Herb to be at Homestead/other races

[Alexamateo]

It'll be nice, Marty Roth will have someone to race with :D

Tracksideonline.com reporting John Herb will be at Homestead and 4-6 other oval events this year with his own team.

[canada]

Yikes!!! I don't know about you guys, but how concerned are you when you see top-notch drivers like Wheldon or Hornish racing for professional teams, on an oval track with guys like Roth and Herb running two-bit operations. Maybe its just me, but I worry about the safety of those involved on race weekends.

[O&A Virus]

Be steady my heart...

[Mark in Oshawa]

When you need 20 cars in a field to make it appealing, you look the other way at times. Marty shouldn't be racing at this level, and neither should Herb. Do we need another Dana incident?? At least Dana showed promise, I suspect Herb and Roth are chasing a dream that neither one will even come close to fulfilling...

[canada]

When you need 20 cars in a field to make it appealing, you look the other way at times. Marty shouldn't be racing at this level, and neither should Herb. Do we need another Dana incident?? At least Dana showed promise, I suspect Herb and Roth are chasing a dream that neither one will even come close to fulfilling...


Agreed, but at some point, its better press to start the season with 18 drivers and end it with them too.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Canada, I agree with you there. Another death in the IRL by some no hoper would just about expose this field filling stuff even if it isn't official IRL policy.

[ChampUSfan]

Do we need another Dana incident?? At least Dana showed promise, I suspect Herb and Roth are chasing a dream that neither one will even come close to fulfilling...

Mark, you can't compare Dana and Roth & Herb. For me Paul Dana had a dream and he was very promising. he was an American rising star. He was ready to drive in IRL cause he finished second in the IPS standings in 2004. For me, IPS is the ladder-serie of the IRL so it must bring good promising drivers to the top (IRL). But Roth and Herb, I am completely agree with you. I don't really see why they are in IndyCar cause they are not promising and I also feel scared for the security of other drivers. Let's hope a 2007 season without another death.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Champ, Dana should have been a good driver and in many ways we wont know how good he was. That said, I watched that accident over and over again because it was played too much, and I cant figure out what was going on in Dana's head. It has been beaten to death before how Dana never slowed down in a situation where he should have, but that is something that no one knows what happened. The point is Herb and Roth are not even in the same class with Dana, and if Dana could make one error in such a common situation, I shudder when I see Roth and Herb out there.....

[ChampUSfan]

Champ, Dana should have been a good driver and in many ways we wont know how good he was. That said, I watched that accident over and over again because it was played too much, and I cant figure out what was going on in Dana's head. It has been beaten to death before how Dana never slowed down in a situation where he should have, but that is something that no one knows what happened. The point is Herb and Roth are not even in the same class with Dana, and if Dana could make one error in such a common situation, I shudder when I see Roth and Herb out there.....

Mark, I agree with you. I remember last Indy 500. Herb couln't have the speed required for the qualifications so he gave his place to Yasukawa. Pretty scary if he couln't qualified last year and now he has the green flag to enter some races...all just to have some more cars and $$$$$$$$. Where is the security of the others drivers. If I was one of them, I would feel insecure all the time.

[Mark in Oshawa]

THis is the issue IRL fans have to pay attention to. It is one thing to have someone out there on a street course in Champ Car that shouldn't be there, it is bad, but often the wrecks are not too horrible, god knows PT proves you can walk away from 99% of them. The thing is, when you are flat out at most of the IRL ovals, seeing a guy who makes bad judgement calls has to scare someone out there racing against them. That is the true tragedy, that there isn't enough good solid race drivers to go around to staff both series.

[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.