Throwback Thursday: Road Race Start at Indianapolis Raceway Park (1972)

Larry Lawrence | November 16, 2023

Former World Champ Kel Carruthers Scored Victory in a Three-Way Fight

In this week’s Throwback we travel back 51 years ago to Indianapolis Raceway Park for the 10^th round of the AMA Grand National Championship in June of 1972. Riders power away from the starting grid for what was then called the AMA 250cc Combined Class (later called the 250cc Grand Prix class), featuring Experts and Juniors racing together on IRP’s 2.5 mile road course. Blasting off from the front row for the start of the 50-Mile Final are (l to r) Mike Lane (No. 44), Kel Carruthers (No. 73), Don Emde (No. 25), Kenny Roberts (No. 60) and Ron Pierce (No. 97). The race became a great battle between heat race winners Carruthers and Pierce and rookie expert Roberts. The trio went back and forth nearly the entire way. Carruthers popped the cork on the final lap and finally opened a small gap. Roberts ran second, but on the final lap over-cooked a turn allowing Pierce to slip underneath to steal away second. Also visible in this photo are James Chen (No. 21), Fred Guttner (No. 42), Gary Nixon (No. 9), Richard Cassetta (No. 2), Ray Hempstead (No. 99), Marty Lunde (No. 66) and others.

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