Gregory William Moore (April 22, 1975 – October 31, 1999) was a Canadian professional race car driver who competed in the Indy Lights and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series from 1993 to 1999. He began competitive karting at the age of ten and achieved early success, before progressing to open-wheel car racing in the Canadian Formula Ford Championship in 1991. Moore won the 1992 USAC FF2000 Western Division Championship and the 1995 Indy Lights Championship.
Moore began competing in CART with Forsythe Racing in 1996, finishing ninth in the drivers' championship and was second to Alex Zanardi in the Rookie of the Year standings. The following year, Moore claimed the first two victories of his career to finish seventh in the points' standings. He improved on his performance to place fifth overall with a further two wins in 1998. In 1999, he took another win as his form lowered and fell to tenth. At the season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway, Moore was killed in a violent airborne collision with a concrete barrier on the race's tenth lap. He was the second driver to be killed in CART competition in 1999 after Gonzalo Rodríguez three races earlier at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It was scheduled to be Moore's final race for Forsythe Racing before moving to Team Penske in 2000.
Overall, Moore competed in 72 CART races, winning five and achieving 17 podium finishes. Due to the split between CART and the IRL, Moore never competed in or won the Indianapolis 500. He was a popular figure known as an oval track specialist. Moore's car number 99 was retired from the list of those available to drivers competing in CART and its support series as a mark of respect. Since his death, the Greg Moore Foundation was established in his honour to continue his legacy through charitable causes. Three establishments in British Columbia have been named after the driver. Moore was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame and BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Early life
Gregory William Moore was born in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster, British Columbia on April 22, 1975. His father, Ric, owned a Chrysler dealership in Maple Ridge, a city close to Vancouver, and raced Can-Am cars at the club level, at tracks such as Westwood Motorsport Park. He divorced his wife Donna when Moore was five years old and Greg lived with his mother until the start of his karting career. He had two siblings: a brother and a sister. Moore was first educated at Meadowridge School. He was transferred to Pitt Meadows Secondary School for the final two years of his education, where he graduated with honours in 1993.
Moore often climbed into his father's race car and pretended to race by gripping the steering wheel. That encouraged his interest in auto racing, and his father gave him a go-kart at the age of six. Moore drove the go-kart with a minivan's plastic bodywork around it in the parking lot of his father's dealership. He developed vehicular control on dry slick tyres on a wet track. He began competitive go-kart racing at the age of ten, and joined the Westwood Karting Club soon after. It was there Moore was issued with his car number 99 because he was the club's 99th member; he used it throughout his career. His father acted as his manager, tutor and financier and adopted a "no-nonsense" approach to his career.
While he had an inclination towards racing, Moore also played ice hockey. From the age of ten, Moore was a goalie, and began to drive go-karts in 1986. He was twice named Maple Ridge Athlete of the Year and he won the British Columbia Hockey Provincial Championship. Moore played on the same minor ice hockey team as future professional player Paul Kariya. When he was 14, his father urged him to choose between ice hockey and racing if he wanted to further develop in sports. Moore ultimately decided to focus on racing. His sporting idols were ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky and three-time Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna.
Junior career In 1989 and 1990, Moore won the North American Enduro Kart Racing Championship. His father wanted to know whether his son's achievements were down to his driving abilities or the equipment. He took Moore to the Spenard-David Racing School in Shannonville, Ontario, in August 1990, where racer David Empringham instructed him. He won a race over 40 drivers. Track owner Richard Spenard was impressed by Moore's ability and invited him to return later that year to partake in a "Top Gun" series. He got a special waiver to enter the school, and won against almost 800 fellow drivers at the conclusion of the school's three-day run-offs. Moore learnt how to select a lower gear, where to locate the apex of a corner, and how to avoid an accident.
Moore made the decision to progress to car racing in 1991, and was assigned Steve Challis as his race engineer and adviser. Moore competed in the eight-round Canadian Formula Ford Championship in a Van Diemen RF91-Ford; his father purchased the car from England and competed against drivers double his age. He won the Shannonville Motorsport Park round, and took a further four top-ten results to finish fourth in the final points' standings with 120 accrued. He was named the series' Rookie of the Year. Moore moved to the higher-tier USAC FF2000 Western Division Championship in 1992 after plans to enter the Canadian F2000 Championship fell through when that series folded. He took four pole positions and four victories en route to taking the championship at the season's final round at Willow Springs. Moore was voted Rookie of the Year at this tier after advancing at the start of the season, and was inducted into the series' Hall of Fame in 1999 as a 1992 graduate. For winning the title, he drove a Formula Atlantic car in California and tested for Van Diemen at Snetterton Circuit in England.
