Marty Roth, Jay Howard, Roth Racing, TEAM, Team Enhancement Allocation Matrix, IndyCar Series, Margaret Roth, Jay Howard, Indy Pro Series, David Cripps, Indy 500, Spring Training
66 INDYCAR SERIES 2008 FAN GUIDE
UPWARD MOBILITY
While this year’s IndyCar Series will be bigger than ever
with the addition of some new teams joining the
show, it’s also getting a boost from an existing small
team that’s bulking up and hoping to make some big noise.
Roth Racing team owners Marty and Margaret Roth took full
advantage of the new TEAM program instituted for this season
by the Indy Racing League to bring a two-car effort into the
series. Marty Roth, a Canadian who has competed in the Indy 500
and selected other races since 2004, decided to move up full
time from the Indy Pro Series, along with a second car.
His teammate is 2006 Indy Pro Series champion Jay Howard,
who finally gets his first big shot at the IndyCar Series after he
was rideless in 2007. And these two drivers are already
expecting some good things from their team as they prepare to
go head to head with the major players in the series.
“I expect to be out there right away,” Marty Roth says, looking
over a hive of activity at Spring Training in Homestead. “We’ve got
some great engineering that we’ve never had in the past. When
you expand to a program like this, you can afford to hire the best
people. We’ve got David Cripps as our engineer and Jay Howard’s
an amazing driver; I’m looking forward to a very strong year.
“What we have on the team is huge. In the past we didn’t know
half of what we know today, and we haven’t even run yet – stuff
like what’s available to make the right decisions about the weather
and the tracks and how to work the cars in those conditions. We
didn’t have a chance to be competitive before; but with the
tooling and things that we’ve put together,
we’ll have a very competitive program.”
It would be easy to assume that Roth
will drive for one or two seasons while
he develops Howard into a racewinning
driver. But at 49, the Canadian
says he’s only as young as he feels.
“I plan on running as long as I can,”
Roth says. “I’m in as good a shape as
I was when I was 25 years old, if
not better, so why not?”
Paul Webb/LAT
Going from a part-time,
single-car team to a twocar,
full-season effort
isn’t going to be an easy
task for Marty Roth
(below) and his team
“I’ve been hoping
for this day for a
long time. It’s all
about timing. It
worked out well”
Howard intends to make the most of
this opportunity because he has fought so
hard to finally get his IndyCar Series break.
“I want to show everyone we are out to
mean business,” he says. “Last year was
very frustrating to not have a ride. One
thing is I never stopped training; I kept
training and kept hoping that something
was going to happen. I believe that with
what I’ve done in the past, I was worthy
of a ride and just hoping one would come.
MARTY ROTH
Paul Webb/LAT
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