smuff76 - 18 May 2008 12:08 AM

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I have far more respect for Marty Roth and Sarah Fisher than I do for Roger Yasukawa, Milka Duno, A.J. Foyt IV, Mario Dominguez, E.J. Viso, Mario Moraes, Enrique Bernoldi, and Jaime Camara, because Roth created his own ride, he didn't go buy someone else's or take someone else's cause of his last name.

I bet you like John Andretti. Guess what? The only reason John Andretti is in the race is...Marty Roth! The field count is higher at races because of Marty Roth.

If you don't think Marty Roth should be in the race. Fine, it's the other drivers' jobs to beat him. Do you think Alex Barron or Jaques Lazier should be in the race, then open up your wallet and write them a check! If Roth was not trying to qualify, Alex Barron and Jaques Lazier still would not be in the race, it would just be some other ride buyer. And I would prefer a person that fields his own car to a ride buyer any day. Because he actually put money into the sport. Because of Marty Roth, there is one less ride buyer in the race, cause he's fielding John Andretti's car with mostly his own money.

Fans that are so ignorant to how racing works just piss me off.

Who's money is it that Marty is using? Wasn't his father/family or something big into real estate or was it Marty himself who has built his mound of money? If he did it himself then you have a valid point IMO, if he is using daddy's money then I can't see how that makes him better than any of the people who are competitive who you just named.

When he first showed up in 2004, I saw him described as a real-estate mogul making it sound as if he might be a self-made millionaire. Recently, I have seen him described on this board as the son of a real-estate mogul who is busy spending his share of his late-father's fortune racing cars. The guy was also recently described on this board as being delusional about his racing ability as well as a jerk to his employees. The fact that his top engineer and several other employees recently walked out on the team tend to make Roth not look so great. His entire body of work in the IRL also shows he is out of his league in these cars. It is fine that the guy has been able to live out a dream by competing in the Indy 500, but he has had his day (3 of them in fact). Now he wants to run a full time race team, and this is a serious professional endeavor. There are full time employees depending on this for their livelihood. He owes them better than his sorry self as a driver.

SCCA93, guys like Roth with a dream (and in this case, Daddy's money) may have helped build the sport, but you could say the same about NASCAR or NHRA. This is now modern big-time racing (or so we would like to think), having talentless amateurs like Roth in there really adds nothing to it at this point, especially at a time when the IRL is desperately trying to reestablish itself as a top-tier motorsport.

AutoRacer5 - 17 May 2008 09:23 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 07:25 PM

StateBoiler - 17 May 2008 07:04 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 06:47 PM

creanandcrimson - 17 May 2008 04:54 PM

Roth is slow slow slow... 215/216 mph

Further proof he is out of his league and needs to pack it in. I am with the other guy who said a while back he disowns Roth as a fellow Canadian. What an embarrasment. I am glad he is no longer sporting the Maple Leaf on his car.

Well aren't you Captain Courageous.

Dear God I hate internet fans.

"Captain Courageous" WTF is that supposed to mean??

I am not an "internet fan" pal. I was out at the track today, got there at 3:30 waited for 2+ hr to see a qualifying attempt and what do I get? Roth the Sloth. I watched that fool piddle his way around the track in the 2004 race from my seat in the South Vista. He only once, that I saw, even challenged one of the other backmarkers for position - not long after plowed it into the wall. Like Little Al Guy said he needs to wise up and bring in a real professional driver to put that car in the race - otherwise he is just wasting fuel and tires out there.

Get there when the gates open, you might see some more action.

Having a bronze badge helps too.

Since I took my two young kids (who kept asking where Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart were) with me I couldn't expect them to last the whole afternoon so it was go early for the first half or go late for the second half. Turned out all the action was at the beginning but often Happy Hour is an exciting time to be there. It just didn't work out this time. :(

bmw_williams_13 - 17 May 2008 10:04 PM

Marty Roth will not make the Indy 500 this year....If there is no rain and it's a nice day tommorrow then Roth is dead in the water...Unless he can get the car up to 220 which I see him not doing he is done.....what an embarrasment to all Canadians that this guy is the lone canadian in the field....

Well this is a given. But you have to agree with alot of Stateboiler's post. I couldn't help but notice when Marty was removing his helmet, his hands were shaking so much he couldn't hardly release the chin strap. Adrenaline? i don't know. I watch for things like that. You could also see him lifting in the corners. Set up? I don't know.

WK680 - 18 May 2008 07:22 AM

SCCA93, guys like Roth with a dream (and in this case, Daddy's money) may have helped build the sport, but you could say the same about NASCAR or NHRA. This is now modern big-time racing (or so we would like to think), having talentless amateurs like Roth in there really adds nothing to it at this point, especially at a time when the IRL is desperately trying to reestablish itself as a top-tier motorsport.

Funny that only a few months ago, pre-merger, some of the same people who were so estatic that Roth was going to run two cars this year now think he should be shown the door. I don't remember anyone calling for Roth's departure when the field was at 16. Yes, the same guys with a dream built stock car racing and NHRA also. Two words = Alan Kulwicki. According to your "big-time racing" requirement, AK would have never seen the Winston Cup. There have been more "talentless amateurs", as you put it, come through the ranks than anyone can name. If Roth was just another ride-buyer, I don't think he'd bear near the scrutiny that he does by running his own team. Bottom line is this, if you are licensed and can afford it, you can race in whatever series you want until the officials tell you otherwise. With large enough fields, the fields will be "self-cleaning", as guys like Roth probably won't qualify anyway.

