Memo Gidley


José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico in September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican.
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In his early years, he sold his apartment to fund his career and spent 4 months homeless living in his car. 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. Since 2005 he has 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 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 hasn't given up 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. Gidley was taken by ambulance to Halifax Health Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed him with a broken back and leg and arm injuries. Gidley had eight surgeries that took him three years to recover.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel racing results

Complete USF2000 National Championship results

Atlantic Championship

CART/Champ Car World Series

Indy 500 results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

YearTeamClassMakeEngine1234567891011RankPoints
2014GAINSCO/Bob Stallings RacingPRiley Corvette DPChevrolet 5.5L V8DAY
18		SEB
LBHLAGDETWGL
MOSIMSROACOAPET
56th14