| Kel Carruthers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Carruthers on a 1969 stamp of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, incorrectly displaying the Union Jack. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 January 1938 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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]
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]
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 | |
| 350cc | Yamaha | GER 2 | YUG 2 | IOM NC | NED 4 | DDR 3 | CZE 4 | FIN 4 | ULS - | NAT - | ESP - | 28 | 2nd | 0 |
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