Greg Moore (race car driver)
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Greg Moore (born April 22, 1975; died October 31, 1999) was a Canadian race car driver who competed in the Indy Lights and CART Series,where he had great sucsess with several wins and a championship in the former league, in addition to consistent good finishes. However, his promising carrer and life came to an end on Halloween 1999, when he was fatally injured in a violent crash on the 10th lap of the CART season finale, the Marlboro 500, at California Speedway in Fontana, California.
Moore was born in New Westminster, British Columbia. Growing up, his racing hero was Ayrton Senna. He lived in Maple Ridge, a suburb of Vancouver. He attended Meadowridge School and graduated from Pitt Meadows Secondary School. After his death, a funeral service was held in Maple Ridge and attended by 300 people. His father Ric, an active member of the community, continues his legacy through the Greg Moore Foundation. The Maple Ridge youth center, opened in 2003, was named the Greg Moore Youth center in his honour. A banner hangs in Meadowridge School as well a Pitt Secondary in tribute to him. The McDonald's on the Lougheed Highway in Maple Ridge has a trophy case with memorobilia dedicated to Greg.
His early racing career progressed through go-karts, Formula Ford and Formula 2000 cars. In 1993 Moore began racing in the CART Indy Lights series. He won three races in 1994 and a record breaking 10 of 12 races in 1995 to become the series champion.
Aged 20 he moved up to CART IndyCar (now Champ Car) in 1996, driving for Player's-Forsythe racing. He finished 9th in the championship, the second highest placed rookie driver behind Alex Zanardi. His first series win came at Milwaukee in June 1997 and he followed that with a dramatic win at Detroit a week later when both Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell ran out of fuel in front of him on the final lap. Although the remainder of 1997 was disappointing, Moore entered 1998 as one of the favorites for the title.
In 1998, Moore was paired with a teammate, Patrick Carpentier, for the first time, and started the year strongly. Moore's two wins in 1998 were both scored in oval track events. At Rio he diced with Alex Zanardi before a dramatic outside pass sealed the win. At Michigan he passed Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser on the last lap to win the US 500 and the Vanderbilt Cup award. This win was tragically overshadowed by the deaths of three spectators in an earlier incident. As in 1997, Moore's season tailed off in a series of retirements and poor finishes and he finished the year fifth overall.
In 1999, after starting the season with a win at Homestead he struggled with an uncompetitive Mercedes engine, and later in the year agreed to join Penske Racing for 2000.
During the weekend of the season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway, Fontana, Moore was knocked off his motor scooter and injured his right hand. After a medical consultation, and an in-car test, he was allowed to race using a hand brace albeit starting from the back of the grid after missing qualifying. On lap nine of the race Moore apparently lost control of his car in the exit of the second turn and spun into the infield grass at over 200 mph. His car hit an access road and was 'tripped' over to strike the infield concrete wall upside-down at unabated speed. Upon Impact he suffered massive head,brain,neck,and other internal injuries, and was airlifted to nearby Loma Linda Medical Center. Exhaustive efforts to rescuscitate him were made as the injuries had stopped his breathing, however they all failed. Greg Moore was dead at 24.
The back-stretch infield of the California Speedway was later paved over to prevent similar incidents, a practice now followed by most American speedways. In 2000 Moore was to join Team Penske, however, following his death, he was replaced by Helio Castroneves. Friend and fellow Canadian Paul Tracy used the notes on Moore's chassis to score a come-from-behind win at the CART race at Long Beach the following year. Dario Franchitti dedicated his win in the Molson Indy Vancouver in 2002 to Moore's memory.
Moore's sponsor for most of his career was British American Tobacco (Player's).
Moore's car number, 99 was chosen since it was the number assigned to him when he first started racing karts. It has nothing to do with Wayne Gretzky's hockey number. It was retired by Champ Car as a mark of respect after Moore's death.
Greg Moore was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2000.