StateBoiler - 17 May 2008 07:04 PM

The people with money win 9 times out of 10 in every single auto racing series in the world.

Everyone racing has money. I think the smaller teams would be very happy with 1 out of ten.

LittleAlguy - 17 May 2008 06:37 PM

Branland, I think what we're seeing now with the Dallara-Honda is akin to what happened in Champ Car when everyone was running the Lola-Ford-Cosworth. Neither the Lola nor the Dallara are true spec racers unlike the DP-01 or the Atlantic Series or FIL cars and as a result the disparity between the haves and have-nots is pretty similar to what one would see if there were multiple engine, chassis or tire makes and one combination is far and above what everyone else has. The same way that N/H/L had an edge with their years of experience with the Lola and resources, the Big Three have experience with the Dallara-Honda as well as the finances to aid in developing the "go-fast bits". The least the series can do is to narrow down the rules and have a true spec car and take away some of the edge there. Preferably, they create a platform for multiple engine makes (privateer or manufacturer) and possibly chassis makes in addition to changing the rule package.

Very good analogy.

I’m hoping they go the new chassis route instead of trying to tweak the existing rules. I think this route would be much more attractive to sponsors for the smaller teams. But there is the initial cost that has to be overcome.

If they are looking at a new chassis the decision needs to be made within the next month or so since it will take about 18 months to get it up and running. A lot of things were being copied and now that the war was won, I hope they don’t become complacent.

WK680 - 18 May 2008 07:29 AM

AutoRacer5 - 17 May 2008 09:23 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 07:25 PM

StateBoiler - 17 May 2008 07:04 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 06:47 PM

creanandcrimson - 17 May 2008 04:54 PM

Roth is slow slow slow... 215/216 mph

Further proof he is out of his league and needs to pack it in. I am with the other guy who said a while back he disowns Roth as a fellow Canadian. What an embarrasment. I am glad he is no longer sporting the Maple Leaf on his car.

Well aren't you Captain Courageous.

Dear God I hate internet fans.

"Captain Courageous" WTF is that supposed to mean??

I am not an "internet fan" pal. I was out at the track today, got there at 3:30 waited for 2+ hr to see a qualifying attempt and what do I get? Roth the Sloth. I watched that fool piddle his way around the track in the 2004 race from my seat in the South Vista. He only once, that I saw, even challenged one of the other backmarkers for position - not long after plowed it into the wall. Like Little Al Guy said he needs to wise up and bring in a real professional driver to put that car in the race - otherwise he is just wasting fuel and tires out there.

Get there when the gates open, you might see some more action.

Having a bronze badge helps too.

Since I took my two young kids (who kept asking where Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart were) with me I couldn't expect them to last the whole afternoon so it was go early for the first half or go late for the second half. Turned out all the action was at the beginning but often Happy Hour is an exciting time to be there. It just didn't work out this time. :(

Don't things just suck sometimes? Anticipation sometimes is just blah. You were exspecting one thing & the kids were another.

I'll take two Roth's over one Dennis Vitolo.

Marty's far from the first guy with heart and desire and the funding to run at Indy, but at least in that category he's one of the best as far as what he brings off track, IMO.

Steve

WK680 - 18 May 2008 07:29 AM

AutoRacer5 - 17 May 2008 09:23 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 07:25 PM

StateBoiler - 17 May 2008 07:04 PM

WK680 - 17 May 2008 06:47 PM

creanandcrimson - 17 May 2008 04:54 PM

Roth is slow slow slow... 215/216 mph

Further proof he is out of his league and needs to pack it in. I am with the other guy who said a while back he disowns Roth as a fellow Canadian. What an embarrasment. I am glad he is no longer sporting the Maple Leaf on his car.

Well aren't you Captain Courageous.

Dear God I hate internet fans.

"Captain Courageous" WTF is that supposed to mean??

I am not an "internet fan" pal. I was out at the track today, got there at 3:30 waited for 2+ hr to see a qualifying attempt and what do I get? Roth the Sloth. I watched that fool piddle his way around the track in the 2004 race from my seat in the South Vista. He only once, that I saw, even challenged one of the other backmarkers for position - not long after plowed it into the wall. Like Little Al Guy said he needs to wise up and bring in a real professional driver to put that car in the race - otherwise he is just wasting fuel and tires out there.

Get there when the gates open, you might see some more action.

Having a bronze badge helps too.

Since I took my two young kids (who kept asking where Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart were) with me I couldn't expect them to last the whole afternoon so it was go early for the first half or go late for the second half. Turned out all the action was at the beginning but often Happy Hour is an exciting time to be there. It just didn't work out this time. :(

Your explanation is accepted. However, please explain to your kids that Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart do not race in ICS.

We will then be perfect (insert thumbs up smiley here).

SCCA93, I could not agree with you more. He is trying hard and believe it or not making progress. Just ask Dominguez, Papis, and Yasakawa.

Hitokiri2 - 17 May 2008 06:28 PM

Great runs by Bell and Rahal today. I expected Rice and Power to be more on top but I guess for both of them, finishing without incident was the big thing.

Yeah, Buddy was expecting to be in the 223's like he was in morning practice but the car developed a bad push when it was time for quailifying. I'd bet Power's issue was trying to still get the car dialed in from when he crashed earlier.