From the Swine Dudes? No effing way. I reconnected with him at Vintage Days a couple of years ago. Great dude and could ride the wheels off of anything.
What happened? Really hate to hear about this, Jim was such a great guy. He was at GNF last year I think.
I hadn't thought of Jim in years and haven't talked to or seen in him longer and it killed me to have to think for a minute on who "Jim Roth" was. Once it hit me it hit me hard. F@ck! Good dude and I'm heartbroken for his friends and family.
Always had a big smile at the track and there wasn't one time he wouldn't give me a bunch of shit about something...great dude. Dammit man. The last time we chatted was the GNF and he told the guy working tech that "I was extremely untrust worthy and to find a reason to fail my bike for tech"....poor guy took it literally and he must have spent 10+ minutes looking at it, trying to find something wrong with it. Jim walks back and was like "WTF are you doing still tech'ing this thing, I was kidding numb nut!" We both got a pretty good laugh out of that one. Fuck. Gonna miss him this year. Thoughts to Steve & Lexi.
Just saw Jim at Homestead less than a month ago, with a big smile on his face as usual. Also thinking back to some of the racing stories he would have. Definitely will miss him. Unreal. Thoughts are with his family.
Met him at Nelson Ledges last year...SUPER nice man. RIP. Shoveling snow is one of those benign looking tasks nobody really thinks much about, but it claims a lot of lives every winter.
My first race weekend in 2016 or 2017 at Roebling he took me under his wing and helped me navigate everything throughout the weekend. The rest of the next two or three seasons we always pitted close and raced in the same classes until I started doing endurance racing. He would always give me tips which really helped me improve my riding. I would usually try to cook him dinner if he was staying at the track. He was there for my first podium, and first podium at the GNF. He will surely be missed and be in my heart every time I head to the track.