Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee: Scott Autrey

The next 2018 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee to be featured is Scott Autrey. He will be honored at the 74th annual Trailblazers banquet on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at the Carson Center in Carson, CA. Tickets go on sale here on Tuesday, January 2nd.

Scott Autrey: 2018 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee
By Joe Colombero / Photos by Scott Lee Daloisio

Scott Autrey was born July 9, 1953 in Maywood, California. Scott loved motorcycles and racing from an early age. His first race was at Perris in 1964, riding a Yamaha 80 with a GYT Kit. Autrey soon became a District 37 regular, racing often at Elsinore, Perris, and Bay Mare. He had a major victory when he won the 100cc class in the Rosarita Grand Prix in Mexico in 1968. In 1969 Scott became the ACA 125cc Champion at El Toro Raceway riding a Yamaha 125 twin. He repeated that title in 1970, plus added the 250cc Championship.

1971 was a busy year for Scott as he raced at Ascot, Daytona and the Southern California Speedway circuit. Riding a K&N Yamaha, Scott earned enough points to be tied for the Ascot Novice Championship with Scott Brelsford at the ½-way point of the season. He’d finished second at Daytona in the Novice Road Race and had the makings of a potential Grand National racer. All the while he was splitting his time between dirt track and speedway and was successful at both. Half-way through the season, Scott chose to focus on Speedway going forward.

In 1972, Scott turned his concentration to Speedway racing. He quickly became a top Speedway racer in the hotly contested Southern California circuits. He took a short break from Speedway in March to run the roadrace at Daytona, taking second place in the Junior class road race. Then it was back to Speedway where he also gained his first international experience racing Speedway in South Africa and Australia that year.

In 1973 Scott was recommended by the great Ivan Mauger to join the Exeter Falcons Speedway Team in England. Scott’s “high-line” style of racing was ideal for the fast Exeter ¼-mile home track and he was an almost instant success on the international Speedway scene in Europe. He raced full-time for the Exeter team from 1973 until 1979. He then joined the Swindom Robins Team in 1980, and the Poole Pirates Speedway Team in 1981-82 and was voted Team Captain.

All the while Scott was racing in Europe, he was in contention for the Speedway World Championship. He just missed the individual title in 1975, finishing second in the chase. In 1977 he won the Speedway Long Track Championship at Ascot. He won the coveted Speedway Golden Gauntlet Award three years in a row in 1978-79-80. In 1978 he took third in the Speedway World Championships. Then in 1982, Scott achieved the dream of winning a world title. That was the year Scott led the America Speedway Team along with Bruce Penhall, Bobby Schwartz, Kelly Moran, Shawn Moran to the 1982 Team World Championship. It was a great accomplishment and a crowning achievement to an amazing career.

During his career Scott was a successful dirt tracker, road racer and a World Champion Speedway racer. He retired from full-time racing at the end of 1982 after an amazing career that spanned nearly two decades.

The Trailblazers proudly welcome Scott Autrey to the Hall of Fame.

Let the countdown begin! Tickets will go on sale here on Tuesday, January 2nd for the 74th annual Trailblazers banquet, to be held on Saturday, April 7th, 2018 at the Carson Center in Carson, California.

As always, we will be inducting some of our legendary members into the Trailblazers Hall of Fame, as well as remembering friends we lost this past year. And of course it all starts mid-afternoon that day with the Tom Cates Memorial Bike Show presented by Hagerty Insurance.

The 2018 Hall of Fame inductees are Scott Autrey, Kel Carruthers, Debbie Evans-Leavitt, Bruce Flanders, Dennis Kanagae and Chuck Miller. Additionally, the family of the late-Tom White will be in attendance to receive his 2018 Dick Hammer Award, the Trailblazers highest honor.

In the coming weeks, we will be featuring a profile of our 2018 honorees, starting with Kel Carruthers. Be sure to check here often for a look at all seven honorees. And don’t forget: Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, January 2nd. The last two years we have sold out the first week. Don’t miss out.

Kel Carruthers – 2018 Trailblazers Hall of Fame Inductee

     For many years Kel Carruthers was one of the top riders and team managers in the world of roadracing. He was the 1969 250cc World Roadracing Champion, as well as a 2-time winner of the 250cc class at the Isle of Man in 1969 and 1970. In 1971, Kel achieved a milestone in America, giving Yamaha its first AMA National roadracing victory when he took the checkered flag at Atlanta.

     When he retired from racing, Kel went on to become one of the most successful team managers in the history of the sport, heading both national and world championship teams during the 1970s and 1980s. Carruthers managed the teams on which Kenny Roberts won his three consecutive 500cc World Championships.

     Kel was born in Sydney, Australia in 1938. His father owned a motorcycle shop and had been an Australian sidecar racing champion. The young Carruthers started riding at age 10 and entered his first race at 12. He turned pro when he was 15 and started clubman road racing a year later. By the early 1960s, he was the top racer in Australia. From 1962 to 1965, he won 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc Australian national championships.

     Kel went to Europe in 1966, and began to compete on the international Grand Prix racing circuit as a privateer. He progressed rapidly and by 1968 finished third in the 350cc World Championships riding Aermacchis. In 1969, Kel became an Aermacchi factory rider in the 125cc, 350cc and 500cc classes. At the Isle of Man, Benelli asked Carruthers to ride the company’s 250cc machine. Carruthers got permission from Aermacchi and won the 250cc class at the TT that year on the Benelli.

     Benelli was thrilled, and in an almost unheard of arrangement, Aermacchi allowed Carruthers to sign to race the Benelli 250cc the rest of the season. So Carruthers found himself a factory rider for two different companies at the same time. Riding the Benelli, Kel went on to win the 250cc Grands Prix in Ireland and Yugoslavia and clinch the 250cc World Championship in 1969.

     Kel was at the top of the sport in 1970 as he won the AMA 250cc Lightweight race at Daytona and went on that year to finish runner-up in the 250cc and 350cc World Championships riding Yamahas. Then, in 1971, he and his family moved to the United States and he raced that season out of Don Vesco’s shop in the San Diego area. Doing roadraces exclusively, Carruthers still managed to finish eighth in the AMA Grand National Championships, including his (and Yamaha’s) first AMA National victory at Road Atlanta riding a 350cc Yamaha.

     In 1972, Carruthers continued to race, but his emphasis was beginning to shift. That season he began working with rookie expert Kenny Roberts, taking care of his motorcycles and helping him learn the ropes at the roadraces. In 1973, Yamaha contracted Carruthers to run its U.S. roadracing team. And while Kel actually had a very good season on the track (runner-up at Daytona and Road Atlanta and winner at Talladega), but he becoming was more interested in running the team. Under the direction of Carruthers, Yamaha’s racing team was the most successful in the United States during the mid-1970s. Roberts won the AMA Grand National championship in 1973 and ’74 and the AMA Formula 750 (Formula One) roadracing title in 1977.

     In 1978, Carruthers and Roberts left for Europe to contest the 500cc Grand Prix Series for Yamaha America. Roberts won the world championship in his first full year giving Carruthers much of the credit for his success. Kel continued working as team manager and engineer for various teams on the Grand Prix circuit through 1995 when he retired from GP racing management. In 1998, Carruthers returned to motorcycling to run the Chaparral Yamaha National Supercross and motocross team and later the Southern California company’s AMA SuperSport road racing team.

     With a career that includes multiple National and World Championships as a rider and team manager, Kel Carruthers is more than a great motorcyclist, he is a living legend. The Trailblazers proudly welcome Kel Carruthers to the Hall of Fame.