Remembering Greg Moore

Dario Franchitti won the IRL finale and clinched his second championship last Saturday evening at Homestead. In victory lane, Dario dedicated the triumph to his buddy, Greg Moore. I have been reflecting this week on the ten-year anniversary of his death. When I started the blog in 2004, one of the first entries I wrote was about Moore, who had been an open-wheeled version of Joey Logano. Hugely talented, incredibly fast and mature beyond his years. 

In the Cup race at Fontana in 2004, Kurt Busch had done a lurid slide off of turn two, but because the area inside the backstretch had been paved, he was able to continue without damage other than a few flat tires. Sadly, the same was not the case when Moore crashed off of turn two in 1999. Here is the blog entry as it ran from September 6, 2004.

Greg Moore and California Asphalt

Date Created: Sep 06, 2004, 12:23 AM

Watching Kurt Busch spin off of turn two and slide toward the inside wall Sunday night gave me an awful sense of deja-va -- echoing back to an incident in the exact same location which began as a similar slide.  When Greg Moore lost control of his Indy car on lap 10 of the California 500 on the final day of October 1999, the asphalt that allowed Busch to scrub speed and regain control was not there. The inside of the back stretch was grass, intersected by access roads. Moore's car slid through the grass, and then was launched into the air when it hit an access road. His blue and white car flipped sickeningly -- roll cage first -- into the inside concrete wall, killing the 24-year-old Moore instantly.  As a comparison, the only other crash I can recall similar in visual savagery was Geoff Bodine's infamous truck accident at Daytona several years ago. At that time, CART cars were traveling at incredibly high speeds at California Speedway. Mauricio Gugelmin set a lap record with Mercedes power at an average speed of more than 240 mph! So, imagine Bodine's crash at 60 to 70 miles per hour higher speed. Much like Dale Earnhardt's death sparked a flurry of safety improvements in NASCAR, the Moore accident led to the decision to cover the inside of the back stretch at California Speedway with asphalt. After his slide Sunday night, Kurt Busch re-entered the race with damage no more serious than a flat tire.  Racing is inherently dangerous, but we must never lose sight of constantly trying to improve safety in every area. More and more tracks followed suit (most notably Daytona and Talladega) with more areas of asphalt as run-off areas, and hopefully many more will do the same as they also add improvements such as SAFER barriers. I worked for Ilmor Engineering (the race-engine building and engineering arm of Mercedes-Benz) at the time of Moore's crash. It was to be my final day on the job before moving to Charlotte to start fingerprint inc. As the engine manufacturer on Moore's car, an Ilmor engineer's laptop computer held all of the real-time computer telemetry from his car. This laptop was soon confiscated by CART officials. (The data could provide many details in the impending crash investigation.) No one needed to say a word: we dreaded the worst from seeing the crash. And the worst had come to be.  It had already been an eventful weekend as the season finale. Mercedes-Benz hosted a huge party Saturday night before the race to watch the final Formula One grand prix race of the year and celebrate a world championship for Mercedes-Benz and Mika Hakkinen with engines designed and built by Ilmor. Moore and his girlfriend attended the party briefly - which was a surprise because he had been injured in a freak accident earlier in the day. He had been riding his scooter in the garage area when a woman driving a catering van pulled out and hit him. He fell from the scooter, breaking a finger. It wasn't clear whether Moore would even be allowed to race on Sunday. Unlike NASCAR, CART holds a Sunday morning warm-up session, and Moore gingerly put his gloves on and demonstrated to the officials and his team that he was physically able to drive the car despite the injury. (I believe he was required to do six laps at speed to prove his fitness.) I have no idea if his broken digit played any role in the crash, but some have speculated that it led to his losing control.  Also that morning, Team Penske had announced publicly that Moore would be one of their drivers the following year, moving the Canadian into the most successful Indy car team in history. (After Moore's death, Penske quickly grabbed a charismatic young Brazilian driver from another Mercedes team. It would mark the start of the Penske era for Helio Castroneves.) Despite crushing sadness and dread - the race continued. Ilmor-Mercedes provided engines to a number of the other teams, including Marlboro-Team Penske, and many of our staff remained working along pit lane.  Before any public announcement was made, CART (or the track officials, I'm uncertain) decided to drop the flags along the front stretch to half-mast midway through the race. Not many people noticed, but those who did knew the worst had happened. The drivers completed the 500 miles - and were then told the news after the checkered flag. The post-race news conference with the top-three finishers turned into a tearful wake for Moore. Anyone who says racers don't show emotion should have been there that day. (Check this link for some of the emotional, heartfelt post-race tributes.)

I first met Moore in the early 90s, when he was a skinny, bespectacled 16-year-old. He was quiet and shy, but had an air of confidence (maybe even cocky) on the track. And he had wicked speed. He rocketed through the lower open-wheel ranks and joined the CART series with Mercedes-Benz at age 19. He had a special sense of car control and speed that was a delight to see as he became the youngest-ever CART race winner.  Moore - who was beloved in his native British Columbia and all across Canada - was clearly a driver of abilities that stood out among a field of other great drivers. I'm struggling to find the right NASCAR driver to compare him. (Perhaps Jeff Gordon? Jeff was also very visibly talented at such a young age with a father who coached him along the way.)   (In 2009, Joey Logano is the best comparison...) I don't want to over-glorify Greg. He was a typical race car driver and he could be moody and difficult at times. I remember fuming after he had pointed at the Mercedes engine as the reason for a poor showing on more than one occasion. (In retrospect, he was probably right.)  Moore was a special driver, and he joined the too-long list of other drivers who were lost too soon - long before their immense potential was realized. Perhaps Adam Petty is the closest NASCAR example (Rob Moroso also comes to mind), and it is the lost potential of a driver and a young man that hurts everyone so deeply.  My most lasting memory of Greg Moore - beyond some of his great wins- is of the routine he and his father had before every race. Greg would strap into the racecar, and then before pulling away, his father would lean into the cockpit, clasp his hands and tell him "I love you."