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.
Gregory William Moore was born in New Westminster in the Canadian province of 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 the boy 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.
1986
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.
1989
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.
1990
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.
1991
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.
1992
Moore won the 1992 USAC FF2000 Western Division Championship and the 1995 Indy Lights Championship.
1993
He was transferred to Pitt Meadows Secondary School for the final two years of his education, where he graduated with honours in 1993.
He 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.
1996
He 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.
1998
He improved on his performance to place fifth overall with a further two wins in 1998.
1999
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 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, he also played ice hockey.
2000
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.
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.
