| Memo Gidley | |
| Birth Date: | 29 September 1970 |
| Birth Place: | La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico |
| Racing Licence: | FIA Bronze |
| Current Series: | GT America Series |
| First Year: | 2023 |
| Current Team: | TKO Motorsports with Flying Lizard |
| Car Number: | 101 |
| Starts: | 18 |
| Wins: | 8 |
| Best Finish: | 1st |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Prev Series: | Champ Car Indy Racing League American Le Mans Series IMSA SportsCar Championship IMSA Prototype Challenge |
| Prev Series Years: | 1999–2004 2000–2002 1999–2012 2014 2022 |
| Titles: | GT America Series (SRO3) |
| Title Years: | 2023 |
| Awards: | Team USA Scholarship |
| Award Years: | 1995 |
| Podiums: | 15 |
| Championships: | 1 |
José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico on September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican.
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. 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 .[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 | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Rank | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Lynx Racing | HMS | LBH | NAZ | MIL | MTL | CLE | TOR | TRR | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | 2nd | 136 | ||
| 1998 | Lynx Racing | LBH | NAZ | GAT | MIL | MTL | CLE | TOR | TRR | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | HOU | 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 | CLE | ROA | TOR | MIC | 27th | 4 | [7] | ||||||||||
| Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola B99/00 | Ford XD V8t | DET | MDO | CHI | VAN | LS | HOU | SRF | FON | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Player's Forsythe Racing | Reynard 2Ki | Ford XF V8t | MIA | LBH | RIO | MOT | NZR | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | 20th | 20 | [8] | ||||||||||||
| Della Penna Motorsports | Toyota RV8E V8t | MIC | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | STL | HOU | SRF | FON | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Lola B01/00 | Toyota RV8F V8t | MTY | LBH | TXS | NZR | MOT | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIC | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LAU | ROC | HOU | LS | SRF | FON | 17th | 65 | [9] | |
| 2004 | Rocketsports | Lola B02/00 | Ford XFE V8t | LBH | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | DEN | MTL | LS | LVS | SRF | MXC | 21st | 15^ | [10] |
| 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 | 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 | NZR | 46th | 9 | [13] | |||||||||||
| Duesenberg Brothers Racing | Dallara IR-02 | 32 | Chevrolet Indy V8 | INDY | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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)