Kel Carruthers

Who is Kel Carruthers?

Kelvin "Kel" Carruthers is an Australian former world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He went on to become a successful race team manager.

Carruthers was the son of a motorcycle shop owner and learned how to work on bikes from a young age. By the early 1960s he had won the Australian 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc National Championships. Afterwards, he moved to Europe with his family to compete in the Grand Prix World Championship series riding bikes for the Aermacchi factory. In 1969, he was offered a ride with the Benelli factory and won the FIM 250cc road racing world championship after a tight points battle with Santiago Herrero and Kent Andersson.

After the 1970 Grand Prix season, he accepted an offer from Yamaha to race in America. Yamaha asked him to tutor a young American dirt track racer named Kenny Roberts. In 1973, Carruthers became the manager of Yamaha's American racing team. Under Carruther's guidance, Roberts would win the 1973 and 1974 Grand National Championship for Yamaha. 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. With Carruthers tuning the bikes and offering guidance, Roberts went on to win three consecutive world championships. Carruthers also managed Eddie Lawson to a 500cc World Championship.