Chris Carr as a GP Rider

• Larry Lawrence

Chris Carr has raced just about everything you can in motorcycling – Grand Nationals, AMA Superbike, Battle of the Twins, Supermoto, Land Speed Record and so on. One thing that might have slipped some people’s memory was Chris Carr as a 250GP rider. Here’s a photo of him racing in the 1987 Daytona International Lightweight race, an event that regularly drew 250 Grand Prix riders from across the globe to race against America’s best. Not sure what happened, but Carr only went five laps and was credited with 51st place out of 61 starters. Former world champ Kork Ballington won the race.

Chris Carr racing the Ron Wood Racing/Hobie Sportswear Wood-Rotax in the 1987 Daytona International Lightweight race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Chris Carr racing the Ron Wood Racing/Hobie Sportswear Wood-Rotax in the 1987 Daytona International Lightweight race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

8 thoughts on “Chris Carr as a GP Rider”

  1. Larry,

    You probably know this, but for those that missed it, Carr is racing a 500cc four-stroke single against the 250cc two-strokes. Note the exhaust pipe.

    I remember standing in the pit lane watching Carr going out for practice. Wayne Rainey’s jaw dropped when he saw Carr just dump the clutch and the bike rocketed away. No fanning the clutch and paddling with your feet required.

    Tracy Hagen

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  2. Tracy

    Good point about the bike being a four-stroke single. I should have mentioned in the post. Was a 500cc for sure. I know one year the AMA was allowing up to 600cc singles in 250GP. I don’t think any of these four-strokes ever did much in the class.

    Larry

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  3. Not one of my finer days at Daytona. I had trouble getting heat in the tires that day and pulled off after a couple of near highsides. I did finish 26th( I think ) the 1984 250 race at Daytona. I road a TZ built by Dave Garroute with a little coaching from Danny Coe.

    Chris Carr

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  5. Chris, I think we shared a garage that year. I tested that bike for Ron in fall of ’86, and although really a joy to ride, it was no match for a 250cc two-stroke twin making (in that day) 72 horsepower. It would have been better to run it somewhere like Loudon (the original one), but you were really at a disadvantage on the banking at Daytona.

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