Kel Carruthers

Kelvin Carruthers (born 3 January 1938) is an Australian world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing team manager.^[1] After his motorcycle riding career, he became race team manager for world championship winning riders Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson.^[2]

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Motorcycle racing career

Carruthers, as the son of a motorcycle shop owner, learned how to work on bikes from a young age, started riding at 10, and entered his first race at 12.^[2] By the early 1960s he had won the Australian 125 cc, 250 cc, 350 cc and 500 cc National Championships.^[2]

In early 1966, he moved to Europe with his family to compete in British and International short-circuit races,^[3] including Grand Prix World Championship events riding a Drixton Aermacchi,^[4] and for early 1969 season riding bikes for the Aermacchi factory.^[2] Halfway through the 1969 season, he was offered a ride with the Benelli factory and won the Isle of Man 250 cc TT race. After the Isle of Man TT, Aermacchi released him from their contract to continue as a factory rider with Benelli and, he went on to win the 1969 FIM 250cc road racing world championship after a tight points battle with Santiago Herrero and Kent Andersson.^[1]^[2]

After the 1970 Grand Prix season, he accepted an offer from Yamaha to race in America.^[2] Yamaha asked him to tutor a young American dirt track racer named Kenny Roberts.^[2] In 1973, Carruthers became the manager of Yamaha's American racing team. Under Carruthers’ guidance, Roberts would win the 1973 and 1974 Grand National Championship for Yamaha.^[2] When it became apparent that Yamaha didn't have a bike able to compete with the dominant Harley Davidson dirt track team, they decided to send Carruthers and Roberts to Europe to compete in the road racing world championships.^[2]^[5] With Carruthers tuning the bikes and offering guidance, Roberts went on to win three consecutive world championships in 1978, 1979, and 1980. Carruthers also managed Eddie Lawson to a 500cc World Championship in 1984.

Carruthers went on to work for several Grand Prix teams through to the 1995 season. In 1996, he took a job with the Sea-Doo watercraft factory racing team, helping them win several national and world titles.^[2] He returned to motorcycling in 1998 running a Yamaha satellite motocross team.^[2]

In 1985, Carruthers was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.^[6] He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.^[2]

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results^[1]^[7]

Points system from 1950 to 1968:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	8	6	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1969 onwards:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	Rank	Wins
1966	125cc	Honda	ESP -	GER -		NED -		DDR -	CZE -	FIN 8	ULS 8	IOM 12	NAT 7	JPN -		0	–	0
	350cc	Norton		GER -	FRA -	NED -		DDR -	CZE -	FIN 4	ULS -	IOM NC	NAT -	JPN -		3	18th	0
	500cc	Norton		GER -		NED -	BEL -	DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS -	IOM 11	NAT -			0	–	0
1967	125cc	Honda	ESP -	GER -	FRA -	IOM 5	NED -		DDR -	CZE -	FIN 5	ULS 4	NAT 7	CAN -	JPN -	7	8th	0
	250cc	Suzuki	ESP -	GER -	FRA -	IOM 12	NED -	BEL -	DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS -	NAT -	CAN -	JPN -	0	–	0
	350cc	Aermacchi		GER 5		IOM 10	NED 6		DDR 4	CZE -		ULS 4	NAT -		JPN -	9	7th	0
	500cc	Norton		GER -		IOM NC	NED -		DDR -	CZE -		ULS -	NAT -		JPN -	0	–	0
1968	125cc	Honda	GER 6	ESP -	IOM 3	NED -		DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS 6	NAT -				6	10th	0
	250cc	Aermacchi	GER -	ESP -	IOM NC	NED -	BEL -	DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS -	NAT -				0	–	0
	350cc	Aermacchi	GER 3		IOM NC	NED -		DDR 3	CZE 4		ULS 2	NAT -				17	3rd	0
	500cc	Norton	GER -	ESP -	IOM 6	NED 5	BEL 5	DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS 6	NAT 6				7	11th	0
1969	125cc	Aermacchi	ESP 6	GER 10	FRA -	IOM 2	NED -	BEL -	DDR -	CZE 9	FIN -		NAT -	YUG -		20	10th	0
	250cc	Benelli	ESP -	GER -	FRA -	IOM 1	NED 2	BEL 3	DDR 5	CZE 3	FIN 4	ULS 1	NAT 2	YUG 1		89	1st	3
	350cc	Aermacchi	ESP 2	GER 6		IOM NC	NED 7		DDR 7	CZE 7	FIN -	ULS -	NAT -	YUG -		29	7th	0
	500cc	Aermacchi	ESP -	GER 8	FRA -	IOM NC	NED -	BEL -	DDR -	CZE -	FIN -	ULS -	NAT -	YUG -		3	44th	0
1970	250cc	Yamaha	GER 1	FRA NC	YUG -	IOM 1	NED -	BEL 2	DDR -	CZE 1	FIN -	ULS 1	NAT 2	ESP -		84	2nd	4
1970	350cc	Yamaha	GER 2		YUG 2	IOM NC	NED 4		DDR 3	CZE 4	FIN 4	ULS -	NAT -	ESP -		28	2nd	0

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Kel Carruthers. Motogp.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Kel Carruthers at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame". motorcyclemuseum.org. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
^ Motor Cycle 13 December 1964, p.45 Still on form. "As a final warm-up for his forthcoming European race debut, Australian star Kelvin Carruthers won four races on his two-fifty Honda four at the Victorian Grand Prix". Accessed 24 May 2014
^ Motor Cyclist Illustrated, May 1968 pp.10, 12 Accessed 24 May 2014
^ American Motorcyclist Assoc (March 1979). American Motorcyclist. p. 30. ISSN 0277-9358.
^ "Kel Carruthers". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
^ Kel Carruthers Isle of Man TT results. Iomtt.com. Retrieved on 14 July 2014.