Herb to be at Homestead/other races

[drewdawg727]

Lets give them the benefit of the doubt for now and see if they're willing to move over.

[Easy Drifter]

It is not if they move over. It is when and how!!!!

[pvtjoker]

You don't want anyone to move over on an oval track, that's for road racing. On an oval you want a consistant line (from the slower car) so you can make your pass safely.

Right you are. Especially when it comes to Mr. Herb!

[Mark in Oshawa]

Not only move over, but know when to get the hell out of it.....like when the track is full of debris and spinning cars.....it is amazing how even good drivers can have brain cramps....

[Dennis H.]

Not only move over, but know when to get the hell out of it.....like when the track is full of debris and spinning cars.....it is amazing how even good drivers can have brain cramps....

Barnhardt has parked people like Roth after a few laps before and he will do it again if they are off the pace.

[grungex]

So why are they allowed in the race to begin with?

[grungex]

True, but it seems that if Roth has a history of not getting up to speed, they might want to reconsider letting him in anymore.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Everybody has to start somewhere. The question is how quickly, or do they ever, get up to speed.

Starter, I thought that was the whole point of the IPS? My argument for getting rid of it 2 years ago was they were bypassing it anyhow, and it was to "teach" drivers to driver ovals (and to teach Sprint Car guys to drive a rear engined car), but of course, the drivers that need to be "taught" to driver ovals usually have no business running in the IRL in the first place; and the Sprint car guys are all looking for NASCAR rides.

It is just silly to put people who are not up to speed in a serious way into the IRL. It is supposed to be the top level of OW oval racing, and to drop the standards here is a lot more dangerous than if you let some guy run at the back on a street or road course.

Of course, just another symptom of 30 good to decent drivers fighting it out for 40 jobs!!!!

[Alexamateo]

True, but it seems that if Roth has a history of not getting up to speed, they might want to reconsider letting him in anymore.

I think the ultimate hope is that they get Marty Roth to become a car owner. If they need to humor him for a while and let him drive some, so be it. He could eventually be to the IRL what Dale Coyne is to CC. (ever looked at DC's driving record.)

He did finish 2 races last year, 8 laps down at Michigan, and 4 laps down at Kentucky. Assuming no real problems in the pits that means being lapped every 25 & 50 laps respectively. That's not bad, and in the historical sense, it would be fine. It's only recently that cars have been so close that you have 10-12 cars on the lead lap. I don't think having slower cars on the track is that significant, in fact dealing with lap traffic is part of racing. Why was the 1989 Indy 500 so exciting? It was watching Emmo and Little Al deal with lap traffic. Sneva used lapped cars to get aroung Big Al in 1983. They used to regularly lap the backmarkers every 20 laps or so, I don't see why it's such a big deal now.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Starter, I concede Hiro is the best example, but for the most part, competance is shown in the lesser formulas.

As for somone up there saying how bad Coyne was, his skills are mitigated by the fact he had a VERY limited budget, and he raced the last stock block N/A motor in CART, so he was always 150 to 300 hp down the rest of the cars.

I used to enjoy that car running at Toronto in the early days, you could hear him coming with all the turbo's and then this stock car sounding beast with no sponsors would come by. HE wasn't fast, but he sounded cool.....

Dale Coyne is a true success story, and he came up with Dirt under his nails and ready to work, fight and claw his way into the big time. He is getting there now. Marty Roth on the other hand is a rich guy who is playing Walter Mitty behind the wheel, and if he did it behind the wall and pretended he was Roger Penske, rather than pretend he was Sam Hornish, then the IRL would be better off. I don't think his abilities as an owner would ever be that good, for if you cant see your judgement as a driver at 48 years of age as a problem, then you likely show poor judgement in other areas.