastings worked so well because it was in a built-up area but that was also its downfall in the end.

The Dugards have a file three inches thick from the time they tried to take speedway to Hove greyhound stadium.

Such a move would have brought them into line with rival clubs, who rent time at dog racing venues.

Yet Arlington can offer the charm, the atmosphere and, crucially, views of the action from outdoor terracing which few dog tracks can rival.

And Dugard hopes to show that off on Saturday.

“I hope to God we do justice to the event,” he said.

“If we put on a really good show we could yet attract someone to come in and keep the club running next year.

“If it’s a dead duck, people won’t want to know.

“For me it’s a possible turning point. We'll never have a better chance to showcase Eastbourne speedway.”