[Racer Duck]

New teammates Jay Howard and Marty Roth are on the track before climbing into their Roth Racing machines, using high-performance karts as the tools to improve skills that correlate to the IndyCar Series' five road/street circuits.

"It is kind of weird, help coach my boss, but we have a really good relationship that's grown our friendship," said Howard, who along with his father, Paul, runs the Screaming Talent karting team based in Miami.

Roth, the first Indy Pro Series team owner to move to the IndyCar Series, has competed in five road/street course events in a combined 42 Indy Pro Series and IndyCar Series starts.

"We're pretty heavily involved in karting and where a lot of my passion still is," said Howard, the 2006 Indy Pro Series champion who will be an IndyCar Series rookie. "Marty has just discovered that passion as well. He purchased a couple of karts and I went down and tested with him. I think he was pretty happy with how fast I was.

"He's going to continue close that gap to me and I hope I can help him. It was pretty cool to be working together."

Roth Racing expanded to a two-car team for 2008, becoming the first to take advantage of the series' TEAM (Team Enhancement and Allocation Matrix) program, which is designed to provide a financial foundation ($1.2 million minimum per car) for teams committed to running the entire IndyCar Series schedule.

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