José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ancestry, born in

La Paz, Baja California Sur La Paz (, en, Peace) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2020 census population of 250,141 inhabitants, making it the most populous city in the state. Its ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on September 29, 1970. He holds

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

- American and Mexican. In his early years, he sold his apartment to fund his career and spent 4 months

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

living in his car. He worked at the

Jim Russell racing school Herbert James Russell (28 May 1920 – 30 March 2019), better known as Jim Russell, was an English racing driver, garage owner and founder of the Jim Russell Racing Driver School. He died on 30 March 2019, shortly after undergoing an operation f ...

as a mechanic to fund his career for some time, eventually getting a chance in

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ( ...

with

Derrick Walker Derrick Walker (born 8 April 1945 in Leven, Scotland) is a former British auto racing team owner. In May 2013 Walker became President of operations and competition of IndyCar until the finalization of the 2015 Indycar season. Career Formula ...

in 1999, although this was as a short-term replacement. He did the same task for Gerry Forsythe a year later, and

Chip Ganassi Floyd Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) better known as Chip Ganassi, is a US businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scen ...

in 2001, twice coming close to race victories. He nearly retained his drive for 2002 - Chip later suggested that they keep

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early c ...

over him as the

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian was under contract. He has raced assorted sports cars since, although he made two Champ Car starts for

Rocketsports Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004 ...

in 2004, and briefly ran in the rival

IRL IRL may refer to: Places * Republic of Ireland (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code) * Irlam railway station (National Rail station code IRL), England Organizations * International Rugby League, the governing body for the sport of rugby league * I ...

series. Since 2005 he has competed full-time in the

Grand-Am Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

, 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 Massimiliano Angelelli (born 15 December 1966) is a retired Italian racecar driver. He won the 2005 and 2017 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2001 Six Hours at the Glen. Also he was the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series champion in 2005 and 2013, as ...

in the SunTrust Racing team. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Gidley co-drove Team CytoSport's

Porsche RS Spyder The RS Spyder (Type 9R6) is a racing car designed by Porsche in conjunction with Penske to compete in Le Mans Prototype Class 2 (LMP2) racing. The car takes its name from the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder of the 1950s (combined with Porsche's co ...

with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Klaus Graf Klaus Graf (born 21 July 1969) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of rally driver Peter Graf. He lives in the United States while competing in the American Le Mans Series. He resulted LMP1 class champion in 2012, and runner-up ...

and

Sascha Maassen Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver. Early career Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 s ...

to second in

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

(and overall) at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho La ...

, but he reportedly hasn't given up on a return to major open wheel racing. In the 2014

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

, Gidley suffered serious injuries when his Corvette DP slammed into the back of a

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

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.Memo Gidley breaks back in crash at Rolex 24 at Daytona
by Jeff Olsen, ''USA Today'', January 26, 2014. Gidley had eight surgeries that took him three years to recover.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

Complete USF2000 National Championship results

Atlantic Championship

CART/Champ Car World Series

* ^ New points system implemented in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Indy Racing League

Indy 500 results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

: * ''Season still in progress.''

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

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

References

External links

Driver Database Profile
* http://memogidley.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Gidley, Memo IndyCar Series drivers Champ Car drivers Atlantic Championship drivers 1970 births Living people Mexican racing drivers American racing drivers Mexican people of Canadian descent Mexican people of German descent Mexican emigrants to the United States Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Sportspeople from Baja California Sur People from La Paz, Baja California Sur Rolex Sports Car Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Trans-Am Series drivers Barber Pro Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Highcroft Racing drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Walker Racing drivers Forsythe Racing drivers Team Pelfrey drivers Dreyer & Reinbold Racing drivers Rocketsports Racing drivers JDC Motorsports drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers