Sunday, December 15, 2019

"Happy Birthday" Marty Roth

December 15, 1958
Marty Roth
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
He is a former Indy Car driver, Team owner and Superbike racer.

In 1975–82, Marty raced various classes of motorcycles, establishing track record at Gimli Raceway. Finished 10th at Daytona International Speedway on a Kawasaki 1000 Superbike. 1987 he made his Canadian Formula Ford 2000 series debut with Brian Stewart Racing.

1988 saw Roth graduate to Indy Lights competition, finishing 11th in his series debut at the Molson Indy Toronto. He continued in the Indy Lights series in 1989, driving for Stuart Moore Racing where he earned a best finish of fourth at Nazareth Speedway. He also drove a Ford Probe in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, finishing sixth in the GTP class. In 1990, he again competed in the Indy Lights series, earning top-five finishes at Phoenix and Denver and a third-place finish at the Molson Indy Vancouver.

In 2002 he finished 10th in Indy Pro Series points, earning four top-10 finishes, including a fourth at Chicagoland. Roth started six of 12 Indy Pro Series races in 2003, recording a season-best sixth-place finish at Michigan International Speedway. He purchased the equipment of series champion Panther Racing in November and formed Roth Racing.

In 2004, he competed in four Indy Pro Series events. Drove in first three events for his own team, before selling his equipment to focus on the IRL IndyCar Series and drove at California for Brian Stewart Racing. That year he purchased IndyCar Series equipment, becoming the first Indy Pro Series team owner to move up to the IndyCar Series and competed in the 88th Indianapolis 500. He qualified 32nd and finished 24th, completing 128 laps, becoming the first IRL driver to compete in both the Futaba Freedom 100 and the Indianapolis 500 in the same year.

In 2005, he finished eighth in the IRL Indy Pro Series, driving for his own team, Roth Racing.
Recorded a career best second-place finish at Chicagoland Speedway, leading five laps, recorded two top-five finishes and 13 top-10 finishes. He competed in his second Indianapolis 500, finishing 31st, retireing after 47 laps due to handling problems.

In 2006, Roth would move to the IndyCar Series full-time, starting with the 2006 Indianapolis 500, however Roth failed to qualify for the 500 after crashing his car in practice late on Bump Day before achieving a qualifying run. He returned to the series at Michigan International Speedway in July and ran two more races at the end of the year. In 2007, he ran the Indy 500 and two previous races. Roth made 12 starts in the 2008 IndyCar Series season. At season's end, he was reportedly told by league management that his license would not be renewed and later sold it to the new FAZZT Race Team 

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