Gidley's top 10 finish earns him another race

The young Californian had a tough time at the start with a poor handling car, but changes through the race saw him driving the fastest car on the track in the mid-stages. While the 10-car lead pack was conserving fuel, Gidley took his Reynard Toyota past all of them, and then sped off into the distance as he tried to make up laps lost in the early stages.

"I could go a thousand miles," he said immediately after the race. "The car was so loose in the beginning you just couldn't imagine. I was literally a sitting duck out there, and your heart's in your mouth the whole time. You're just trying to stay out of the way, but every time you get passed it takes air off your wings and it's like hitting black ice at over 200mph."

"We worked on the wings a little, but that wasn't enough. So we made an extra stop and manually jacked the weight on the suspension. The car started handling better, so we dialled some wing back out of the car, and two-thirds into the race the car was fast as hell."

His run through the lead pack had the crowd and track commentators cheering the underdog. "I've imagined that situation before in my mind, but now it's happening for real! We had a winning-quality car in the last third of the race, but you have to be fast the whole time. So you learn, you come back, and you beat 'em next time. Speed's not the problem: we've got that. We just have to be consistent."

Team owner John Della Penna was quick to announce that Gidley would be back for the team next weekend in Chicago, and Memo's ready to take the opportunity with both hands. "There are teams that have a lot more people and spend a lot more money that didn't finish this race," said Gidley. "All the guys here probably worked twice as hard as anyone this weekend, and we finished 10th.

"Now I've worked with everybody on the team, they understand what I need to get out of the car, and they know if we get it then we're going to be fast. So everybody's going to have that in the back of their mind going to Chicago."