Curry full-time at Roth racing

[NickFalzone]

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11262

I'm not sure if Roth should still be on the track, although he has qualified well. Jay Howard seems to have some promise, and combined with Curry could be a solid mid-pack team at least on ovals.

[Wilf]

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11262

I'm not sure if Roth should still be on the track, although he has qualified well. Jay Howard seems to have some promise, and combined with Curry could be a solid mid-pack team at least on ovals.

If Marty hits the lottery or finds a sponsor, Jay could be a challenger for the pole in future races. Larry Curry loves the challenge of qualifying and considers it the first race of a two race weekend.

[NickFalzone]

also should add that, as much as we like to **** on Roth for backmarker performance and buy-your-own-ride, he's done a lot of good things for the league, and lately his team is at least somewhat competitive. Keeping talent like Curry in the IRL is good for everyone.

[Alexamateo]

When Dale Coyne started out, he was regarded as a joke, but has evolved into a well respected owner. I can definitely see Marty Roth following that same path. I think that if there was a high attrition race sometime this year, and Marty could somehow score a top ten, he'd probably call it a career. :p :

[beachbum]

When Dale Coyne started out, he was regarded as a joke, but has evolved into a well respected owner. I can definitely see Marty Roth following that same path. I think that if there was a high attrition race sometime this year, and Marty could somehow score a top ten, he'd probably call it a career. :p :Based on past behavior, if Curry continues his fine history of bending the rules, respect may be hard to achieve. Speed, probably, but respect?

I don't have a problem with Marty now that he has expanded and added Howard. He isn't just a rich guy playing at racer, but apparently trying to develop a race team. He could do a lot worse than becoming the next Dale Coyne.

[Vegasguy]

I just spent the last hour looking for information on Curry and found that
1. His first problem was the embezzling incident with Menard. He has since been to prison and released so I would consider that debt paid.
Would I take financial responsibilities away from him if he worked for me? Ahhh DUH!
2. The cars failed post Q tech at the first race because of a rear wing issue......... that's all I can find.
I sure would like to know more about it so I can make my mind up about incident.

[Vegasguy]

I just spent the last hour looking for information on Curry and found that
1. His first problem was the embezzling incident with Menard. He has since been to prison and released so I would consider that debt paid.
Would I take financial responsibilities away from him if he worked for me? Ahhh DUH!
2. The cars failed post Q tech at the first race because of a rear wing issue......... that's all I can find.
I sure would like to know more about it so I can make my mind up about incident.

[Alexamateo]

There's an interesting thread @ Trackforum talking about Scott Brayton's pole run in 1995, which may or may not have been completely legal.


We had discovered in testing ( a mechanic messed up the waste gates) that you could over boost the 55" valve by producing more air flow than the pop off valve could bypass. This is "old hat" and has been done in the past. As far as i was concerned this was legal as we used a legal pop off valve and just had to compensate the fuel map for when the valve opened.

The "popoff" valve in 1995 had two basic funtions. #1, to open at a preset limit (for the Buick, this was 55") and then #2 to control the amount of air flow bypassed when the valve was opened.

At this point i concentrated on the chassis setup for Arie and Scott as I had seen 1050 (corrected) hp at 62" of boost on the dyno. and anymore than this, the law of diminishing returns would set in as the exhaust back pressure would exced the boost pressure.

I had not realised untill the following year that U.S.A.C had spotted what was going on and increased the amount of bypass on the valve to stop over boosting. In responce, the team manager some how found a U.S.A.C seal gun and locked both Arie's and Scot's valve's solid for qualifying and then had them resealed.

Before qualifying, the team manager (Larry curry) held a meeting with Arie,Scott and myself and insructed than we use no more than 60" for qualifying. Uptill that time, Arie had always been a little faster than Scott in practice.

Arie went out to qualify first and as ordered dialed the boost in to 60". Before Scott qualified, Larry reached into the cockpit and cranked in 2" more boost. I found out later that Larry and Scott had a deal to split the pole money. After reviewing the data, especially the boost trace (i still have this data) Arie was a little upset.

At post qualifying tech inspection, both valve's where found to be illegal and U.S.A.C. requested that both cars be disqualified. The powers that be decided to let Menard keep the pole but fine them for tampering with the pop off valve. The fine that year for that offence was $8000, this was raised to $80,000 for 1996.

Neither, Scott, Arie or myself where aware of the illegalities, we just thought we where over boosting the valve.

The pay back was that U.S.A.C gave team Menard, 50" valves for the race. Larry Curry was bitching and moaning about a bad valve in the race (Arie still finished on the lead lap) The tech head from U.S.A.C (hi Mike, hope you read this) Asked Curry if we could please stop f**king each other.

Mike made sure that this situation did not occure in 1996 when Arie set all the records, but there again is an other story.

My take on Curry is that he's just a shady operator, always looking to get something by you. It's not necessarily a bad thing as long as you go into it eyes wide open. He's talented but you've got to keep your eye on him or else you're going to pay the consequences. With his reputation, I bet they went over Foyt's and Carpenter's cars with a fine-toothed comb after their Q-runs. :D