Memo Gidley


José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican and American racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1999 to 2004 [Champ Car World Series|2004].
Gidley 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 - Ganassi later suggested that they keep Bruno Junqueira over him as the Brazilian was under contract.
Gidley 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. In 2010 [American Le Mans Series season|2010] Gidley co-drove Team CytoSport's Porsche RS Spyder with Germany's Klaus Graf and Sascha Maassen to second in class at Laguna Seca, but he reportedly hadn't given up yet on a return to major open wheel racing.
During the 2014 [24 Hours of Daytona], Gidley suffered serious injuries when his Corvette DP slammed into the back of a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 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. Gidley was taken by ambulance to Halifax Health Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed him with a broken back and leg and arm injuries. Gidley underwent three surgeries before being released from the hospital eleven days after the accident. After five further surgeries and three years of recovering from his injuries, Gidley made his return to racing in September 2017.
Gidley made his come-back to racing full-time in 2022, in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, driving a Duqueine D-08 LMP3. He won the second race of the season at Mid-Ohio, and finished second in the championship overall. Gidley raced in GT America Series in 2023, and won the SRO3 championship, with 8 wins.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel racing results

CART/Champ Car World Series