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American driver Memo Gidley has been on a hot
streak since signing a race-to-race deal to replace Nicolas Minassian in the
#12 Target Toyota Reynard. After a miserable debut at Portland in which he
did not even finish the first lap, Gidley has come on strong, finishing a
career-best of second at Cleveland and fifth at Chicago, and leading a large
portion of the five hundred miler at Michigan before running into mechanical
problems. After just five races with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Gidley
ranks fifth in laps led for the entire season and is tied in points with his
teammate Bruno Junqueira. Gidley's most recent race in Chicago was his 27th
career start in the FedEx Championship Series, and marked his best qualifying
performance to date, starting on the outside of the second row.
Question: Did you have the feeling when you got hired by the Target team that it was
now or never, that you would have to produce?
Memo Gidley: I did have that feeling, although it didn't really affect how I was
going to perform in the car. When I first received the call, I thought,
"this is great, it's an unbelievable opportunity, it's everything I had
worked for and hoped for." When I hung up the phone, however, I realized this
could be the deal that either makes me or breaks me. When you're with a team
that has won as many races as the Ganassi team, everything you do is under a
microscope.
Question: What did you feel like after your abbreviated first race in Portland?
Memo Gidley: There were a lot of emotions throughout the weekend. I was pleased
because I was driving a Champ Car for the first time in eight months, but
being at the back of the grid in a Ganassi car is not a good feeling. We
didn't even make it through the first lap of the race, and I was at the side
of the track for a while trying to get back to the pits. By the time I got
back, Bruno was out too, and Chip had left. So I just called him on his cell
phone and basically didn't say too much. He told he would see me at
Cleveland, which I took as a nice hint that I would be continuing to drive
for the team."
Question: So did you do anything different in the interim from Portland to
Cleveland? Did you do any soul-searching, change anything?
Memo Gidley: Not really. I was still the same person after that difficult race in
Portland, and I'm still the same person now. In my heart I always knew the
potential was there, and it was just a matter of how quickly good things were
going to happen.
Question: So when you started leading the race in Cleveland and pulling away, what
was going through your mind? Did you feel some kind of happiness or relief?
Memo Gidley: Absolutely. I've been pounding around in a Champ Car for two and a half
years trying to get into that position. When it finally happened it felt
like a whole new world opened up. It was like breaking out of a shell. Once
I got into the lead it was like everything else sort of fell behind.
Everything blurred in my mirrors, it was like being set free. I have felt
this way in other series and other levels, but never before at this level.
Question: Was that some kind of transformational moment in your career?
Memo Gidley: Well, it's definitely a step in the right direction, but when you're
racing in such a competitive series, you are not going to run at the front
simply because you feel like it. You still need to have the car that's
working for you and all the pieces in place to be competitive at each
particular race. But certainly that weekend in Cleveland I really did feel
unstoppable, and I went to bed that night feeling very pleased about what the
team and I had accomplished together.
Question: So how do the guys treat you, and what are the people like on this team?
Memo Gidley: They treat me really good. They've gotten to know me and I've gotten
to know them, because I really respect what they're doing. We debrief with
Bruno and I in the same room, and the two of us are working together very
well. It's interesting: sometimes in life you get to the top level and it's
not really what you had hoped it would be. It has been so refreshing to get
to this position with Target and find out that it's exactly what I wanted it
to be.
Question: What is that thing? Is it the attitude of the people? Is it the financial
resources, technical knowledge or all three?
Memo Gidley: It's basically all of them. I've always has high standards, and the
hardest thing about big-time car racing is that there are people you don't
really know who are working on your car. I really need to have a strong
group that has very high standards in order to lose the feeling that I should
be working on the car myself. Having this kind of strong group allows me to
concentrate on things that can make my driving skills better.
Question: So after leading three races and finishing second at Cleveland and fifth
at Chicago, is part of you wondering when Chip might take you aside and tell
you that you're on for the rest of the season?
Memo Gidley: Not really, it just doesn't matter to me. I put in the same effort all
the time at every race, and the day I stop doing that is the day I will stop
driving. It's not about a contract. There have been drivers before me who
had long-term contracts but weren't performing, and they are no longer here.
For me, racing is not about collecting paychecks, it's about setting and
achieving goals.
Question: Speaking of goals, what's it going to feel like when you win that first race?
Memo Gidley: I think it's going to feel really neat - it will feel awesome. It's
been playing over in my mind for a long time - it almost seems like it's
already happened in a way.
Question: Reality is just catching up to itself?
Memo Gidley: Yes, in an odd sort of way. The thing that's going to feel better than
a race win is being seen as one of the guys to beat each weekend. Not being
the surprise runner at the front, but rather being one of the guys you're
going to have to be shooting for if you want to raise your game. That's what
I am looking forward to the most.
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