Racing through Ryerson

By Sean Fitz-Gerald

Greg Moore may not be in a race car much these days, but his life is as fast-paced as ever.

Moore is in the Toronto area until this weekend when he flys out to Germany to test a new race car. After Germany, he will be home in British Columbia for two days. Then he’ll fly out to Las Vegas for another speaking engagement. After Vegas, Moore has to fly to Japan for two weeks to test yet another car. And then it’s right back the to the United States, but this time to Phoenix where he will test a different car.

But before he starts counting his air miles, Moore stopped at Ryerson to talk to a crowd of mostly mechanical engineering students about life on the CART racing circuit.

The Molson-sponsored event drew close to 150 people (mostly male) to East Kerr Hall Tuesday. The full room didn’t surprise Moore.

“With Paul [Tracy] doing well, myself doing well, and with Jacques [Villeneuve] doing well, Canadians are really starting to follow racing a lot more,” the Maple Ridge, B.C. native said.

“There is no off-season for me,” he said. “But it’s what I do, and I love doing it.”

Moore addressed many aspects of racing life, including the dangers of driving 250 mph.

“I’m much happier driving a race car than I am driving a street car. In racing, everyone’s a professional driver, everyone respects each other,” Moore said. “You don’t know if you’re driving home at 10 o’clock and there’s someone drunk driving at you the other way.”

Moore also spent time describing the technology inside the $1-million Mercedes race car he drives. He said he can get the car from 0-60 mph in under two seconds, and he can go from 0-100 mph and then back to zero in under 6.2 seconds.

With his wins in Detroit and Milwaukee last season, the 22-year-old Moore became the second youngest person ever to win a professional race.

“My dad was an amateur racer and I asked him when I was 10 years old if I could get involved,” Moore said. “I thought I’d be waxing the car or putting air in the tired, but he bought me a go-cart and I haven’t looked back since.”