Speedway in Peterborough began in 1970, following a failed attempt to race at the Peterborough Greyhound Stadium[1] and a subsequent successful application by Allied Presentations (headed by Maurice Littlechild) to race at the East of England Showground.

[4] The Panthers remained in division 2 (the National League from 1975) and recorded a best placing of third in 1972, headed by riders Richard Greer and John Davis.

[9][10] After signing Australian's Jason Crump and Stephen Davies to join fellow Aussie Mick Poole, the club's first major success arrived during the 1992 British League Division Two season.

However, the team dropped down a division in 1998, which brought immediate success, winning the league, pairs and fours.

They brought in three Australians, the returning Jason Crump from Oxford, Ryan Sullivan from Poole and Craig Watson from Newport, in addition to recalling Zdeněk Tesař.

Peterborough had a strong all round squad and included Danish trio of Hans Andersen, Jesper Jensen and Niels Kristian Iversen, in addition to Australian Ryan Sullivan.

Following changes to the rules for rider averages made at the AGM of the BSPA, the Panthers and Coventry Bees walked out of the meeting.

[15] As a result the BSPA omitted both teams from the 2011 Elite League for failing to declare their intent to compete.

[18] The BSPA offered a compromise which was initially rejected[19] before both teams confirmed their starting places.

After finishing top of the regular season table by just one point, they overtook the long time leaders Wolverhampton Wolves and by virtue of finishing top they elected to play Wolves in the play off semi finals, rather than the third or fourth placed teams Belle Vue and Sheffield.

[23] Peterborough then deservedly won the playoffs by beating Wolverhampton in the semifinals and Belle Vue in the final.

[24] The Peterborough team gained the nickname the 'Dad's Army' due to the fact that four of their riders were aged 40 or older.