This is a shot of Carousel turn at Indianapolis Raceway Park during the early laps of a WERA National Endurance race in 1986. I love this photo, not just because of the number of motorcycles in the image, but it really tells the story of this turn. Notice the riders aren’t dragging their knees through here. Be it the track surface, or being in an open section that dust and dirt tended to accumulate, whatever the reason, you could not really attack the turn because it was so slick. I saw a 100 crashes in IRP’s Carousel if I saw one and it was always riders being a little too aggressive and leaning the bike too far. It didn’t help that most of the WERA races at IRP tended to be in early spring or late fall meaning the track surface was usually cold. That’s Dave Knapp, Taylor Knapp’s dad, leading the pack. Dave’s endurance team was originally called Free Bird Racing, but my wife accidently typed Free Bud Racing in the results we sent into Cycle News. Dave said the team liked Free Bud better so they kept the name.
Dave Knapp leads a large pack of riders through the treacherous Carousel turn at Indianapolis Raceway Park during a WERA National Endurance race in 1986. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
That was 1985 for sure,with all FZR field.If you think that was slick, Summits carousel was just as bad if not worse. The whole track took a different riding style due to its slick surface.
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Tony
So Summit Point was slick when it was dry too? Did they ever re-pave the track?
Larry
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The Summit carousel had a wide concrete patch most of the way around. It was slippery as cat snot in the dry, had to stay completely off it in the wet. I’m sure it’s been re-paved as Summit is now a motorsports park with multiple tracks.
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George
I think Summit was repaved at some point. Unfortunately IRP was never repaved and eventually it got so bad that motorcycles quit racing there. They make all their money from annual NHRA event, but it’s a shame they haven’t kept up the road course.
Larry
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That is too bad. But you know that the aftermarket bodywork guys were loving it! I think we left the majority of the bodywork behind at a wet Summit WERA endurance on a Kawi EX500 one year.
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