Gidley sends Memo to owners.

Gil de Ferran may have taken the spoils in a typical Houston street brawl, but it was the Cinderella story of #12 Team Target driver Memo Gidley that had fans cheering, as the Californian used good strategy by his team to come from 23rd on the grid to finish third.

The result was Gidley's best since finishing second in only his second outing for the Chip Ganassi-run team at Cleveland back in July, and his third top five placing in only eleven races since coming off the sidelines to replace Nicolas Minassian earlier this season. The result could not have come at a better time, either, as Ganassi ponders who to put in the second car, alongside Kenny Brack next season.

Gidley and team-mate Bruno Junqueira are both thought to be in the running, along with Brazilian Tony Kanaan, with three races for each to prove their worth. Should he fail to land one of the plum rides with Team Target, however, Gidley is also showing his worth to other prospective employers.

Quick in practice, the new CART 'supersub' was stymied in qualifying when a set-up change went awry, leaving him at the tail end of the field and facing a mountain to climb on race day.

"I think you guys saw what happened yesterday," he said after clinching third spot in the race, "We had a good car in practice and made changes for qualifying and wound up 23rd. That's all we had in the car."

A good start and canny strategy then played a part in elevating the Californian to the sharp end of the field, as the Ganassi crew played the percentages to earn an unexpected result.

"I've gone through the extreme highs and the extreme lows, and yesterday was one of the extreme lows of my career," he smiled as he looked back on an incident with team-mate Bruno Junqueira in practice, "We made another change [to the car] for the race to help conserve the rear tyres, and it worked. The team gave me a great car. I just pushed as hard as I could.

"I was able to maintain a good pace throughout the race, keep my tyres and brakes in good condition and pass a few guys. I pushed as hard as I could every lap. We were quick on our lean settings, which helped a lot. I think a lot of working my way through the field was done in the pits with fuel mileage and the fuel strategy. I passed a few guys on the track, but most of it came in the pits. That's how I got to the front."

Gidley returns to his native northern California on a high note and will be able to claim a home course advantage like no other at Laguna Seca this weekend. He began his racing career while serving as a mechanic at the Jim Russell School at Laguna - trading mechanic services for seat time at the track. No he hopes to turn that advantage into a full-time ride in the 2002 CART series.