Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in
 

I don't know how many of you guys follow Champ Car but I'm disappointed that Memo Gidley has been replaced at the Rocketsports team by Guy Smith.

I haven't followed Guy Smith's career after Indy Lights but I do remember he lost out to Memo Gidley as Naoki Hattori's replacement in Walker's second Reynard-Honda for part of the 1999 season.

I'm a fan of Memo because of his work ethic, demeanor, and skill. He was passing people in Toronto despite qualifying last and only getting a handful of laps after a two year absence from Champ Car. He then qualified fifth in Vancouver, outqualifying his more experienced teammate Alex Tagliani. He had a spin in the race and finished 11th I think, but given more time and testing he would've done well.

did the other guy have sponsorship?

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Outrun)
 

What I have seen on Memo driving in Worldchallenge I am not to impressed at lime rock he caused 2 accidents by running over people and the next race was not better...

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Solracer)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Solracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What I have seen on Memo driving in Worldchallenge I am not to impressed at lime rock he caused 2 accidents by running over people and the next race was not better...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well he is in a Ford focus

I have nothing against Guy Smith, but I'm pretty bummed that Memo is out of a ride again.

Memo Gidley is one of the few drivers I actively cheer for. After learning about his background and how he got from spectating to racing in Champ Car, hes been an inspriation to me. I don't know how many of you are familiar with him, but his story is really pretty amazing, IMO.

He is also a very talented pilot (regularly outperforms teammates despite never getting any test time), gives great feedback, has a great attitude no matter what happens, and is one of the most determined people you'll ever meet.

The fact that Memo and others like him don't have full time rides in Champ Car is whats wrong with road racing these days.

Re: (ITACivic)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITACivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did the other guy have sponsorship?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No sponsorship details were given in this morning's press release about Guy Smith getting the ride.

Re: (Sean O'Gorman)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have nothing against Guy Smith, but I'm pretty bummed that Memo is out of a ride again.

Memo Gidley is one of the few drivers I actively cheer for. After learning about his background and how he got from spectating to racing in Champ Car, hes been an inspriation to me. I don't know how many of you are familiar with him, but his story is really pretty amazing, IMO.

He is also a very talented pilot (regularly outperforms teammates despite never getting any test time), gives great feedback, has a great attitude no matter what happens, and is one of the most determined people you'll ever meet.

The fact that Memo and others like him don't have full time rides in Champ Car is whats wrong with road racing these days.</TD></TR></TABLE>

His points per race average was better than Bruno Junquiera. Gidley only finished about 4 points behind Junky while having 7 less races to do it. I'm sure if Chip GanASSi kept Gidley instead of hiring Kenny Brack (who was disappointing while at the Target team) Gidley would've had better results.

However, I do wonder why Gidley has never gotten a fully funded ride for an entire season. From what I've read the engineers and mechanics love him and he's easy to get along with. Is it because he's trying too hard to impress? He's wrecked occasionally and it seems he's trying to hard.

I gotta find the Champ Car magazine issue that profiled Gidley.

Re: (Outrun)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outrun &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

His points per race average was better than Bruno Junquiera. Gidley only finished about 4 points behind Junky while having 7 less races to do it. I'm sure if Chip GanASSi kept Gidley instead of hiring Kenny Brack (who was disappointing while at the Target team) Gidley would've had better results.

However, I do wonder why Gidley has never gotten a fully funded ride for an entire season. From what I've read the engineers and mechanics love him and he's easy to get along with. Is it because he's trying too hard to impress? He's wrecked occasionally and it seems he's trying to hard.

I gotta find the Champ Car magazine issue that profiled Gidley.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ganassi never gave Gidley any respect. Even after getting second at Cleveland, he was still on a race by race contract the whole season.

As for Gidley never getting a fully funded ride, I think its obvious due to the lack of sponsorship. When theres a driver who is about as fast as him that comes with a big check, who would you choose? Its a shame that things work that way, but thats the reality of racing.

What profile are you talking about? The article he wrote about being an American driver trying to make it in CART? Its from summer 2000, I forget which months, but I have it sitting on my desk at home. If you want I can scan it and upload it to my webspace. I was only 17 when I read it for the first time, and its what inspired me to try racing. I wanted to do karting, but knowing I had to start paying for college in 2001 meant I had to settle for autocross (for now).

Re: (Sean O'Gorman)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As for Gidley never getting a fully funded ride, I think its obvious due to the lack of sponsorship. When theres a driver who is about as fast as him that comes with a big check, who would you choose? Its a shame that things work that way, but thats the reality of racing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Take Klien from Jaguar for example. He brought $10 million with him from Red Bull and he has a ride, but I don't think he's done well this year only finishing about 3 races. Money talks, Bullshit walks.

AJ

Re: (Sean O'Gorman)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sean O’Gorman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... As for Gidley never getting a fully funded ride, I think its obvious due to the lack of sponsorship. When theres a driver who is about as fast as him that comes with a big check, who would you choose? ...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Right on again, Sean.

Gidley could be a poster child for what is fundamentally wrong with road racing - that stock cars do a WAY better job of getting right. He's been fast in everything he's driven and is still going to struggle.

K

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Solracer)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Solracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What I have seen on Memo driving in Worldchallenge I am not to impressed at lime rock he caused 2 accidents by running over people and the next race was not better...</TD></TR></TABLE>

bingo

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Willard)
 

Glad to see you are overlooking his jump from last to 11th in the Portland race, despite flying from Vancouver Champ Car qualifying to Portland, and not having any track time since Thursday's test day...

That Focus probably isn't the most competitive car either, looking at their paddock setup at Mid-Ohio showed they are a much lower budget team than the Turners, Realtimes, etc. of the World Challenge grid.

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Sean O'Gorman)
 

I know a lot of people were disappointed in Gentilozzi as they didn't agree with the way he was running OWRS and how he often resorted to "name calling" in the media. His stock went up a lot when he brought in Gidley but I think putting Smith (who I have nothing against) in the #17 car has put Gentilozzi back to square 1 for some of the Champ Car fans.

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (Outrun)
 

I spent some time observing Gidley's operation at LRP. In comparison to his WC competitors, it was like a club racing effort vs. an F1 effort. His car was something like 2-4 seconds off the pace at LRP, which is light years.

I also spent some time chatting with Memo. He was one of the most intense cats I've ever met. He actually made me nervous. He was sniffing around me to see if I was connected in motorsports or connected to some line of cash/sponsorship. When he found out I wasn't connected to either, he was friendly, but moved on to better prospects. I can't blame him. Consider that he was on the short list to fill a ride at the Indy 500 - and finds himself in LRP in a low budget effort.

Re: Memo Gidley out, Guy Smith in (pcorad)
 

Guy is self funded.