During the off-season, Moore was employed in the service department of a dealership in Duncan, British Columbia. For 1993, his family believed a progression to Formula Atlantic would help his career develop. The series' sanctioning body, the Sports Car Club of America, refused to grant Moore a racing licence because he was under the age of 18 at the time. Moore's father talked to the president and CEO of Indy Lights Roger Bailey in Vancouver, who agreed to grant Moore a provisional racing licence for the 1993 season's first two rounds at Phoenix International Raceway and Long Beach. Because he was 17, he was obliged to remain in his car in the pit lane until he was towed into the paddock, and was then allowed to vacate. Around this time, Moore asked permission from Brian Stewart, owner of Brian Stewart Racing, to retain race number 99 after it was assigned to Stewart's team for the 1992 season. He sought to win Rookie of the Year and finish in the top five in points. In twelve races, Moore took seven top-ten finishes, with a best result of third at Portland International Raceway, and placed ninth in the points' standings with 64 points. He was one of the fastest drivers on oval tracks but was slower on road and street circuits.
Before the 1994 season, Moore did a conditioning program to lose weight and improve his stamina, and his car was rebuilt following analysis. His team had a small budget of US$380,000 and the family home and dealership was mortgaged to allow Moore to continue racing. Their financial situation forced him to drive conservatively to preserve tires three times longer than other drivers, and not strain mechanical parts, since his family lacked the capital to purchase additional equipment. Nevertheless, in the season's opening round at Phoenix, Moore surpassed Paul Tracy's record as the youngest Indy Lights pole position starter at age 18, and became the youngest driver in history to win a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART)-sanctioned event. He won two more races (at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Nazareth Speedway) to finish the championship with 154 points and take third in the drivers' standings. In November 1994, Moore undertook a two-day test session with Penske Racing's CART team on a test-specific road course at Nazareth Speedway.
Moore's reputation and recognition of his ability (and lobbying by his father) attracted the attention of Forsythe Racing owner Gerald Forsythe, who sought a Canadian driver for his Indy Lights team in 1995. Forsythe was willing to relieve Moore's financial burdens that had built up when a sponsorship agreement fell through in mid-1994 and had seen his father take out mortgages by incorporating his son into the team, and signing Moore to a five-year contract. Three of Moore's mechanics transferred from his family's team to Forsythe Racing. While his father remained his manager, he did not join the organization as an employee. Driving a Lola T93/20-Buick 3800 V6, he dominated the championship, winning ten of twelve races. He broke the record for consecutive wins at the season's start with the first five races and the most victories in an Indy Lights season, both held by Paul Tracy from the 1990 championship (nine out of fourteen). Moore led a total of 375 out of 583 laps over all twelve races, covering en route to winning the drivers' championship with a record 242 points scored.
Championship Auto Racing Teams 1996: Debut season
After testing for Forsythe Racing at Phoenix International Raceway in September 1995, the team's primary sponsor, Player's, confirmed on October 19 that Moore would replace the outgoing Jacques Villeneuve for the 1996 season. He spent 30 days testing for the team in the United States, and underwent a conditioning program to prepare himself physically with the turbocharged No. 99 Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz IC108 V8t for the to races. Fellow drivers did not give him much advice so Moore observed them. He debuted at the season-opening Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead–Miami Speedway. Starting in sixth he finished in seventh, after incurring a stop-and-go penalty for an illegal overtake on Juan Manuel Fangio II under yellow flag conditions, and unlapped himself from the race winner, Jimmy Vasser. Two races later, Moore had the first podium of his career (third place) at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit. He bettered that result with a second-place finish at Nazareth Speedway two rounds after that. Although Forsythe Racing had sub-par equipment, he regularly challenged for victories and claimed three podium finishes. Moore finished his rookie season ninth in the drivers' standings with 84 points, and was second to Alex Zanardi in the Rookie of the Year standings.
1997: First two victories
For the 1997 CART World Series, Moore drove a 1996 Reynard vehicle after trials of a Lola car in pre-season testing at Homestead–Miami Speedway reduced Forsythe Racing's performance. He began the season with three top-four finishes—including second-places at Surfers Paradise and Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet—in the first six races. At the season's seventh race, the Miller Genuine Draft 200 at the Milwaukee Mile, Moore ran the final 92 laps without making a pit stop. He held off Michael Andretti to take his first career victory becoming—at the age of 22 years, 1 month and 10 days—the youngest driver to win a CART race. A week later, he won the ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix at The Raceway on Belle Isle after PacWest Racing teammates Maurício Gugelmin and Mark Blundell ran out of fuel on the final lap. Thereafter Moore, who was considered a contender for the championship, achieved two top-five finishes at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Portland International Raceway as mechanical attrition and accidents hindered him. He was seventh in the points standings with 111.
1998: Fifth place in points