Sub no more.... Memo Gidley

[KC]

After substituting for Norberto Fontana for the last two oval races for DellaPenna Motorsports and placing tenth in both races, Memo Gidley will finish out the season for the team. DellaPenna is said to be very impressed with the technical feedback from Gidley and very happy that he was able to secure points for the team, whereas Fontana had just one 12th place points paying position for the season. Already in two races Gidley has more points than Michel Jourdain, Tarso Marques, and Luiz Garcia together for the season. This is normally where the DellaPenna team has resided for the last few years. Good for Memo. I hope he is able to keep up the pace.

[marcus]

very good news..allthough I doubt Fontana is very pleased with it ..which makes you wonder what he will do now ..but thats the game isnt it ..If ya dont deliver the goods then your out..looking forward to see how Gidley goes for the rest of the year.

[KC]

From the article, Fontana was interested in campaigning the South America F3000 championship and was not having a very good time adapting to CART racing, especially on the high speed ovals. I think it was a joint decision by the team and Fontana that it was not working out and it would be better to separate on good terms.

This is especiallly good for Gidley, who has been chasing the CART series, living in his pickup truck, and racing his shifter cart at local tracks on the way to keep his hand in it.

[Liz]

FORZA MEMO! Nice to see such a charming and talented young fellow get his chance. I'm sure Memo's 'I'll do what it takes' attitude didn't do him any harm either. A nice change from the "$10 million and a motorhome" attitude that has crept into sport lately, and I for one hope he inspires more guys with no money to step up and keep trying.

If you've got the talent and you've got the will - and you've got the patience - you will succeed!

FORZA MEMO! HURRAH!

[Jay]

What Liz said.

[Crash Test]

I sincerly hope im wrong here...but i just hope that he isn't over hyped....

Sure he has scored more points than the other driver...
Well there werent that many other drivers in the field, and everyone keeps raving on about how he finished so well at Michigan...i dont think the car was THAT bad...

I just hope that the early shine doesnt wear off, like it has on other drivers in similar situations...

[KC]

CART being the animal it is, this weekend will be his biggest test. A road course with high speed corners and elevation changes like Road America will test the team to the fullest to find a suitable setup. Obviously Gidley is behind the learning curve and does not have the benefit of a teammate to bounce ideas off of. If he can learn and the engineer and he can communicate well then they should begin making improvments, but I do not expect them to take the cart to the front any time soon. The team and the driver are not that good, yet. Hopefully Dellapenna and Gidley both realize that a long term relationship is the only way to move forward. All one has to do is look to Cal Wells/PPI Motorsport and daMatta and how they are beginning to pay off. Gidley may not ever be as good as daMatta, but who can say at this time.