Corrections and Clarifications: This article was updated May 9, 2022 to reflect that the recordsetter.com record for the longest time in a roundabout was by Daniel Bird at four hours and 52 seconds in Townsville, Queensland.
A trip through one of the 142 roundabouts in Carmel might take a few seconds — maybe more if you slow down to look at a city-funded art sculpture at the center of one.
Carmel comedian Dave Dugan on Wednesday plans to drive around a city roundabout, not just for a few seconds, but nonstop. For as long as he can.
Dugan will return Wednesday to the roundabout at Horseferry Road in Carmel’s Village of WestClay neighborhood. It’s the same roundabout he drove more than 700 laps around in 2018 and the same roundabout recognized as the International Roundabout of the Year in 2016 by the UK Roundabout Appreciation Society.
Dugan, who grew up and currently lives in Carmel, will use the roundabout event Wednesday to raise money for Cancer Support Community Indiana, a nonprofit for cancer survivors and their families. This year will be Dugan’s fifth year participating in fundraisers for the nonprofit.
“It was definitely inspired by personal life experience with, you know, losing some really close family members and friends to cancer,” Dugan said. “So that was the reason for wanting to connect.”
The Guinness Book of World Records does not have a category for roundabouts. The website recordsetter.com says the longest trip in a roundabout was set in 2018 in Townsville, Queensland by Daniel Bird, who drove in an Australian roundabout for four hours and 52 seconds.
The record was previously set in Carmel in 2015 by Oran Sands, who drove three hours, 34 minutes and 33.24 seconds around a city roundabout.
What could be a four-plus hour drive in the Village of WestClay on Wednesday doesn’t phase Dugan, he said. He makes long cross-country drives to visit his family and sometimes for shows.
“I’m used to being on the road for 10, 12 hours or whatever, so I don’t know if that’s training for the roundabout thing, necessarily, but that’s why I think I can say that I can go that long,” Dugan said.
Dugan will be driving a Cancer Support Community Indiana vehicle during his time at the Horseferry Road roundabout. He plans to ask the nonprofit if they have satellite radio or something he can use to play music during the drive.
“I would go crazy without music,” Dugan said. “It’s what also kind of makes it easier for me to to drive a lot is music.”
