Four Years Already

[macdaddy]

Here are a few pictures, that we may take a moment, and remember...

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gmcadorey/GregMoore/

[Dov]

Good pics...thanks, Macdaddy!
I was just thinking about Greg 3 or 4 days ago.......I wasn't even thinking about racing and the thought of him just popped into my head. Words can't express how much he is missed......I'll never forget #99!

[extreme]

Greg being gone is really sad but would he still be in cart if he were here. He was about to go racing for the captian and we all know where he is right now. Which make the thought even sadder.

[Jordi]

Greg was interested in NASCAR, and was being watched by Frank Williams ("Nice move your young man did yesterday" re pass on Zanardi at Rio'98!), so who knows where would he be...

I'll never forget him. I'll never forget his passes, his character, and his future that we never got to see. He was going to be a 3-time champion, for sure. He is a legend of CART because of his demise, but I would have preferred him to become a legend over the years, with 30+ wins...

[Omega99]

I think that's why it is so sad, because we'll never knowwhat he could ahve acheived.

Never forget #99.

[Fogelhund]

Greg Moore was my favourite CART driver. It just hasn't been the same for me since.

[The Treester]

He is still my favorite! Definitely the coolest driver in open wheel racing besides Vasser!

Flashback...

'98 LBGP, last pit stop, a lock for a podium position, hit his tire changer, driver error, stop and go penalty, finish sixth in a 25+ car field... and he was the only driver after the race signing autographs with the trademark "Greg Moore smile", after that costly error! He will always be the man!...

[Dov]

Welcome to 10/10ths Treester!

[Jordi]

Shame about that Mercedes in 1999, or he would have been right up there with Montoya and Franchitti. Still, he utterly dominated Homestead, and in the four years he ran there, he was 6th, 4th, 2nd and first, with two poles. I've got no doubt he would have gotten Penske's 100th right up at his first race with 'em.

[Tony Clifton]

I kind of saw alot of Greg Moore firsts.

I was out at Firebird raceway one winter day and there was a Indy lights car out practicing with 99 on it. I did not know it was Moore at the time. He looked smooth.

I saw Moore's first Indylights win at Phoenix. He won when the race leader passed the pace car on a red flag restart, 2 months later Scott Goodyear did the same and lost Indy.

I was at Homestead when Moore had his first Champ car start, I remember seeing him leave the pits with the front wing cover in place and heard him call the pits to tell them he was coming in to have it removed. That Homestead race he pulled some absolutely incredible passes, I knew this was a guy to watch!

I very sadly watched (and video taped with my camcorder) Greg's last restart at Fontana. On the video you can see him go into turn 2 but not come out.
I remember looking up and seeing him slide toward the wall and then the car jumped up and hit so violently, I turned to my friend and said "He didn't make it out of this one". I had tears in my eyes when they made the announcement.
With my scanner I monitored Greg's race channel and his pit was calling him but there was no response. I flipped over to the TV announcer coverage and Paul Page said "Do not run the crash again" and "this looks bad". I scanned the CART safety team and their radio came through "driver is code 4" in a very calm flat manner. I knew Greg was gone when the ambulance after picking him up drove very slowly to the safety center. Later Paul Page said during a commercial moment "We will not make the announcement until the race is over".

Fontana 1999 was a very sad day when we lost Greg Moore. Race drivers come and go, but few ever show the talent and personality of a Greg Moore. Greg had just started to show that potential, imagine if he was still behind the wheel what he could still be doing?

Greg may you rest in peace, this race fan still has all the video tapes to relive and enjoy your great talent.

[Liz]

I was at that race and there is nothing to compare to a race where a driver is killed -- the long time when everyone knows the worst has happened and the cast and crew bravely keep on as if nothing has gone wrong but you know they are all as aware as you are ...

I had met up with Greg and Patrick earlier in the weekend at the Champ Car Magazine stall where they were the only ones in the whole weekend signing autographs, and I joked with Greg about coming all the way from Toronto to California to get autographs from Canadian drivers. I had an Englise friend who was bats about him and took many photos for her -- it was a shock when I got home to have them developed and see how happy (althoug boiling hot in his race suit) he was.

I have often wondered if that woman in the pickup truck who caused him to injure his hand was blamed by anyone (or by herself) for his death. It was an item of speculation, I know, around the track and for days afterward.

I wonder if he would have gone off to the IRL with Penske and lived on -- and I wonder what would have become of Deserter Helio, who had no ride, had Greg lived.

[macdaddy]

Welcome to the forum, Tony Clifton!

[The Treester]

Thanks Dov!

[Jordi]

Who knows really where would have Greg gone to... I've always thought that ever since Greg died, CART has gone down. Cancelled races, bad decisions, the IRL becoming stronger. It has no relation obviously, but... you know.

[racerkeke]

I remember seeing Greg at Belle Isle when he had just gotten Viper sponsorship for his Indy Lights car. He and his dad were sitting in the back door of the trailer (no transporter for him yet), and me and another worker stopped by to ask if they had any hats that we could wear out on the stations to show our support. Greg's dad looked stricken and said, "No, we just gave the last ones away to some kids who came by." Greg thought a minute, and ran off to their truck. He came back with one hat (obviously worn) and said, "It's mine, but you can have it."

You know how sometimes you say the right thing and you don't know it til later? I said, "No, you keep this one. You might need it in victory circle." And he did.

In 1998 I brought him a Westwood Karting Club ballcap to sign... in Rio. I gave it to a Brazilian worker in exchange for an event cap (they were like gold because of the promoter absconding two days before the race). The worker's face fell when I showed him the cap I was going to trade, but I knew it'd be fun, so I gently steered him to Greg's pit and said, "Go on, just hand it to him and see what he does." Very hesitantly, he did. Greg took the cap, read it and jumped a foot. "Where did you get THIS? Wow, I can't believe it..." Huge grin at me (he figured it out). Signed it, gave the worker a tour, the whole thing. About the cap, I got another one from the club the next time I worked their races.

The thing is, he made you want to do good things for him because he was so sweet to everybody. I try not to think about working T2 in 1999.

keke

PS. Posted this and got goosebumps. It was my 99th post.

[Tony Clifton]

Thanks MacDaddy.

[Jordi]

There's something magic about that number, racerkeke....

Greg =