Memo Gidley - Wikipedia

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Memo Gidley
Mazda RX-8 driven by Memo Gidley in 2011
Nationality	Mexican  American
Born	September 29, 1970 (age 54) La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
GT America Series career
Debut season	2023
Current team	TKO Motorsports with Flying Lizard
Racing licence	FIA Bronze
Car number	101
Starts	18
Championships	1
Wins	8
Podiums	15
Best finish	1st in 2023
Previous series
1999–2004 2000–2002 1999–2012 2014 2022	Champ Car Indy Racing League American Le Mans Series IMSA SportsCar Championship IMSA Prototype Challenge
Championship titles
2023	GT America Series (SRO3)
Awards
1995	Team USA Scholarship

José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley (born September 29, 1970) is a Mexican and American racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1999 to 2004.

In his early years, he sold his apartment to fund his career and spent 4 months homeless living in his car.^{[citation needed]} He worked at the Jim Russell racing school as a mechanic to fund his career for some time, eventually getting a chance in Champ Car with Derrick Walker in 1999, although this was as a short-term replacement. He did the same task for Gerry Forsythe a year later, and Chip Ganassi in 2001, twice coming close to race victories. He nearly retained his drive for 2002 - Chip later suggested that they keep Bruno Junqueira over him as the Brazilian was under contract.

He has raced assorted sports cars since, although he made two Champ Car starts for Rocketsports in 2004, and briefly ran in the rival IRL series. After 2005 he competed full-time in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, co-driving with Michael McDowell to a victory in the Mexico City season finale. In 2006 he raced in the Team Playboy cars and in 2007 he partnered Max Angelelli in the SunTrust Racing team.^[1] In 2010 Gidley co-drove Team CytoSport's Porsche RS Spyder with Germany's Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen to second in class (and overall) at Laguna Seca, but he reportedly hadn't given up yet on a return to major open wheel racing.

In the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona, Gidley suffered serious injuries when his Corvette DP slammed into the back of a Ferrari being driven by Matteo Malucelli. Malucelli's car had lost power and had rolled to a near stop on the track, when Gidley hit him at approximately 120 miles per hour (190 km/h).^[2] Gidley was taken by ambulance to Halifax Health Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed him with a broken back and leg and arm injuries.^[3] Gidley had eight surgeries that took him three years to recover.

Gidley made his come-back to racing full-time in 2022, in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, driving a Duqueine D-08 LMP3.^[4] He won the second race of the season at Mid-Ohio,^[5] and finished second in the championship overall. Gidley raced in GT America Series in 2023, and won the SRO3(GT3) championship,^[6] with 8 wins.

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos	Points
1995	Cape Motorsports	PIR1 46	PIR2 1	IRP 1	RIR 4	WGI 43	MDO1 1	NHS 2	ATL1 6	ATL2 2	MDO1 7	2nd	196

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
1997	Lynx Racing	HMS 2	LBH 7	NAZ 26	MIL 3	MTL 3	CLE 9	TOR 1	TRR 5	MDO 4	ROA 5	VAN 1	LS 25		2nd	136
1998	Lynx Racing	LBH 1	NAZ 4	GAT 1	MIL 1	MTL 32	CLE 26	TOR 6	TRR 4	MDO 27	ROA 2	VAN 7	LS 22	HOU 5	3rd	134

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points	Ref
1999	Walker Racing	Reynard 99i	Honda HRS V8t	MIA	MOT	LBH	NZR	RIO	STL	MIL	POR 19	CLE 11	ROA 26	TOR 12	MIC										27th	4	[7]
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola B99/00	Ford XD V8t													DET 20	MDO 22	CHI	VAN 12	LS 13	HOU 14	SRF 14	FON
2000	Player's Forsythe Racing	Reynard 2Ki	Ford XF V8t	MIA	LBH 21	RIO 8	MOT 18	NZR	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR												20th	20	[8]
Della Penna Motorsports	Toyota RV8E V8t											MIC 10	CHI 10	MDO 12	ROA 6	VAN 16	LS 19	STL 22	HOU 21	SRF	FON 21
2001	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B01/00	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY	LBH	TXS	NZR	MOT	MIL	DET	POR 25	CLE 2*	TOR 17	MIC 14	CHI 5	MDO 11	ROA 20	VAN 10	LAU 14	ROC 18	HOU 3	LS 2	SRF 10	FON 14	17th	65	[9]
2004	Rocketsports	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR 16	VAN 11	ROA	DEN	MTL	LS	LVS	SRF	MXC								21st	15^	[10]

• ^ New points system implemented in 2004

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Rank	Points	Ref
2000	Team Pelfrey	Dallara IR-00	82	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	WDW	PHX	LVS	INDY DNQ	TXS	PPIR	ATL	KTY	TX2							NC	-	[11]
2001	Brayton Racing	Dallara IR-01	61	PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY DNQ	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2			NC	-	[12]
2002	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	G-Force GF05C	24	Infiniti VRH35ADE V8	HMS	PHX	FON 21	NZR												46th	9	[13]
Duesenberg Brothers Racing	Dallara IR-02	32	Chevrolet Indy V8					INDY DNQ	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2000	Dallara	Oldsmobile	DNQ	Team Pelfrey
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	DNQ	Brayton Racing
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	DNQ	Duesenberg Brothers Racing

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1999	Panoz Motor Sports	LMP	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	Ford (Élan-Yates) 6.0 L V8	M	SEB	ATL	MOS	SON	POR	PET ovr:5 cls:5	MON	LSV					63rd	15
2006	Highcroft Racing	LMP1	MG-Lola EX257	AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4	D	SEB	TEX	MID	LIM	UTA	POR	AME	MOS	PET ovr:3 cls:3	MON			20th	19
2007	Team Cytosport	LMP1	Lola B06/10	AER P32T 4.0L Turbo V8	D	SEB	STP	LNB	TEX	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET ovr:14 cls:3	MON	20th	19
2010	Muscle Milk Team CytoSport	LMP	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8	M	SEB	LNB	MON ovr:2 cls:2	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET				NC	-
2012	Muscle Milk Pickett Racing	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	M	SEB ovr:42 cls:5	LNB ovr:4 cls:2	MON ovr:6 cls:4	LIM	MOS	MID	AME	BAL	VIR	PET			12th	40

* Season still in progress.

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points	Ref
2014	GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing	P	Riley Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8	DAY 18	SEB	LBH	LAG	DET	WGL	MOS	IMS	ROA	COA	PET	56th	14	[14]
Source:[15]

• Memo Gidley career summary at DriverDB.com
• http://memogidley.com/