PLATTE CENTER, Neb. — At first, Anthony Roth wasn’t sure if the offer he got to drive a late model this season was serious.
It was, and next he’ll be making room in the display case for another IMCA rookie of the year award.
Roth raced to an impressive nine feature wins, along with the track title at U.S. 30 Speedway on the way to earning IMCA Sunoco Late Model national rookie of the year honors.
“I had goals set that I wanted to win races and I wanted to be successful. When we went out and won four of our first five races it was like gosh, this is fun. We were on to something,” said Roth. “Rookie of the year really wasn’t a goal. The goal was just to win races and have fun, and we did that.”
From Platte Center and a veteran Friesen Performance IMCA Modified driver, he had another 12 top-five finishes in 26 starts and ended third in the national points race.
“In January, Jerry Pospisil came up to me and said, ‘We’ve got a late model (a 2018 Bloomquist Chassis Roth has since purchased) you should come drive for us.’ I told him if he was serious, that he should give me a call the next day. He did,” recalled Roth. “I talked to Jerry, then I talked to my wife, my dad and my crew and there we were, racing a late model.”
The adjustment to more speed, different tires and traction, along with the aerodynamics came quickly.
So did the season highlights, as Roth made career-first starts at Off Road Speedway and on the reconfigured Shelby County Speedway oval, as well as his first late model starts at Boone County Raceway.
“My entire family was at Columbus when I won on opening night and we had four generations in that picture, so that was real memorable,” he said, noting that son Atlas will be the fifth generation in the number 60 car. “My dad and grandpa used to race the old Riviera Raceway in Norfolk and they won a lot of races. To go back there in a late model with the number 60 on the side meant a lot, and to win in front of a lot of their fans and new fans has been a dream of mine.”
“The coolest thing about Albion was that four generations of my family have won a race there,” he added. “I’ve done it in a modified and a late model now, and I think that’s really cool.”
While focused on his racing and not on points, Roth had to wonder how he might have fared in national standings by making more than five Friday night starts.
All but two of the starts he did make came with now six-time national champion Cory Dumpert.
“He’s a competitor. He races hard and he races clean, and that’s how I race. I always race everybody the way they race me,” said Roth. “It was tight racing every night, and a lot of nights it was whoever got to the front first was going to win.”
Dumpert and Roth took their battle to Boone, finishing 2-3 behind Dylan Thornton in the opening night main event at the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
“Super Nationals was amazing,” said Roth, who qualified for the Big Dance by winning his ‘B’ feature. “We started 13th, got up there and had the car to win that race. It was an awesome night.”
Roth had been the Jet Racing Central Region rookie of the year at the age of 15 in 2011 and did limited double duty this season, topping three of 13 Modified starts to boost his career win total in that division to 85.