Memo Gidley Gains “Team USA Scholarship” Award

Aug 19, 1995
Loudon, N.H. – Memo Gidley will not easily forget the happenings of the past seven days. First of all, the talented 22-year-old from San Rafael, Calif., competed for the first time in front of an IndyCar crowd during the Miller Genuine Draft 200 race weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He emerged with a sensational victory in his Colliers-Parrish/DSTP Motorsports Van Diemen RF95.

Gidley started on the front row, took the lead at the start and then overcame both a broken front anti-roll bar and a determined challenge from two other drivers to earn his third win of the season. It was enough to reclaim the lead of the hard-fought USAC/SCCA North American Formula Ford 2000 Championship with four races to go.

Then, in the midst of preparations for this weekend’s seventh round of the FF2000 Championship – also to be held as a supporting event to the PPG Indy Car World Series: The New England 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway – Gidley learned he had been awarded the prestigious Valvoline Team USA Scholarship.

Gidley’s prize will take the form of a fully sponsored entry in the International Formula 3 Race to be held at Donington Park, England, on the weekend of October 21-22.

“I’m just so excited about this opportunity,” said Gidley. “It’s a great chance for me to gain some valuable experience in a totally different environment. I know I have some big shoes to fill, because so many of the previous scholarship winners have gone on to much bigger and better things in the sport, but I’ve set my own goals high and this will definitely help me in the long run.”

Valvoline will return for the sixth time as primary sponsor of the Team USA Scholarship program, which boasts current Indy Car drivers Jimmy Vasser and Bryan Herta among its alumni.