JAMES ROE JR
ALL-IRISH ATTACK SPEARHEAD WITH INDY 500 AMBITION
James Roe Jr isn’t shy on career ambitions. He’d like no less than to be the first Irishman to win the Indianapolis 500.
His 2020 campaign in stateside junior single-seater category Formula Regional Americas was self-admittedly “difficult” though, and not big on hard results. There were however mitigating circumstances.
“It was a very very competitive championship,” Roe explains to Motorsport News, “the reason being Indy Lights was cancelled last year due to the Covid pandemic, so all the Indy Lights drivers came down to Formula 3, overnight the championship grew in level by multiples of 10.
“We were certainly at the right end of the grid throughout the year and that got a lot of people’s attention. So overall it was a positive year.”
Even so, Roe hit a crossroads at the season’s end. “Truth be told I didn’t really know what the next step or move was,” he admits. “A number of factors came into play, obviously John Campion from CJJ Motorsports sadly passed away.” Campion was not only a strong supporter of Roe’s, with a progression route mapped for him, they were close personally too.
But then in December Roe got an Indy Pro 2000 Sebring test with the Turn 3 Motorsport team owned by fellow Irishman Peter Dempsey. “I enjoyed the car so much, it suited my driving style down to the ground,” Roe enthuses. “You can always attack and you really have to push the car and overload the tyres to be fast and that’s something that didn’t work in the Formula Regional F3 car. I smiled from ear to ear for two days driving that car, we were very fast.” A deal was soon done.
“Peter’s launched his team professionally last year and had success, so he’s very hungry and very much on the up. His cars are good, the team’s good, we get along, so there’s a number of positives.”
Then there’s the patriotic angle. “Between the combination of him being Irish, I’m Irish, we clicked together,” Roe adds. “My engineer’s Irish, the partners involved are Irish, the CEO of Topcon Positioning Group which is the title partner is Irish. It’s something that excites us all.”
Roe is following the US footsteps of his uncle, 1984 Can-Am champion Michael Roe, yet the nephew’s progress was not privileged. He had to save up from working in the family motor repair shop to buy his first racing car aged 15, for Ireland’s Ginetta Juniors. He finished on the podium on debut.
“I always wanted to come to America,” Roe notes. “In Europe no matter if you’re champion or not you’re back to Ground Zero, whereas in America if you win a championship you get a scholarship to proceed to the next level. That’s what enticed me here most of all.
“I believe we have a strong package and work harder than everyone else, I know we’re going to get good results. I’m in Indy Pro 2000, we’ve got Indy Lights and then it’s IndyCar, so it’s not a million miles away.” ■
“Us both being Irish meant we clicked”
James Roe Jr